The Exchanges

Q How did you find the fundraising experience as a, as a young VC?

A Uh, I, I think it was about as fun as if you're Raising as anyone else. It's not a very fun process. What I really do enjoy about fundraising, um, is actually, if you think about it as getting to meet people, you end up getting to meet a lot of really interesting people all over the world. It was my, my specific one was a real grind. I, uh, so it took me 12 months to raise my money. Uh, so, so from when I opened to raise money to, to close, it was like no, no, Back in 2013 to november 2220 14, and I closed 6.6 million bucks. I had to, I reached out to probably 3000 investors. I ended up meeting with about 350, and I ended up closing with about 35 investors, and so it was about a rule of 10 for me to end up, uh, raising my funds. So it was a grind.

AI assessment note: “It's not a very fun process... my specific one was a real grind.”

Q Now, can you get the ball rolling by telling us a little snapshot of yourself and how you've come to be at boost VC today?

A Out of UCLA, I founded a startup called expert financial, uh, where we were trying to help later stage companies raise capital online, something like second market or shares post, uh, where we were helping later stage companies trade private securities. Essentially like over the course of four years made every mistake known to man. Product mistakes, uh, hiring mistakes, firing mistakes, uh, and, uh, fundraising mistakes. And I found that I had gained it and I learned from those mistakes and I had, I had gained a specific knowledge base that was able to help me, uh, help early stage startups come up with their ideas, uh, build their products and raise capital. Um, and I actually helped one of my friends come up with their idea, build the product and raise capital. And I found it very fulfilling. And so I realized I wanted to make that a bigger part of my, uh, career. And so I ended up leaving expert, uh, after about four years of being there and founded what ended up becoming, uh, well, I wanted to be able to mentor companies in bulk. And at that time that was called an accelerator, which was about three years ago. Yeah. Since then at boost VC, we've been, we've, uh, run, uh, Six tribes. We call them tribes. Uh, they're three month programs where we provide housing, office space, and we invest in companies, and we've invested in about a 120 companies.

AI assessment note: “Since then at boost VC, we've... invested in about a 120 companies.”

Q Is there something in the Draper family water that just entices you all to the industry? What is it about it that really got you so fascinated? Was it the ability to scale your time to work with the startups?

A Yeah. I mean, it's really interesting. Uh, each generation of, of sort of the Draper family, I would say added some, a different flair to the venture model, whether it be like, you know, my, my grandpa and my great grandpa were sort of first investors out on the West coast around Stanford university. He tells a really fantastic story, by the way, his book, the startup game is really good. He would like me to plug that Then, and then, uh, my grandpa was also the, the first venture, uh, fund to go to India with Draper International. He, he had a tendency to go where no one was looking, and then my, my dad was actually the first fund to, uh, he created this, uh, Draper network, DFJ network, where they had smaller funds all over the world, where they were able to actually see deal flow from all over the world, and I'm, I'm really the first where we're not, Going global, we're bringing people to the United States in order to, uh, train them in specific industries such as blockchain and virtual reality is where our, our focuses have been. Just as, as a family, um, we really like helping people get to wherever they want to go and assisting, sort of giving them the basic resources and, uh, just energy and legitimacy they need to be able to get to the next level, and, uh, it's been, yeah, it's just, I don't know, we like It's a really fun thing. We get to help people live their dream, e…

AI assessment note: “we really like helping people get to wherever they want to go”

Q How did you find the fundraising experience as a, as a young VC?

A Uh, I, I think it was about as fun as if you're Raising as anyone else. It's not a very fun process. What I really do enjoy about fundraising, um, is actually, if you think about it as getting to meet people, you end up getting to meet a lot of really interesting people all over the world. It was my, my specific one was a real grind. I, uh, so it took me 12 months to raise my money. Uh, so, so from when I opened to raise money to, to close, it was like no, no, Back in 2013 to november 2220 14, and I closed 6.6 million bucks. I had to, I reached out to probably 3000 investors. I ended up meeting with about 350, and I ended up closing with about 35 investors, and so it was about a rule of 10 for me to end up, uh, raising my funds. So it was a grind.

AI assessment note: “It's not a very fun process... my specific one was a real grind.”

