> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.vibetoken.cn/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Token Treasury Management: Grant Strategy for Founders

> Your pre-mint treasury lets you grant tokens to contributors before revenue exists — the cold-start solution for rewarding early supporters.

Every Vibe Token system launches with a cold-start problem: the contribution formula requires revenue to issue tokens, but your most important contributors often show up before you have any. The treasury solves this. It's a pool of pre-minted tokens you receive at launch, ready to grant to the people who helped before the money started flowing.

## What the Treasury Is

At launch, you receive a fixed pool of pre-minted tokens. These tokens already exist in the system — they don't need to be earned through a revenue event. But they are **inert** in your hands. Treasury tokens held by you as founder do not participate in distributions and generate no payouts. They are simply a reserve waiting to be put to work.

The moment you grant treasury tokens to a contributor, those tokens become "issued" — they enter the circulating supply `S` and begin earning a share of every future distribution. From that point on, the contributor participates in revenue just like anyone who earned tokens through the standard formula.

## Why It Matters

Before your first paying customer, you can't issue tokens the normal way. But the people who matter most often show up at exactly that moment:

* The friend who retweeted your launch and sent your first 50 sign-ups
* The beta tester who filed 30 bugs and stuck around anyway
* The community member who answered support questions before you had documentation
* The advisor who introduced you to your first enterprise customer

These contributions are real. The treasury gives you a concrete way to recognize them with something that has long-term value — a stake in every future dollar the business earns.

## How Grants Work

<Steps>
  <Step title="You assign N treasury tokens to a contributor">
    You decide how many tokens to grant and to whom. There's no formula enforcing this — it's a judgment call based on the value of the contribution.
  </Step>

  <Step title="The tokens become issued">
    Once granted, those tokens join the circulating supply `S`. The contributor now holds a real stake. Every future revenue event distributes `α × dR ÷ S` per token they hold.
  </Step>

  <Step title="The treasury shrinks">
    Your ungranted treasury balance decreases by N. When the treasury is empty, new tokens can only be issued through the contribution earning formula.
  </Step>
</Steps>

Treasury tokens you continue to hold as founder **do not receive distributions**. Your compensation as founder comes from the retained revenue side — `(1 - α)` of every revenue event — not from tokens.

## Strategic Grant Considerations

**Grant to the people whose contributions you value most.** The treasury is finite. Spend it deliberately on contributors whose work meaningfully moved your business forward.

**Early grants carry long-term weight.** A grant of 100 tokens today, when supply is near the 1,000-token floor, represents a larger percentage of total supply than the same 100 tokens granted later when supply is 50,000. Early contributors earn distributions on a larger proportional share of all future revenue.

**Save room for future contributors.** Don't spend the entire treasury on your launch wave. Leave capacity for the next beta cohort, the community manager you haven't hired yet, or the developer who helps you ship a critical feature.

**Grants are not salaries.** The treasury is for rewarding contribution, not replacing payroll. If someone is doing ongoing work that deserves regular compensation, think about how token grants complement — rather than substitute for — cash payments.

<Tip>
  Grant tokens to your first wave of referrers and beta testers before you spend a dollar on paid marketing. People who hold tokens in your business are incentivized to keep talking about it, referring customers, and helping it grow — because every new dollar of revenue flows back to them.
</Tip>

<Warning>
  Once granted, tokens cannot be revoked. There is no clawback mechanism. Grant thoughtfully — a grant to the wrong person, or a grant that's too large, cannot be undone.
</Warning>

## Who to Grant Treasury Tokens To

| Contributor Type       | Why They Deserve a Grant                                                                            |
| ---------------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Early referrers**    | Sent customers before you had marketing. Their word-of-mouth directly drove revenue.                |
| **Beta testers**       | Found bugs, shaped the product, and tolerated rough edges so future users don't have to.            |
| **Community builders** | Answered questions, wrote guides, or built community around your product without being asked.       |
| **Launch promoters**   | Amplified your launch on social media, newsletters, or podcasts — drove attention you couldn't buy. |
| **Early advisors**     | Opened doors, made introductions, or gave strategic guidance that changed your trajectory.          |