Building a startup on Bitcoin means you're not riding one rollercoaster, you're riding two at once. The volatility of launching a company is hard enough. Layer on top of that a protocol still finding its own product-market fit, and you get a compounding effect that will break founders who aren't prepared for it.
Will Reeves knows this firsthand. He co-founded Fold, lived through deep bear markets with no investor interest in sight, made a critical pivot after realizing he was building the wrong solution, and took Fold public on Nasdaq in February 2025 as the first Bitcoin financial services company on the exchange.
In this episode of From Start-Up to Grown-Up, host Alisa Cohn sits down with Will Reeves, Co-Founder and CEO of Fold, to explore the real cost of building on Bitcoin, why "growth at all costs will destroy you," how a Starbucks line changed everything for Fold, what shifts the moment you go public, and the one truth about imposter syndrome most founders will never admit.
You’ll learn:
Why building a company on top of Bitcoin creates a compounding risk that most founders and investors seriously underestimate
The exact moment Will realized Fold was solving the wrong problem, and how the pivot unlocked real product-market fit and landed Visa as their first major partner.
Why "growth at all costs" is uniquely dangerous for Bitcoin companies, and what it actually looks like to build a business for long-term survival
What changed when Fold went public
How to spot when an executive has stopped scaling with the company
What imposter syndrome actually feels like from inside a public company CEO role
We talk about:
00:00 Why building on Bitcoin means you're riding two rollercoasters at once 04:03 Is resilience something you're born with or something you build over time? 06:37 The advice Will gives founders on withstanding the startup journey day to day 09:32 How Fold realized it was solving the wrong problem, and what they did about it 13:22 How do you get your team on board when you've found a new direction? 15:04 What Bitcoin is really for: decentralization, inflation, and financial freedom 22:23 Why growth at all costs will destroy you when you're building on Bitcoin 24:41 Why Fold went public via SPAC and what that decision looked like from the inside 33:03 The painful lesson of replacing yourself as a founder CEO 39:18 The lowest lows and highest highs of building Fold 43:13 Have you ever experienced imposter syndrome? Will's honest answer 46:43 Advice for founders on building a company and a life at the same time
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