Coinbase fired him. Now he runs a VC firm with over $1 billion AUM.

Career Origins and Transition to Crypto

• The speaker initially gravitated toward internet culture, specifically early sneaker trading forums like Nike Talk, during middle school.
• Discovery of Bitcoin occurred via a Wired article characterizing it as "magic internet money" for Silk Road transactions, contrasting with the speaker's later discovery of the community's genuine economic incentives.
• Foundational belief in the space was solidified on Bitcoin Talk, a forum created by Satoshi Nakamoto, where the speaker observed a global community aligned by shared ideology rather than geography.
• The speaker left Coinbase effectively via being "pushed out" due to friction with office politics, bureaucracy, and an inability to navigate corporate structures in later stages of the company.
• This departure occurred at a low career point despite the speaker's strong conviction that Coinbase would become a billion-dollar company.

Strategic Pivot to Venture Capital

• Recognizing a mismatch with large corporate environments, the speaker determined that founding a venture fund was the optimal path to leverage deep sector knowledge.
• The transition to venture capital was directly motivated by the belief that the speaker understood crypto products and industry trends better than anyone else.
• The speaker emphasizes that timing is a critical factor in success for both entrepreneurship and venture investing.
• A personal brand was successfully cultivated during the Coinbase tenure, reframing the role as working for an industry rather than just a company.
• The speaker maintains a core philosophy that crypto is "the most important social technology of our lifetime."

Capital Formation for "Confirmation" Fund

• The speaker raised a $26 million fund for "Confirmation" despite lacking connections to wealthy individuals.
• Prior venture experience was gained at Runa Capital, a firm co-founded by successful Russian entrepreneurs that served as a professional bridge.
• Industry credibility was bolstered through active content creation, specifically a newsletter titled The Control.
• The speaker founded the "Token Summit," a pre-2017 token boom event that attracted 400 attendees.
• Demand for the Token Summit was so high that secondary market tickets on Craigslist sold at four times the face value of the original tickets.
• The convergence of Runa Capital experience, the Token Summit brand, and sustained personal belief in crypto enabled the successful fundraise.