20VC: Inside The World's Leading Crypto Fund, The Future Exit Environment for Crypto Assets & The Beauty Of Benevolent Dictatorship with Olaf Carlson-Wee, Founder @ Polychain Capital
The Twenty Minute VC (20VC): Venture Capital | Startup Funding | The Pitch
The Twenty Minute VC
4.4 • 637 Ratings
🗓️ 11 December 2017
⏱️ 27 minutes
🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS
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Summary
Olaf Carlson-Wee is the Founder & CEO @ Polychain Capital, one of the world's premier funds actively managing a portfolio of blockchain assets. Having founded the firm less than 2 years ago with their initial $4m fund, Polychain now has over $200m AUM with backing from the likes of Sequoia, Founders Fund, Andreessen Horowitz and USV just to name a few. Prior to founding Polychain, Olaf was the first employee at Coinbase serving as their Head of Risk and as product manager. In addition, Olaf has also been an active angel with a portfolio including the likes of Robinhood, Ethereum and Numerai.
In Today’s Episode You Will Learn:
1.) How Olaf made his way into the world of crypto from academic studies to Coinbase to today with Polychain?
2.) What really is Polychain Capital and what is the primary mandate with the $250m AUM? With the firm's investments being always liquid, how does one look to stay aligned to founders with an exit possible at any time? How does Olaf think about LP fund withdrawal, would that symbolize a snowball effect in the crypto space?
3.) How does sourcing crypto opportunities differ from sourcing venture opportunities? How does the subsequent DD process change when evaluating crypto opportunities? What does Olaf want to see in whitepapers and what are the big red flags when analysing crypto investments?
4.) How does Olaf think about the exit environment for crypto assets? How does Olaf believe traditional corporate acquirers will respond to crypto assets and those that have raised through ICO? What does Olaf mean when he says, "we will see token network acquisitions in the future"?
5.) Have tokens created a paradigm shift in the method through which companies are funded? Charlie Lee @ Litecoin stated on the show, "ICO's were his biggest concern for crypto". Does Olaf share this concern and where does he see the nuances?
Items Mentioned In Today’s Show:
Olaf’s Fave Book: Infinite Jest
Olaf’s Most Recent Investment: 0x Project
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Welcome back to another week in the world of the 20-VC with me, Harry Stebbings, |
| 0:03.6 | and you can see all things behind the scenes from Team 20 VC on Snapchat at H. Stebbings with 2Bs, |
| 0:08.9 | and all ads get a personal message from me. It'd be fantastic to see you there. |
| 0:12.6 | However, to the episode today, and what a timely show we have for you. |
| 0:15.6 | With the world of crypto now taking center stage globally. I'm thrilled to welcome Olaf Colson Wee, the founder and CEO at |
| 0:21.9 | Polychain Capital, one of the world's premier funds, actively managing a portfolio of blockchain |
| 0:26.6 | assets. Having founded the firm less than two years ago with 4 million undermanagement in their |
| 0:31.3 | initial fund, Polychain now has over 200 million under management, with backing from the lights |
| 0:35.9 | of Sequoia, Founders Fund, Andreson |
| 0:37.9 | Horowitz, and USV, just to name a couple of names from their stellar investor base. |
| 0:42.1 | And prior to founding Polychain, OLAF was the first employee at Coinbase, serving as their |
| 0:46.3 | head of risk and as product manager. In addition, OLAF's also been an active angel, with a portfolio |
| 0:50.8 | including the likes of Robin Hood, Ethereum and Numeride, just to name a few. |
| 0:55.1 | I'd also want to say a huge thank you to Brian Armstrong, founder at Coinbase, for the intro to |
| 0:59.0 | Olaf today, without which this episode would not have been possible. But before we dive into the show |
| 1:03.3 | today, the heart of any good company is its people. That's why Namely brings employees together |
| 1:07.8 | on the HR platform that everyone loves to use. It's as intuitive as social |
| 1:11.9 | media, but powerful enough to support the complexity of today's workforce. Namely is the all-in-one |
| 1:16.7 | platform that helps companies manage HR, payroll, benefits and more. Their mission, to help mid-sized |
| 1:22.2 | companies build a better workplace. See how Namely can transform your workplace at www.Namly.com today. And speaking of transforming |
| 1:29.9 | a space, that's exactly what Eero can do. ERA is the world's best reviewed Wi-Fi. A system of |
| 1:35.2 | ERO and Eero beacons wirelessly connects to blanket your home in fast, reliable Wi-Fi. So despite |
... |
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