The Program

We will be hosting ~1 month long crypto programs in batches of 5-8. The majority of the program will be run remotely online and may lead to the opportunity for full time employment within Paperclip.

The Goal

The goal of the Paperclip Crypto Program is to help talented individuals rapidly accelerate their careers in crypto. We recognise that crypto is a nascent field where your growth rate and ceiling are much better predictors of success than industry experience. That is why our Degen program brings together people from all career paths from finance to medicine. Regardless of the stage of your crypto context, our goal is to make sure you leave our program with a dramatically better grasp of crypto than when you began.

Having a better grasp of crypto can be described in two main ways: having a solid foundation of crypto knowledge, and being able to confidently and quickly tackle new research areas and projects with the right crypto native frameworks.

To achieve this ambitious goal, we have designed the program to be deliberately intensive. Our hope is that by bringing together likeminded and highly driven people we can foster a supportive environment of excellence where it is hard not to be highly motivated and inspired.

This program is everything that we wish we had learned at the beginning of our crypto journey, and we hope to pass on our experience to the future builders and movers within the space.

Employment

We will be considering Degens for full time employment within Paperclip and will notify of offers before the end of the program. There will be opportunities through the month to demonstrate genuine interest, present research work, and be as deeply involved in our work streams as you wish. Those who show initiative and a positive attitude will be provided as much opportunity to network and participate in projects as time allows.

Streams

During the batch, degens are sorted into 2 streams based on interest and skillset: the general research stream and the project specific stream. All degens regardless of stream will attend the same meetings but will be allocated different projects and tasks. This is to give you a more tailored experience that fits your interests and aspirations.

Resources

Prior to commencement of the formal program, it is recommended that you spend at least 10-20 hours familiarising yourself with our introductory materials to ensure that you fast track your learning of the crypto fundamentals.Other great resources such as A16z Crypto Startup School, Bankless, and UpOnly will be linked there and are a useful way to immerse yourself.

Office Hours

Every week we will host group Office Hours with one or more of the Paperclip team to track your progress and offer support for any questions you have. One on one office hours can be scheduled as frequently as you like and we highly encourage you to make use of this availability.

Weekly Sessions

Each week we will aim to run regular research sync calls to discuss what you have been researching and offer feedback and guidance.

Structure

The goal of the first week is to rapidly bring you up to speed with the foundational frameworks required to have a crypto native context. This will include a curated list of high-yield resources and discussions on topics ranging from “A Map of the Crypto ecosystem”, “Crypto Principles” and “Data sources and Onchain analysis”. We front load the basics so that you can spend the majority of the program working on the research projects that interest you and have confidence in finding your own path from first principles. Along with these more educational sessions, we highly recommend you to ask as many questions as possible to us as well as your peers, and we will endeavour to be available throughout the entire week to support and guide you.

The goal of the second and third weeks is to form a clear and attainable project goal for the rest of the month. This may be getting more involved in one of Paperclip’s existing portfolio projects or proposing a new area of research that we can help you plan and execute. During this period, we encourage you to submit regular progress updates and seek help or guidance when needed. degens are encouraged to participate in our daily standup, weekly sprints, and strategy meetings to practise exchanging ideas and executing on tasks in a team research environment.

The final week will focus on reflection and tying together all the things you have learned. We will give individual feedback and there will be an opportunity to present and share your progress with the community.

Project Presentation

More details of the final week’s presentation to come.