Q That might have changed now, I'm not sure. But what, what is it specifically then that has got you and has, is getting you so excited about blockchain? What, what do you really see the potential for blockchain being?

A So, you know, as an accelerator, we invest in, in future tech, um, and the industries that we choose to really throw our weight behind, I mean, they're a little crazy, but they have to be world changing industries. And so we've really decided in taking time, uh, to, to pick, uh, blockchain and virtual reality over the last couple of years, because I believe blockchain will fundamentally change the way, uh, Uh, everyone on the planet interacts with money. And it's, that's, it takes a lot of the friction out of all transactions, which is a very, very exciting thing. Um, not only, um, you know, currency based transactions, but also contract based and any transactions that happen throughout the world. It's a hugely, uh, you know, time creation technology. Uh, and I'm, I, we're just really, really excited about it. We've, Been in the blockchain Bitcoin space for about three years now. And we have watched as the entire industry has evolved to being much more mature, higher quality, like really great products, higher quality products. And everyone's really starting to, rather than, rather than the companies think, oh, it's, you know, I, it's cool to use Bitcoin or it's cool to use blockchain. Like they're actually applying this useful tool to solving real world problems, which is very exciting.

AI assessment note: “takes a lot of the friction out of all transactions”

Q And what's the investor attitude at the moment, like, to the Bitcoin ecosystem? Is it very, uh, vibrant and enthusiastic, or is it dampening slightly?

A I mean, the, the common phrase is, oh, I'm not interested in Bitcoin, but I really love the blockchain. Like, that's... And, and to me, they're, they're completely integrated. Everyone's, they're very integrated and they're very similar. It's one can't exist without the other, uh, because the Bitcoin system is the incentivized system to help the ledger stay opera in operation because the ledger is powered by all these computers called miners that are distributed all over the world. There's something like 200,000 people who are hooked up to this network who are powering this huge transactional thing. Whenever they say that, I'm sort of thinking like, well, technically you do believe in Bitcoin if you're believing in the blockchain, but I understand what you're saying. You, you want to not deal with the currency, you want to deal with assets, which is perfectly fine.

AI assessment note: “the common phrase is, oh, I'm not interested in Bitcoin, but I really love the blockchain”

Q And then, when, if we take a step back then, looking at your portfolio now, what would you like to see more of?

A Yeah, I, I'd really love to see more of the, you know, we, we invest in the future. I'd love to see more crazy stuff, uh, not incremental changes. I want to see, like, uh, I want to see people pitching me space, Bitcoin, virtual reality stuff. Like, I don't, I don't, yeah, incremental changes aren't really enough, especially for what we are trying to do, which is launch these new, Incredible verticals. Well, you know, we look at drones, we look at, you know, biohacking, we look at, uh, artificial intelligence. It's all the stuff that is on the cusp of having huge breakthroughs and might not necessarily have found the mass adoption piece yet. Um, and so those, those are the things that we really push forward. So I just want to see, you know, we, we've done everything. So we do have a majority of our investments in blockchain, and then we have a significant number of investments in virtual reality, but Um, there are still a significant number that are, uh, in the range of auditing software to rockets, and so we do invest in, like, literally, like, the spectrum. Um, however, we really are trying to focus on these emerging technologies, uh, these, this frontier tech, uh, that we're, that we're really excited about.

AI assessment note: “I'd love to see more crazy stuff, uh, not incremental changes.”

Q That might have changed now, I'm not sure. But what, what is it specifically then that has got you and has, is getting you so excited about blockchain? What, what do you really see the potential for blockchain being?

A So, you know, as an accelerator, we invest in, in future tech, um, and the industries that we choose to really throw our weight behind, I mean, they're a little crazy, but they have to be world changing industries. And so we've really decided in taking time, uh, to, to pick, uh, blockchain and virtual reality over the last couple of years, because I believe blockchain will fundamentally change the way, uh, Uh, everyone on the planet interacts with money. And it's, that's, it takes a lot of the friction out of all transactions, which is a very, very exciting thing. Um, not only, um, you know, currency based transactions, but also contract based and any transactions that happen throughout the world. It's a hugely, uh, you know, time creation technology. Uh, and I'm, I, we're just really, really excited about it. We've, Been in the blockchain Bitcoin space for about three years now. And we have watched as the entire industry has evolved to being much more mature, higher quality, like really great products, higher quality products. And everyone's really starting to, rather than, rather than the companies think, oh, it's, you know, I, it's cool to use Bitcoin or it's cool to use blockchain. Like they're actually applying this useful tool to solving real world problems, which is very exciting.

