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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