How we engage
How an engagement runs, stage by stage.
Clients ask two questions before they start: what does an engagement involve, and what will we have at the end of it. This page answers both.
An honest assessment before any commitment.
Senior partners review the project, its market position, its token and its product, and interview the people who matter, including founders, engineers and, where appropriate, investors. We do this first because it protects both sides. You learn what we think, and we learn whether we can help.
A written assessment covering what is working, what is not, and a specific recommendation on whether and how to proceed. If you do not need us, the assessment says so.
A plan written to be carried out.
Strategy, tokenomics, go-to-market, partnerships and product priorities are developed with your team. We test the tokenomics against what we have seen across forty thousand deployments, and the go-to-market against launches we have run ourselves.
The plan, including the build plan, the launch sequence, the vesting and lock structure, and a clear statement of who is responsible for each part.
Implementation on your platforms or ours.
Token creation, locks, vesting, staking, the launch venue and integrations are implemented alongside your engineers and vendors, on whatever platforms the plan calls for. Where Team Finance or the Launchpad is the right tool, it is available and pre-audited. Where it is not, we manage the build with whoever is.
Deployed infrastructure, documentation, and a launch-readiness review conducted with our audit partners.
A launch run to plan, with the partners present.
Exchange strategy, listing support, market-maker and PR contract review, community activation and launch-day operations. The partners who wrote the plan are on the line during the launch.
A launch executed to the sequence agreed in stage two, and a post-launch report.
Support after launch.
Introductions, distribution through TrustSwap's exchange, market-maker and data relationships, and The Crypto App where it is the right channel, together with continuing advice as the project grows.
Continued access to the partners, regular reporting, and support as the project grows.
Working principles
What you can expect from us.
Partners do the work.
The people on the first call are the people on the engagement. We do not run a leverage model, and we take on a limited number of engagements at a time so that this stays true.
We recommend on the merits.
We do not assume you need TrustSwap's platforms, and we do not steer engagements toward them. Where they are the right tool we say so and explain why. Where they are not, we say that too.
We say no early.
If the fit is not there, we say so on the first call.
Confidentiality is standard.
Engagements are confidential by default. Our published examples are anonymised, and references are provided only with the client's permission.
Commercial terms
Engagements are scoped to the project and priced as programmes rather than by the hour. The diagnostic is a fixed scope for a fixed fee, credited against any further work. We do not publish a rate card. Terms are discussed on the first call, once we understand the work.
The first call
Thirty minutes with a senior partner. We will ask what you are building, where it stands and what you are trying to decide. We will tell you whether we are the right firm and, if we are, what the diagnostic would cover. No preparation is required.
Common questions
Before the first call.
We already have a strategy. Do we need the diagnostic?
Usually, yes. It takes two weeks, and it is where we test the strategy against what we have seen running the platforms. Clients who arrive with a clear plan tend to find that the diagnostic confirms most of it and changes one or two things that matter.
Can you work alongside our existing advisers and vendors?
Yes. Many engagements involve incumbent counsel, auditors, market makers or agencies. We coordinate with them, and where we believe a change is warranted we say so and explain why.
Do you take equity or tokens as compensation?
Our fees are paid in cash. In specific circumstances a token allocation may form part of the terms, subject to review by counsel, capped, and vested like any other allocation.
Who is not a fit?
Very early-stage teams, and projects whose main need is a development shop. Our platforms are open to early-stage teams directly at team.finance.
Where are you based?
TrustSwap is headquartered in Abu Dhabi with a team across four continents. Engagements are conducted remotely, with in-person sessions where useful.
Start with the diagnostic.
Two weeks, fixed scope, fixed fee, and a clear answer on what to do next.
Book an intro call