AI assessment note: “blockchain will fundamentally change the way, uh, Uh, everyone on the planet interacts with money.”

Q Is there something in the Draper family water that just entices you all to the industry? What is it about it that really got you so fascinated? Was it the ability to scale your time to work with the startups?

A Yeah. I mean, it's really interesting. Uh, each generation of, of sort of the Draper family, I would say added some, a different flair to the venture model, whether it be like, you know, my, my grandpa and my great grandpa were sort of first investors out on the West coast around Stanford university. He tells a really fantastic story, by the way, his book, the startup game is really good. He would like me to plug that Then, and then, uh, my grandpa was also the, the first venture, uh, fund to go to India with Draper International. He, he had a tendency to go where no one was looking, and then my, my dad was actually the first fund to, uh, he created this, uh, Draper network, DFJ network, where they had smaller funds all over the world, where they were able to actually see deal flow from all over the world, and I'm, I'm really the first where we're not, Going global, we're bringing people to the United States in order to, uh, train them in specific industries such as blockchain and virtual reality is where our, our focuses have been. Just as, as a family, um, we really like helping people get to wherever they want to go and assisting, sort of giving them the basic resources and, uh, just energy and legitimacy they need to be able to get to the next level, and, uh, it's been, yeah, it's just, I don't know, we like It's a really fun thing. We get to help people live their dream, e…

AI assessment note: “We get to help people live their dream, essentially”

Q And then what's BoostVC's preferred sector and geographies? You alluded to Bitcoin that, but what would you say their preferred sector and geographies are?

A Yeah. Uh, so it's definitely, we, we outwardly say blockchain and virtual reality, which blockchain basically means Bitcoin. It encompasses Bitcoin or FinTech that relate to the blockchain and virtual reality. And so we, we've taken this methodology of verticalizing our, our industries. What we do really, really well at BoostVC is if you, if you look at our value add, it's, we instill companies with a network of, Of investors and entrepreneurs in the heart of Silicon Valley. Yeah. So that's, that's basically what we do really, really well. And so we, uh, verticalize the industries that we end up doing, which are blockchain. So we built out a great ecosystem of entrepreneurs and investors in that network over the last two and a half years. And recently we were really excited to announce that we were adding virtual reality as another industry that we're, we're building, uh, Uh, huge network of investors and entrepreneurs around.

AI assessment note: “we outwardly say blockchain and virtual reality”

Q And what's the investor attitude at the moment, like, to the Bitcoin ecosystem? Is it very, uh, vibrant and enthusiastic, or is it dampening slightly?

A I mean, the, the common phrase is, oh, I'm not interested in Bitcoin, but I really love the blockchain. Like, that's... And, and to me, they're, they're completely integrated. Everyone's, they're very integrated and they're very similar. It's one can't exist without the other, uh, because the Bitcoin system is the incentivized system to help the ledger stay opera in operation because the ledger is powered by all these computers called miners that are distributed all over the world. There's something like 200,000 people who are hooked up to this network who are powering this huge transactional thing. Whenever they say that, I'm sort of thinking like, well, technically you do believe in Bitcoin if you're believing in the blockchain, but I understand what you're saying. You, you want to not deal with the currency, you want to deal with assets, which is perfectly fine.

AI assessment note: “the common phrase is, oh, I'm not interested in Bitcoin, but I really love the blockchain”

Q And how long do you think it will be before mass, large-scale adoption of Bitcoin will take place?

A I think it's going to be something where you don't notice that all of a sudden every transaction you're doing is on top of the blockchain or by using Bitcoin's payment channels. I think more transactions are happening with it than people realize right now. And timeframe wise, I, I think five years, you know, it's amazing how many people have cell phones now. Like we have like three, 2.2 billion people who are hooked up to the internet now, or it might even be more than that now. All of those people have access to the internet, and they might not have a very simple way of transacting money on the internet, and Bitcoin is a very simple way to get that to happen. Time-wise, I don't want to, I said five years, but I don't want to make a specific guess. Sometimes it takes longer, sometimes it takes shorter. I do see the tides rolling in, and I'm still a true believer that it is probably one of the most revolutionary Technologies that's, uh, in existence today.

