GEN C: Rachael Horwitz on Crypto's Mainstream Moment and the Art of VC Storytelling
CoinDesk Podcast Network
CoinDesk
4.8 • 689 Ratings
🗓️ 22 July 2025
⏱️ 45 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Haun Ventures CMO Rachael Horwitz breaks down how crypto is going mainstream through stablecoins and why the industry needs better storytelling to reach broader audiences.
Haun Ventures CMO Rachael Horwitz shares insights on branding in crypto, from navigating market volatility to building long-term conviction. Drawing on leadership roles at Twitter, Facebook, Google, and Coinbase, she breaks down how crypto challenges conventional tech narratives—and why VCs must rethink how they position themselves in a rapidly evolving space. A strategic lens on the future of venture and Web3.
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"Gen C" features host Sam Ewen. Executive produced by Uyen Truong.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Being a founder in general is really, really hard. |
| 0:01.8 | And then when you layer on crypto and the cycles and the sentiment, you know, |
| 0:07.0 | whether it's media or more mainstream sentiment and then the markets, you know, we say here |
| 0:12.1 | at Han Ventures that crypto is both a market and a technology. |
| 0:16.5 | And so what many of us are trained to do, I actually credit Brian Armstrong with kind of |
| 0:20.5 | teaching me this day one when I started at Coinbase and entered the space is, you know, we're fiduciaries. |
| 0:26.4 | At the same time for founders and for ourselves, we have a long-term vision and you sort of have to tune out as best you can the market story. |
| 0:55.5 | All right. So we wanted to sit down with a VC to sort of frame out the brand that is crypto. What are the trends they're seeing? The stable coin conversation. And also what do VCs themselves need to build their own businesses and really to reimagine their own brands. So we went to Rachel Horwitz. Rachel is the CMO at Hahn Ventures. |
| 1:01.9 | She and Katie Hahn were at A16Z when Katie decided to raise a new fund, all focused in crypto. |
| 1:09.2 | And they've been doing some amazing work since then. |
| 1:12.1 | It's been about three years so far. And so we're really happy to talk to Rachel through the |
| 1:16.7 | lens of a creative marketer, someone who had been at Twitter, at Facebook, at Google, at Coinbase. |
| 1:22.4 | She's, you know, got the chops for this. And it's really a wonderful conversation that is very wide, |
| 1:27.9 | wide ranging on the opportunity to retell the crypto story and also a little bit how to rethink |
| 1:34.4 | the VC story. So with that, check out the conversation after the break. Midnight is a privacy |
| 1:39.7 | enhancing blockchain introducing vital, programmable privacy and selective disclosure capabilities. |
| 1:46.0 | It means DAPS can allow users to control what information is revealed without putting sensitive data on-chain, |
| 1:52.0 | allowing you to break free from the limitation of choosing between utility or privacy. |
| 1:57.0 | We deserve more when it comes to privacy. |
| 2:00.0 | Experience the next generation of blockchain that is private and inclusive by design. |
| 2:04.9 | Break free with midnight. |
| 2:06.8 | Visit midnight.net.net.net.net.net.s slash break free. |
... |
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