The First Year of Derpetual

Reflecting on the first year of Derpetual, the point of life, and all of the blessings.

It is insane to think that exactly one year earlier, it was just some schizo math and a maze of ideas inside our heads.

Here are some thoughts, reflections, conclusions, and open questions from that first trip around the Sun.

It has been quite a ride.

It’s so over, but then it ain’t

By starting something, you do not really have anything to lose.

You have not manifested anything of value into existence yet — you just have an idea.

Manifesting something of value takes a lot of work and a lot of failing.

The difference between breakout founders and permanently frustrated builders is often their approach to failure.

Once shit has hit the fan, the best move is to deeply analyze what went wrong and learn from it.

That way, every failure becomes progress.

Otherwise, you just become more salty and more ego-driven.

But how can you fail less?

Luck favors the prepared

When my co-founder received the Thiel Fellowship, all of my priorities shifted.

Suddenly, we were going through a company-defining event.

I was sure we could not waste the opportunity to evolve.

Over the next two weeks, I deliberately separated myself from the outside world.

I stayed inside my apartment with one goal in mind:

Create a company worthy of Silicon Valley.

I spent that time coaching, stress-testing, breaking down, and rebuilding how we thought about the company and what it needed to become.

I took inspiration from the dynamic of A$AP Rocky and A$AP Yams.

In that analogy, he played the superstar and I played the mastermind.

A lot of the work happened in the shadows.

That never bothered me.

I knew he would have done the same and more for me.

They all love you when you’re rich

Have you ever received news so good you could not believe it?

I was playing Yone mid in League of Legends when my phone rang.

I joined a video call and saw everyone screaming.

It happened.

He was in.

Moments like that make life worth living.

What nobody tells you is that after your big day, there will be another day.

And hopefully thousands more.

The difference between profitable days trading memecoins and something like the fellowship is that the latter permanently changes how people see you.

It also attracts attention from people who want to do business, become friends, or simply get close to the momentum.

One useful realization was that many of those people were not actually interested in us.

They were interested in proximity to what the achievement represented.

No new friends beyond this point.

Do you live and breathe Derpetual?

Motion is intoxicating.

Seeing the world move because of the clicks on your keyboard is addictive.

Maybe it is the team.

Maybe it is the things we have already achieved.

But I have never felt more inspired.

Derpetual is the first thing on my mind when I open my eyes and the last thing on my mind before I fall asleep.

Sometimes I dream about it too.

Derpetual is a complex, multi-level problem to solve.

If the goal is to launch one million markets, we are still near the beginning.

If the goal is to process one quadrillion dollars in volume, we are even earlier.

And we want to do both of those things and more.

To understand the direction Derpetual is taking, read Introducing Abstract Markets.

For the broader thesis, read The Derpetual Manifesto.