AI assessment note: “And timeframe wise, I, I think five years”

Q And then what's BoostVC's preferred sector and geographies? You alluded to Bitcoin that, but what would you say their preferred sector and geographies are?

A Yeah. Uh, so it's definitely, we, we outwardly say blockchain and virtual reality, which blockchain basically means Bitcoin. It encompasses Bitcoin or FinTech that relate to the blockchain and virtual reality. And so we, we've taken this methodology of verticalizing our, our industries. What we do really, really well at BoostVC is if you, if you look at our value add, it's, we instill companies with a network of, Of investors and entrepreneurs in the heart of Silicon Valley. Yeah. So that's, that's basically what we do really, really well. And so we, uh, verticalize the industries that we end up doing, which are blockchain. So we built out a great ecosystem of entrepreneurs and investors in that network over the last two and a half years. And recently we were really excited to announce that we were adding virtual reality as another industry that we're, we're building, uh, Uh, huge network of investors and entrepreneurs around.

AI assessment note: “we outwardly say blockchain and virtual reality, which blockchain basically means Bitcoin.”

Q But with the popularity of Bitcoin and blockchain, are you seeing, um, bubble-like valuations for the startups because it is quite a hot sector at the moment?

A I mean, I would say some companies are really being like able to raise a lot of money, but most of those raises are based off of previous entrepreneurs or who have like previous relationships. Yeah. Like it's one of those things where most of that has been from past entrepreneurs were really excited. Like people who have founded companies in the past were really excited about the blockchain or Bitcoin, and then they go and they get some traction and then They're able to prove what their theory was, was correct, and so they get some more money, because they're trusted in the venture ecosystem, I would say. Bubble-like, uh, but I, I think, uh, in general, pretty fair as far as the industry, just because, like, if you make the assumption that Bitcoin and the blockchain will rule the world, like, paying the valuations that people are paying are perfectly reasonable.

AI assessment note: “I think, uh, in general, pretty fair as far as the industry”

Q And where do you see a lot of people investing where you think is a mistake? Is it an incremental kind of, you know, picture messaging apps or where do you think it's a mistake at the moment to be investing?

A So I would say in the angel investing world, I don't want to say it's for a mistake to allow an entrepreneur to try to pursue their like dream. At our stage, you're making such a bet on the person, you know, whatever they're working on, they truly believe what they're saying. And they truly believe that their idea over the next seven to 10 years is It's going to change the world. I don't, I don't believe it's really a mistake. I think sometimes it's just, you know, some companies are early, some companies are later. I would just, I, I just think incremental technology, uh, breakthroughs, uh, are, are not as impactful to the world, but they still provide a service there. A lot of them can be huge money-making company for what we do. We are really trying to push the envelope on What's possible rather than like what could potentially be a good business.

AI assessment note: “I don't, I don't believe it's really a mistake.”

Q And then what do you think the main implementation challenges are for Bitcoin and blockchain? What's going to stop them potentially becoming this world-beating product?

A So a lot of people would say it's regulation. I actually think regulation is good because it legitimizes it. Like, every time the US government makes a new rule about Bitcoin or the blockchain, um, more people get interested in it rather than shy away from it because it feels like it's more and more endorsed by the government. What's halting adoption, it's really being useful. Really, if you, if you, like, boil down what the usefulness of Bitcoin is right now, it's, You know, border, border to border transfer of money. It can be a third the cost and one fifth the time of sending money today with, with this new technology, which is really, really exciting. And so that's one of the major use cases that a lot of companies have been getting a lot of, uh, hype about microtransactions. So the ability to send small, tiny amounts of money, rather than like liking a post on Facebook, you could tip People a small amount of money, and that isn't possible today with the current financial payment structure. The third thing is a store for emerging, uh, company emerging governments and countries. So like, uh, Argentina assumes 30% inflation every year. Uh, and so they don't want to hold the Argentine peso. They can figure out with Bitcoin a way to hold us dollars or hold Bitcoin or hold, uh, some other, uh, Different currency that doesn't lose the value. And so just a store of value for diffe…

AI assessment note: “What's halting adoption, it's really being useful.”

