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You have received an invitation from someone in your network to join the Chicago VentureStaking® Arena — one of the first city-based arenas forming on the Doriot platform. You will walk through joining as a member, exploring your position, and evaluating a live founder raise.
You must be 18 or older to participate in VentureStaking®.
VentureStaking is designed for people who want to help discover the next generation of innovators and entrepreneurs.
VentureStaking is built on a long-term orientation — contributing to founders and strengthening the ecosystem before expecting financial return.
Belief precedes benefit.
Conviction precedes capital.
You've been accepted as a VentureStaker.
Your journey in founder discovery begins now.
VentureStaking is designed for individuals who want to actively participate in strengthening entrepreneurial ecosystems and who align with a Give First philosophy.
At this time, becoming a VentureStaker may not be the right fit — and that's perfectly okay.
We appreciate your interest and wish you the best in your journey.
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This link expires in 24 hours and can only be used once.
Venture investing means backing early-stage companies — startups — before they become widely known.
Most of these companies are small, unproven, and high-risk. But a small number go on to become transformative businesses.
Historically, only wealthy individuals and institutions could participate. That is starting to change.
An investor evaluates a founder’s idea, team, and market. If they believe in the potential, they commit capital in exchange for equity — a small ownership stake.
If the company grows, that stake becomes more valuable. If it doesn’t, the investment may be lost entirely.
The key skill is pattern recognition: learning to spot founders with exceptional potential before everyone else does.
Venture investing has funded some of the most important companies of the last fifty years — from personal computers to search engines to electric vehicles.
It works because small, focused teams can move faster than large organizations.
The challenge has always been access. Finding the right founders at the right time, with the ability to participate. Arenas are designed to solve that.
A VentureStake is a Vote of Confidence in a founder.
When you place VentureStakes on a founder, you are signaling that you believe they have the potential to build something meaningful.
Higher conviction = more VentureStakes. Lower conviction = fewer, or pass.
VentureStaking is built so everyone gets to play the same game — at their own comfort level.
Everyone discovers founders through the same process — regardless of budget.
When the community places VentureStakes on a founder, those stakes aggregate into a grant that funds the founder’s early discovery work.
Founding Member status requires committing 100 VentureStakes ($1,000) to your Arena per year.
Grants support exploration — not investment.
Everyone who participates is in the same game: discovering great founders and getting the opportunity to invest in their Seed round with premier status — priority access and a valuation discount.
Breakout means the founder raises a Seed round — and you get premier access to invest.
Choose an amount that would not impact your lifestyle if lost.
Membership is based on your annual commitment to this Arena. You can hold more VentureStakes globally and allocate them across Arenas.
This contribution funds founder discovery infrastructure within the Chicago Arena.
We respect your decision. Before you go, would you be willing to tell us why?
Remove your invitation and future Arena updates.
This will remove your invitation and future Arena updates.
Your feedback helps us build better Arenas.
A global system that expands who participates in early venture discovery. It allows the crowd — not just a small group of insiders — to help decide which founders get an early shot.
Which founders are discovered determines what gets built.
You place VentureStakes on founders you believe are worth exploring. Each VentureStake costs $10 and is a Vote of Confidence. Your VentureStakes combine with others in the Arena to form a grant that funds early discovery.
Grants support exploration — not investment.
Founders you VentureStake spend months validating a problem, building, testing, and learning.
If a founder discovers something worth scaling, they may choose to raise a venture round. At that point, VentureStaking can surface a potential opportunity to participate — not guaranteed.
All perks are discretionary.
VentureStakers can qualify for Seed Round perks valued at up to 100× their VentureStake (if available).
VentureStaking is about backing founders before outcomes are known.
It creates learning, proximity, and early support. Investment opportunities may follow — but they are secondary.
This is why VentureStaking strategy focuses on diversification, positioning, and deal proximity.
A practical way to think about it:
If you could afford to invest $1,000 in a startup if a rare opportunity appears (100x perks on your VentureStakes), you might VentureStake 10 founders at 10 VentureStakes each ($100 per founder) to discover the 1–2 that matter.
The VentureStaking® System is operated by Doriot, a for-profit Capital Creation Cooperative.
VentureStakers earn ownership in the Cooperative through participation, not capital investment, by contributing directly to the VentureStaking protocol.
Every meaningful action in Doriot earns equity tokens in the Cooperative.
Equity tokens are non-transferable and have no cash value today. They represent long-term ownership in the Cooperative.
There are no guarantees of future value or liquidity. Doriot is being built patiently, with long-term governance in mind.