Inside the Hutt

In this episode of Inside the Hutt, Brooke Pollack interviews Baek Kim, a partner at Hashed. Baek shares his journey from robotics and hackathons to blockchain and discusses Hashed's growth, investment strategies, and the dynamics of the blockchain venture capital landscape across different regions. The conversation also covers Hashed’s focus areas, including infrastructure and gaming investments, and their initiatives in emerging markets like India and Africa.

Key Points From This Episode:

Baek Kim’s background

The genesis of Hashed ventures

Sector focus on remittance layers, RWAs, & metaverse

Building incubators & communities for India & Africa

Portfolio construction & companies 

Crypto Interest in Southeast Asia 

Conglomerate alliances in Southeast Asia

Evaluations & regulations in East vs West

Introspection on Hashed & portcos like ZKsync

Links

Baek Kim on LinkedIn

Hashed

Brooke Pollack on Twitter

Brooke Pollack on LinkedIn

Hutt Capital

In this episode of Inside the Hutt, Brooke Pollack interviews Michael Jordan, co-founder of DBA, an early-stage blockchain venture capital firm focused on infrastructure. Michael shares his unique journey from Galaxy Digital to founding DBA, discussing the firm's research-driven approach, the importance of infrastructure in the blockchain space, and DBA's strategic differentiation. They dive into investment strategies, technical diligence's significance, and in-person collaboration's value. This conversation provides deep insights into the evolving landscape of blockchain venture investing.

Key Points From This Episode:

Michael Jordan’s background and his journey from Galaxy Digital to founding DBA.

Formation and strategy of DBA, including the unique approach inspired by childhood psychology.

Why DBA prioritizes the rate of learning and infrastructure/platforms over applications.

Discussion on interest in platforms like Bitcoin, Cosmos, Ethereum, & Solana. 

Approach to diligence on infrastructure by evaluating fundamental blockchain concepts.

Criteria DBA looks for when selecting and supporting founders.

The value and impact of DBA’s community-driven primary research.

The differentiating qualities of DBA in the saturated blockchain VC market.

Background, insights, and takeaways of DBA research day.

Links

DBA

Brooke Pollack on Twitter

Brooke Pollack on LinkedIn

Hutt Capital

In this episode of Inside the Hutt, Brooke Pollack interviews Kevin Williams, founder of Sats Ventures. Kevin discusses his transition from the Bitcoin Frontier Fund to establishing Sats Ventures, a firm dedicated to early-stage investments in the Bitcoin ecosystem. The conversation covers the evolving Bitcoin landscape, investment strategies, the rise of DeFi on Bitcoin, and the unique opportunities within the Bitcoin ecosystem. Kevin also shares insights on the geographic distribution of founders, challenges in venture investing, and advice for emerging fund managers.

Key Points From This Episode:

Kevin Williams’s background and the Indonesian digital asset scene.

Sats Ventures’ investment focus, thesis and approach to supporting founders.

Bitcoin’s non-programmable history and shift to BRC-20.

Bitcoin ecosystem interest around ordinals.

Bitcoin DeFi growth, Layer 2 solutions, and liquidity fragmentation.

Geographic distribution and talent pool of Bitcoin founders.

Valuations and competition in Bitcoin venture space.

Challenges in Bitcoin venture investing and strategies.

Links

Kevin Williams on Twitter

Sats Ventures

Brooke Pollack on Twitter

Brooke Pollack on LinkedIn

Hutt Capital

In this episode, Brooke Pollack interviews Ben Forman, founder of ParaFi Capital. Ben shares his journey from traditional finance to founding ParaFi, an early leader in decentralized finance (DeFi). They discuss the evolution and future of DeFi, the tokenization of real-world assets, and the importance of regulatory clarity in crypto. Ben also highlights ParaFi's strategies, proprietary tools, and how they support portfolio companies.

Key Points From This Episode:

Overview of Ben Forman’s background, including pitching bitcoin at KKR early on, and why he started ParaFi (+ what was the firm's original name)

Overview of ParaFi, its strategies, team, and focus areas

ParaFi’s proprietary tools: Trask and Alexandria

Overview of tokenization of real world assets, why it is interesting, and what Ben is seeing from large asset managers interested in this space

Why Ben is excited about stablecoins

Importance of regulatory clarity for DeFi and building systems that institutions can interact with

How DeFi landscape has evolved over the past several years

Fundamental investing - does the market care about fundamentals?

How ParaFi supports portfolio companies and measures its impact

Links

Ben Forman on LinkedIn

ParaFi Capital

Brooke Pollack on Twitter

Brooke Pollack on LinkedIn

Hutt Capital

In this episode of Inside the Hutt, Brooke Pollack talks with Evgeny Gokhberg, Managing Partner of Re7 Capital. Evgeny dives into his shift from traditional finance to becoming one of the leading experts in DeFi yield and liquid venture strategies.