Q And how long do you think it will be before mass, large-scale adoption of Bitcoin will take place?

A I think it's going to be something where you don't notice that all of a sudden every transaction you're doing is on top of the blockchain or by using Bitcoin's payment channels. I think more transactions are happening with it than people realize right now. And timeframe wise, I, I think five years, you know, it's amazing how many people have cell phones now. Like we have like three, 2.2 billion people who are hooked up to the internet now, or it might even be more than that now. All of those people have access to the internet, and they might not have a very simple way of transacting money on the internet, and Bitcoin is a very simple way to get that to happen. Time-wise, I don't want to, I said five years, but I don't want to make a specific guess. Sometimes it takes longer, sometimes it takes shorter. I do see the tides rolling in, and I'm still a true believer that it is probably one of the most revolutionary Technologies that's, uh, in existence today.

AI assessment note: “And timeframe wise, I, I think five years”

Q And then what do you think the main implementation challenges are for Bitcoin and blockchain? What's going to stop them potentially becoming this world-beating product?

A So a lot of people would say it's regulation. I actually think regulation is good because it legitimizes it. Like, every time the US government makes a new rule about Bitcoin or the blockchain, um, more people get interested in it rather than shy away from it because it feels like it's more and more endorsed by the government. What's halting adoption, it's really being useful. Really, if you, if you, like, boil down what the usefulness of Bitcoin is right now, it's, You know, border, border to border transfer of money. It can be a third the cost and one fifth the time of sending money today with, with this new technology, which is really, really exciting. And so that's one of the major use cases that a lot of companies have been getting a lot of, uh, hype about microtransactions. So the ability to send small, tiny amounts of money, rather than like liking a post on Facebook, you could tip People a small amount of money, and that isn't possible today with the current financial payment structure. The third thing is a store for emerging, uh, company emerging governments and countries. So like, uh, Argentina assumes 30% inflation every year. Uh, and so they don't want to hold the Argentine peso. They can figure out with Bitcoin a way to hold us dollars or hold Bitcoin or hold, uh, some other, uh, Different currency that doesn't lose the value. And so just a store of value for diffe…

AI assessment note: “What's halting adoption, it's really being useful.”

Q And where do you see a lot of people investing where you think is a mistake? Is it an incremental kind of, you know, picture messaging apps or where do you think it's a mistake at the moment to be investing?

A So I would say in the angel investing world, I don't want to say it's for a mistake to allow an entrepreneur to try to pursue their like dream. At our stage, you're making such a bet on the person, you know, whatever they're working on, they truly believe what they're saying. And they truly believe that their idea over the next seven to 10 years is It's going to change the world. I don't, I don't believe it's really a mistake. I think sometimes it's just, you know, some companies are early, some companies are later. I would just, I, I just think incremental technology, uh, breakthroughs, uh, are, are not as impactful to the world, but they still provide a service there. A lot of them can be huge money-making company for what we do. We are really trying to push the envelope on What's possible rather than like what could potentially be a good business.

AI assessment note: “I don't, I don't believe it's really a mistake.”

Q But with the popularity of Bitcoin and blockchain, are you seeing, um, bubble-like valuations for the startups because it is quite a hot sector at the moment?

A I mean, I would say some companies are really being like able to raise a lot of money, but most of those raises are based off of previous entrepreneurs or who have like previous relationships. Yeah. Like it's one of those things where most of that has been from past entrepreneurs were really excited. Like people who have founded companies in the past were really excited about the blockchain or Bitcoin, and then they go and they get some traction and then They're able to prove what their theory was, was correct, and so they get some more money, because they're trusted in the venture ecosystem, I would say. Bubble-like, uh, but I, I think, uh, in general, pretty fair as far as the industry, just because, like, if you make the assumption that Bitcoin and the blockchain will rule the world, like, paying the valuations that people are paying are perfectly reasonable.

AI assessment note: “paying the valuations that people are paying are perfectly reasonable”