{"id":441,"date":"2024-03-05T15:41:41","date_gmt":"2024-03-05T15:41:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/demo.creativethemes.com\/blocksy\/web-agency\/?p=441"},"modified":"2026-08-09T19:25:19","modified_gmt":"2026-08-09T19:25:19","slug":"introducing-icarus-labs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/icaruslabs.xyz\/?p=441","title":{"rendered":"Introducing Icarus Labs"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Genesis<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

My origin story is simple: in 2017 I asked my cousin to teach me about the stock market and investing. Instead of that, she introduced me to this thing called Bitcoin. I was instantly hooked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Using what little funds I had at that young age, I bought my first $100 worth of BTC. The next couple weeks I would catch myself endlessly refreshing Blockfolio. Good times.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I went down the typical slope that most entrants go through: from BTC to “BTC-killers”, followed by all kinds of other altcoins.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For a while it goes great. I even hit my first ten-bagger. A bull market really makes you feel like a genius. And for a few months, you mighty as well be. Until the music stops, and the chair is pulled from under you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I have loved crypto and I have despised it at times. You could probably guess which of those feelings I felt throughout 2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Exodus<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Web3 re-caught my attention around early 2020. I decided to change my approach to avoid any mistakes I made in the past. No more watching Ian Balina. I started properly researching the core concepts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How does a blockchain *actually* work? What drives the value of a token? How are narratives born?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I had many light bulb moments. Which eventually led to me sharing my findings online and in Telegram groups. It was an attempt at forcing myself to string together original thoughts. Eventually, cryptomendo.com<\/a> was bornas a way to archive some of my writings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Did I launch it because I’m super smart or considered myself an industry expert? No. I simply enjoyed sharing my findings with others. My readers deriving even a sliver of value from my content would more than justify my work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Leviticus<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

My blog opened a lot of doors for me. Despite the fact that it is relatively unknown. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It created many opportunities to connect with others in this industry. It showed founders that I have some level of understanding of what they’re building. Or that I am at least willing to make an attempt to understand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Founders appreciated my excitement about what they’re building, versus getting hooked on buzzwords used by their BD’s.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Throughout the years I have built a large network of founders, Venture Capital firms, Angel investors, KOLs, Market Makers, and Business Developers. One of these groups jumps out as my main area of expertise: KOLs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I’ve been on both sides of the isle and know the ins and outs. I’ve participated in KOL rounds, dealt with various KOL managers, but I’ve also been the KOL manager at times. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nowadays, I mainly help projects with structuring their KOL round, as well as filling it up with KOLs who invest their own money.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My goal is simple<\/strong>: to strike a perfect balance between the needs of the project and the needs of the KOLs.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

GM, Mendo here. Founder of Icarus Labs, and collector of internet coins since 2017. This is my web3 origin story.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1618,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,1],"tags":[],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":6}},"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/icaruslabs.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/441"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/icaruslabs.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/icaruslabs.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/icaruslabs.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/icaruslabs.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=441"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/icaruslabs.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/441\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1770,"href":"https:\/\/icaruslabs.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/441\/revisions\/1770"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/icaruslabs.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1618"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/icaruslabs.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=441"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/icaruslabs.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=441"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/icaruslabs.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=441"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}