Key Points From This Episode:

Re7 Capital's strategic focus and differentiation

Liquidity provisioning within the DeFi ecosystem

Technical diligence required to determine if the code and protocol structure is sound

Re7’s internal database of risk scores and they go about measuring risk

Decision to launch MetaMorpho vault to drive further adoption of various liquid staked ETH tokens

Role of DeFi risk curators and how lending protocols are evolving

Operational setup and team structure at Re7

Diverse strategies for enhancing liquidity

Evgeny’s biggest lesson learned

Links

Evgeny Gokhberg on LinkedIn

Re7Capital

Brooke Pollack on Twitter

Brooke Pollack on LinkedIn

Hutt Capital

Join Brooke Pollack as he sits down with Kenny Rowe and Nick Simmons, co-summoners of Octu Ventures. This episode explores their transition from the early stages of the crypto landscape to founding Octu Ventures, a member-led venture DAO focused on the Urbit ecosystem. Kenny and Nick elaborate on Octu's strategic approach to investments, highlighting the potential of Urbit as a foundational technology. The conversation also uncovers how Octu Ventures utilizes its technical knowledge and extensive connections within the Urbit community to support groundbreaking projects.

Key Points From This Episode:

- Overview of Kenny Rowe's and Nick Simmons's backgrounds

- Strategy and focus areas of Octu Ventures within the Urbit ecosystem

- Benefits of operating as an investment DAO vs a traditional GP/LP fund

- The three primary technology pieces of the Urbit stack and its market potential

- What are Urbit Galaxies and why would someone want to buy one?

- Insights as to why so many blockchain and crypto people are intrigued by Urbit.

Links

Octu Ventures

Brooke Pollack on Twitter

Brooke Pollack on LinkedIn

Hutt Capital

Join Brooke Pollack as he sits down with Regan Bozman, the co-founder of Lattice, an early stage venture fund known for working with crypto founders from day one. This conversation delves deep into Bozman's journey from his early days at AngelList and CoinList to founding Lattice, exploring the firm's unique strategy, the challenges inherent in the space and what matters most, valuation wise, in crypto now.  

Key Points From This Episode:

- The three “chapters” of Regan’s investing journey in crypto

- The categories that excite Lattice and their overarching thesis 

- What attracts founders to work with Lattice

- Why Regan is being more active on social media now and the art form that works for him

- The risks of chasing market narratives

- The importance of being authentic, empathetic and relatable

- The only thing that matters valuation wise in crypto now

- Why being early in this business is the same as being wrong

- The challenge of understanding embedded risks, distilling down exact view on the market, and getting as close as you can on taking that one singular bet

- How Lattice built Crypto Peaks into one of the preeminent conferences in the space and the value it brought to their firm.

- Applications vs. infrastructure investments in blockchain

Links

Regan Bozman on Twitter

Lattice

Karate Combat

Brooke Pollack on Twitter

Brooke Pollack on LinkedIn

Hutt Capital

In this episode, Brooke Pollack speaks with Banafsheh Fathieh (“B”), the Co-Founder and General Partner of Faction VC, who shares why being from Iran first ignited her interest in crypto, how the idea of separating state from money continues to fuel her passion in this space and what she envisions for the future.  B delves into the unique value proposition that Faction’s joint partnership with Lightspeed offers founders and what excites her today. 

Key Points From This Episode:

- Level of awareness around crypto in countries where the banking system is broken

-Faction’s partnership dynamics with Lightspeed and its value proposition for founders

-The global nature of Faction’s investments

-Why infrastructure continues to be an area of focus 

-The importance of applications building on the right chain for its use case

- Do we really need all these Ethereum Layer 2 blockchains?

- Is Bitcoin Defi becoming a category of interest for Faction?

- The two traits Faction is not willing to compromise on when adding a team member

Links

Banafsheh Fathieh on LinkedIn

Faction

Brooke Pollack on Twitter

Brooke Pollack on LinkedIn

Hutt Capital

In this episode, Brooke sits down with Logan Jastremski, co-founder and managing partner of Frictionless Capital, a thesis-driven fund investing from first principles backing world-changing entrepreneurs. Logan shares his transition from leading Product for Tesla's supercharging network to diving deep into blockchain technology, emphasizing the significance of high-throughput blockchains and the specific properties and features that will lead to increased adoption and developer activity.  

Key Points From This Episode:

- Overview of Logan Jastremski’s background

- Transition from Tesla to blockchain enthusiast

- Focus on next generation blockchains and scalable applications

- Why Logan thinks we are nearing the end of the infrastructure wars

- His excitement and view on synchronizing the world’s information

- Sneak preview of how Frictionless will partner with the Solana Foundation 

- And the importance of being open minded and present

Links

Logan Jastremski on LinkedIn

Frictionless Capital Website

Brooke Pollack on Twitter

Brooke Pollack on LinkedIn

Hutt Capital

In this episode of Inside the Hutt, Brooke Pollack speaks with Soona Amhaz, a pivotal figure in blockchain venture capital. Soona shares her rich journey within the blockchain space, shedding light on her venture firm's strategic approach to fostering innovation and growth. Soona discusses why crypto investing is different than general tech investing, why it is critical to embrace “net newness”, why you want to let founders tell you where the future is going and how Volt Capital is always looking for great opportunities and founders to back in this space.

Key Points From This Episode:

- Overview of Soona Amhaz's background

- Soona's entry into the blockchain space

- The strategic focus of Soona's venture firm

- Key investments and portfolio highlights

- Trends shaping the blockchain industry

- Challenges in the blockchain venture space

- Soona's vision for the future of blockchain

- And Volt Capital’s most current need - recruiting great research engineers

Links

Soona Amhaz on LinkedIn

Volt Capital

Brooke Pollack on Twitter

Brooke Pollack on LinkedIn

Hutt Capital