How LI.FI Was Built: Hackathons, Fundraising & Surviving Bear Markets | Philipp Zentner

Philipp Zentner started LI.FI in 2021 with a thesis: crypto was going to become increasingly fragmented, and someone would need to connect it all. The first product was built at a hackathon. In LI.FI’s first year, the team went on to participate in 13 hackathons, found early users, raised funding and turned what started as a bridge aggregator into infrastructure now used across the Web3 ecosystem. In this episode of the soonami podcast, Chris speaks with Philipp, Founder & CEO of LI.FI, about what those early days taught him about building companies. They talk about why hackathons are still one of the best places to start, how founders can find ideas by encountering real problems, why fundraising is largely about showing up again and again, and what it takes to keep building when the market around you slows down. Philipp also shares how his view of venture capital has changed, why communication is one of the most important founder skills, how founders should approach relationships with advisors and investors, and why AI is changing the speed at which every company has to operate. In this conversation: 00:00 Welcome & the story behind LI.FI 01:05 Why Philipp believed crypto would become multi-chain 03:29 From bridge aggregation to LI.FI today 08:55 Finding the right timing as a founder 09:55 Why LI.FI started with a B2C product 10:20 Building through 13 hackathons 11:28 How to survive bear markets 14:27 What Philipp learned about venture capital 16:35 Early product-market fit 18:30 Why founders should still join hackathons 21:41 What separates founders who get funded 24:28 How to get better at pitching investors 27:30 What comes next for LI.FI 29:12 How AI is changing company building 31:18 Where AI and Web3 could intersect 34:30 What Philipp looks for in founders 36:01 The mistake founders make after getting advice 38:22 Managing yourself as a founder 40:43 What kinds of ideas excite Philipp today About Philipp Zentner Philipp Zentner is the Founder and CEO of LI.FI, a cross-chain infrastructure company building the orchestration layer for moving value across blockchains. He is also an advisor to founders in the soonami ecosystem. About soonami soonami helps ambitious founders go from idea to venture through Venturethon, advisors, community and access to an international startup ecosystem.