How We Source Deals: Why Our Members Are Our Best Pipeline
Most investment DAOs source deals the way traditional VCs do - the founders see something, bring it to the group, and everyone reacts. The deal flow lives and dies with whoever’s running the show.
SunDAO works differently. Our best deals come from our members.
The model nobody talks about
When people ask me “where do your deals come from?”, they expect me to say something about our network, our reputation, founders applying through the website. And yes, some deals come that way - through Chris’s and my networks, through deal flow exchanges with VC partners, through founders who find us.
But the majority come from the members themselves.
Think about who’s in this DAO. Validators who run infrastructure for major chains. Security auditors who review code for a living. Fund managers evaluating hundreds of projects a year. Protocol founders building at the frontier. These people don’t sit in a room waiting for deals to show up. They’re embedded in the ecosystem. They bump into promising startups every week through their day-to-day work.
A validator notices a team building something interesting on the consensus layer. An auditor meets founders who’ve built genuinely novel security infrastructure. A VC partner sees a deal outside their fund’s thesis but right in SunDAO’s sweet spot. They bring it to us.
That’s 70+ sourcing channels running simultaneously across 20+ countries. No two founders, no matter how well-connected, can match that.
Why this actually works (and doesn’t just sound good)
The obvious question: why would a member bring a deal to SunDAO instead of investing alone?
Three reasons.
First, they earn carry. If a member sources a deal and SunDAO invests, that member earns part of the carry pool from that investment. Your network becomes a revenue-generating asset. You’re not just giving away deal flow - you’re getting compensated for it.
Second, they get better diligence. Even experienced investors have blind spots. A validator who finds a promising project might not have the valuation expertise to know if the terms are right. A VC who loves the market opportunity might not catch the consensus layer risk. When you bring a deal to SunDAO, 70+ experts evaluate it alongside you. You either get validation that your instinct was correct, or you learn something that saves you from a bad bet. Both outcomes are valuable.
Third, they get co-investors. Early-stage deals often need a minimum round size to close. One angel writing a $5K check isn’t enough. But when SunDAO members collectively deploy $50K-$100K into a deal, that changes the math for founders. Members who source deals are helping their own portfolio companies succeed by bringing capital and expertise together.
What the pipeline actually looks like
In 2025, we sourced 11 deals across 7 sectors. Here’s roughly how they entered the pipeline:
Member recommendations drove the majority. A member working in security infrastructure brought us OKcontract. A member connected to the prediction markets space flagged XO Market. Deals came from people who had genuine context on the teams and the technology - not from cold inbound.
Our own network and VC deal flow exchanges filled the rest. Chris and I have years of relationships across Ethereum, Solana, Sui, BIS, and the broader blockchain ecosystem. We also trade deal flow with VC partners - they share opportunities outside their mandate, we share ones outside ours.
What doesn’t work for us: open applications from founders we have no connection to. We’ve seen these, and the quality is inconsistent. The best deals come through trusted referrals from people who already understand our thesis.
Why this matters for prospective members
If you’re considering joining SunDAO, this model means something specific for you.
Your network is an asset from day one. You don’t join SunDAO just to receive deal flow - you join to contribute to it. If you’re well-connected in a specific blockchain sector, your connections become potential investments, and you earn carry on the ones that close.
You see deals you’d never find alone. Even if you’re deeply embedded in one ecosystem, you’re probably not seeing what’s happening in others. A validator focused on Solana might miss the best security infrastructure deal coming out of the Ethereum ecosystem. A VC focused on DeFi might not see the AI x crypto opportunity a protocol founder spotted. SunDAO’s member-sourced pipeline gives you breadth without requiring you to be everywhere at once.
Quality compounds over time. The more members we have, the more sourcing channels we have. The more sourcing channels, the better the deals. The better the deals, the more members want to join. This flywheel is just starting - we’re at 70+ members across 20+ countries, and every new member with a strong network makes the pipeline stronger for everyone.
The deal flow exchange nobody else offers
Something we don’t talk about enough: VC deal flow exchanges.
We have partnerships with venture funds who share deal flow with us. They see a deal that’s too early for their fund, or outside their thesis, or in a sector they’re watching but not actively deploying in - and they send it our way. In return, we share insights from our member evaluations and sometimes co-invest alongside them in later rounds.
This is a model that works specifically because of our membership composition. VCs want to co-invest with people who have deep technical expertise. When a VC shares a deal with SunDAO and 70+ experts evaluate it, the VC gets signal they can’t get from their own team. That’s valuable to them, which is why they keep sharing.
What this means for 2026
We’re actively looking for members who bring sourcing strength in sectors we’re watching closely: security infrastructure, AI x crypto, DeFi, interoperability, and emerging verticals. If you’re working in one of these areas and regularly encounter early-stage teams that need capital and technical validation, SunDAO is built for you.
Membership is opened for individuals and for institutions. The carry on sourced deals is real - and some of our members will tell you it’s the best return on a membership they’ve ever made.
SunDAO Ventures is an investment DAO where 70+ blockchain experts collaborate on due diligence and co-invest in frontier blockchain infrastructure. Founded by former ICF Ecosystem Lead Daiana Marculescu and ICF Technical Director & BIS Managing Architect Chris Zhong.
This post is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice.