The Real Deals Happen in the Side Room · Rime Salmi, Fractl

What we talked about.

In this episode, Sunny Ray talks with Rime Salmi, founder of fractl, about how curated in person rooms became the backbone of dealmaking in web3. Salmi explains that fractl began as a marketing agency before pivoting into investor events, when she realized founders needed funding before they could afford marketing. Her first event, a founders and investors brunch at ETH Denver three years ago, sold out amid a guest list mishap that created unexpected FOMO and launched fractl as a recurring series. Salmi, who previously ran a record label in the music industry, describes building her curation process by directly asking VCs what they look for in founders and asking founders what makes a good investor. She discusses why showing up consistently at every conference, rather than chasing profit margins, made fractl an anchor brand, why exclusivity ultimately saves people time rather than signals status, and how a strict one to two investor to founder ratio and an unofficial blacklist keep her rooms high quality. The conversation closes on the discipline required to stop saying yes to every adjacent opportunity.

The founder of fractl on turning a marketing side hustle into web3's most coveted curated rooms for founders and investors.

The questions, and the answers.

What are you building? What is fractl?

I started fractl as a marketing agency. We began running investor events to connect founders with investors so they could afford our marketing services, and it took off. I ran the first five events alone, reviewing decks and putting founders and investors in one room alongside big conferences. Eventually VCs asked me to find them LPs, even though I did not know what an LP was. Today we run founder and investor events worldwide focused on getting people funded and building real partnerships.

What was the first event you ran where you thought this is the actual business?

I ran the first founders and investors brunch at ETH Denver three years ago. I came from the music industry, where I owned a record label, so organizing a brunch felt simple. A guest list mixup meant half the approved people never got the address, which created FOMO and a rush for entry. Two thousand three hundred people applied for two hundred spots. That mistake, plus my events background, made the first event feel special, so I turned it into a series.

What do you understand about a room of investors that someone just selling conference tickets doesn't?

I called VCs and asked what they wanted in a founder, then filtered based on their criteria around traction and profile. I also asked experienced founders what makes a good investor, since not every VC is worth taking money from. I built the room around both sets of criteria, and we still do that with every partner today, asking what they want before we curate. It just takes time, and most organizers are not willing to spend it.

What was it about web3 specifically that let this network compound so fast?

My background is marketing, so I made choices that were not always profitable but built the network long term. I decided fractl would show up at every conference consistently, even when it was not the most profitable move. That consistency made us an anchor. People started saying, whatever this conference is, make sure you get into the fractl event. Because the model was the same everywhere, from Singapore to Paris, it became easy to refer and trust.

How much of what you built was strategy versus following what was obviously working?

I have a strategy, but I am very open to what the market tells me. This is my day job, not my identity the way my music career is, so I let my skills serve what the market needs as long as I enjoy it and feel I am adding value. The market told me curated rooms were needed and that I could get people in the room, so I leaned into that while staying open to where it leads.

What did you have to stop doing to make the pivot real?

I am still trying to stop saying yes to everything. Last year I said yes to custom events and it broke my model, because pricing, client management and execution are completely different from my templated approach. I created three different services for three different clients in one week before I caught myself. Now I am focused on stopping myself from saying yes to every adjacent opportunity and just serving high quality curated rooms for founders and investors.

What does exclusivity actually buy the people inside your rooms?

Exclusivity buys you time. At a conference floor with fourteen thousand people, you have to talk to a lot of people to find who you actually want. In a curated room, everyone is your target audience, so you skip the part of a conversation where you are gauging if someone is worth your time. You just walk around and be a normal human, and the conversations are more relaxed because you know they will be fruitful.

How do you decide who gets in, and what's the ratio of investors to founders?

We vet on quality and reputation. Quality comes from criteria VCs and founders gave us, and we verify people are actually deploying capital, not just service providers posing as investors. We also keep a blacklist for people who would not serve the community well, though we never disclose who is on it. Our target ratio is one investor to two founders, though it shifts depending on who actually shows up to a given event.