About this episode

Pete Townsend interviews Sal Ternullo about the evolving landscape of tokens and the importance of product development before token design.

Pete Townsend is joined by Sal Ternullo, CEO of SVRN and Managing Partner at A100x Ventures, for a conversation about how to tell the difference between a token that represents ownership of the value-creating thing and one that's an accelerant bolted onto something else.Sal has been underwriting these decisions at A100x at the pre-seed and seed stage. He walks through what's actually changed in the market, what a defensible answer on value accrual sounds like in a pitch meeting, and why the race-to-TGE game that defined the last cycle is largely over. Topics covered: – Why the era of tolerating tokens with no claim on cash flows is ending – How to tell whether a founder has real conviction on decentralization or is bolting a token onto an equity business – The cap-table tensions between SAFEs, token warrants, and Series A investors who can't touch tokens – Why building the product before designing the token is the new discipline – The question Sal wishes more founders walked in with an answer to CHAPTERS: 00:00 Bad Tokens Ruin Good Projects 00:30 Welcome Sal Ternullo 01:10 What Changed in Token Value Accrual 03:00 Equity vs. Token: Where Does Value Accrue 04:55 Signs a Founder…

People in this episode

Host: Pete Townsend

Guest: Sal Ternullo

Topics covered

• token value accrual
• decentralization
• cap-table tensions
• product development
• founder conviction

Keywords

• tokens
• value accrual
• decentralization
• founder conviction
• cap-table
• product development
• TGE

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: SVRN, A100x Ventures

More episodes of MoneyNeverSleeps

• You Can't Code Your Way Out of Risk | Amor Sexton | Blockdaemon [EP. 314] · July 14, 2026 · 14 min
• The Onramp Bringing TradFi Onchain | Martin Watkins | Montis [EP. 317] · June 5, 2026 · 12 min
• From Lean Startup to Incorruptible | Eric Ries [EP. 316] · June 3, 2026 · 26 min
• Sell More or Don't Bother - The Hard Truth of Tokenization | Alejandro Gutierrez | Solana Superteam Ireland [EP. 312] · April 24, 2026 · 15 min
• VC 3.0: Venture Capital Reimagined | Brian McNulty | Lingfeng Capital [EP. 311] · April 17, 2026 · 15 min
• Who's Watching the Agent? | Rob Viglione | Horizen Labs [EP. 310] · April 3, 2026 · 12 min

Explore listener stats, chart rankings, contacts and more on the MoneyNeverSleeps podcast page.