AMA with fredwilson
Welcome to @fredwilson.eth, co-founder of Union Square Ventures.
He’s kindly agreed to do an AMA. Reply with your questions. :)
- What do you think is crypto’s next big act?mainstream consumer apps
- Which parts of blockchain tech stack are you the most excited about right now?foundational primitives that unlock massive mainstream applications like identity, messaging, etc
- How did you first hear about Bitcoin? https://avc.com/2011/11/bitcoinI bumped into my friend Rikki Tahta walking down a street in NYC's garment district in early 2011. I asked him what he was working on. He said "a bitcoin startup" and I said "a what coin startup?" I had not heard of Bitcoin. He said "you must read Satoshi's whitepaper." So I went back to my office and read it.
- what motivates you?I used to say winning. But now I think of it as "being on a winning team."
If you were starting out as an investor now, what would you differently?i played it too safe early in my career. i optimized for a weekly paycheck for too long. it was not until i finally went out on my own with no obvious way to pay for my family and mortgage that i finally found myself as an investor.
Hi Fred, you’ve been in VC for a long time now, you’ve seen it all. What is something you have learned about human nature from doing your work that you think many might ignore?founders need support. leaders need support. criticizing is easy. helping is not.
Welcome, @fredwilson.eth have private markets bottomed out yet? what are you scouting in healthcare?yes they have bottomed for the most part. we live mental health, women's health, and other areas that have been ignored for too long by the medical establishment- Hey @fredwilson.eth - if you were starting USV today what would you do as an experiment in the same vein as blogging every day?blogging was such a gift because it combined three very important things in one; 1/ writing helped me think more clearly, 2/ built a following for me among founders, 3/ made me use the emerging tools. i would try to find something that gets your hands on emerging tech, helps you think, and builds community
what brought you the most happiness / fulfillment looking back at your 20s?my wife, the gotham gal. she's been the source of my happiness since i met her when i was 20 years old, 42 years ago
what's Bitcoin's biggest weakness?its greatest strength is its greatest weakness which is its inability to change- Who are some of the best founders you have worked with, and what do they do differently that other people do not?i don't want to name names because i don't like to pick favorites. the best founders are committed to their idea even when others are not, they are persuasive communicators, and they insert themselves into the products that they put into the market
Welcome , how do think Defi projects will perform in the future? What will be the catalyst to make Defi more popular to people who never learned about crypto before?when defi looks like tradfi on the surface but is defi under the hood, we will have succeeded with defi
what's something that was true for venture 10 years ago that is no longer true today?I used to think that you needed to know how you would get out of an investment when you made it. Now I don't bother to think about that.
where are your favorite places to spend time these days (could be anywhere from specific spots in your home to countries or cities) and why?NYC, Amagansett, Los Angeles, Park City, and Paris. NYC because it gives me enormous energy, inspiration, and ideas. the other four places because they are where i go to recharge when i am spent from being in NYC
What’s your/USV’s thoughts on mirror.xyz nowi believe that writing tools should be built on web3 not web2. that way all of the content can be archived on arweave, owned by the creator not the platform, and that anyone can build on top of the writing tools. so i love what Mirror has built.
What do you think are the best IRL use cases for blockchain besides DeFi and Identity?payments, social, gaming, creator economy- if you were starting a company in this space today, what would you be most excited to work on?a consumer app that billions of people around the world will use every day
- @fredwilson.eth what are your top 5 most listened to artists in the last year?i will come back to this. it is an important question but i need to answer it with data. will get to it during this AMA
Do you have an ENS collection and if so which category dominates?not really. i own a bunch but i would not call it a collection. i bought everything i could for our family members
In Dec 2022 you published a blog post called “Sign Everything” - about how crypto and AI can be two sides of the same coin - has your view changed since then or become stronger? Anything to add to this thesis? https://avc.com/2022/12/sign-everything/i continue to believe very strongly in this. web3 needs AI to make it more useful. and AI needs web3 so we can trust it.- Do you think improved US regulatory clarity on crypto is more of an "if" or a "when"?when. because you can't put transformative technology "back in the bottle". so they will need to make peace with web3
Hi @fredwilson.eth, it seems (at least IMHO) that politics is a field that truly needs to be disrupted right now. Have you ever invested in that field (besides donating to candidates)? Do you think it's a field that can be disrupted (at least without violence)?i have avoided this sector and will continue to do so. i don't understand politics. it mostly upsets me.- Is work/life balance a myth or reality? How do you achieve it if it can be achieved?no. it is essential. you have to have boundaries
- You've been blogging consistently for a very long time. Do you have any advice for creators that want to make blogging & writing a lasting habit?treat it like brushing your teeth or taking a shower. don't start your day without doing it
@fredwilson.eth What's your favorite a) coffee place and b) coffee beans to make coffee with?i don't make coffee. i go out and get coffee. it is a morning ritual for me that i don't feel right without. i have favorites in all parts of NYC and all parts of the world that I go to regularly. @dwr knows my favorite in Venice Beach because I see him there regularly.- What value does writing provide you?it forces me to be clear with myself what i think about something
- are there aspects of winners like coinbase that you find are truly rare, yet are easy to know it when you see it?most of the big winners i have been involved in were outcasts when they started, ignored by most investors and the media, built a great consumer experience from day one, and then were patient for while and then caught fire almost randomly
- What's your favorite memory from the past decade of working with @barmstrong as a founder?i have seen @barmstrong make many hard decisions over the years that were not going to be popular. and the calmness he has about himself in those moments is a sight to behold.
- how would you describe your presence on farcaster in one line? the context of your accountpoor. i need to be better.
When will web3 become really visible with the mainstream?when we build an app that they want to use
How are you thinking VC will change as we move past the ZIRP environment?valuations will be lower. value = cash flow/interest rates
what ideas from web1 or, web2 you think should be experimented with in web3?the ones that did not work or work well in web2
Do you think stripping the narrative of representative web3 terminology ie: NFTs, in an effort to drive adoption is a positive or a negative?i wish we would not do that. i hate acronyms.- What are you most excited to see built on top of the FC rails?something entirely new that we have never seen before.
If you had to choose to invest in only one category today, would you prefer crypto or real estate? What factors influence this decision?web3 for sure. it is way more fun. we have to see around corners. but i like real estate as a downside hedge. when you have a strong downside hedge, you can swing more easily for the fences.
What's the hardest part of conversations with your LPs right now? (If the conversations are hard at all)we just had an LP meeting. some of them are bearish. i am not. i like to be bearish when everyone is bullish. and i like to be bullish when everyone is bearish- @fredwilson.eth is the person you were 20 years ago happy with the person you are now? If so, what has brought that happiness in life?yes. i have achieved much of what i wanted in life while adhering to my values.
what do you think it will take for protocols to endure the test of time? companies don't last very long, how can we get protocols to last 100s, 100s of years?less is more with protocols too. simple protocols that work will endure. like railroads or highways or canals. they are the infrastructure for the knowledge age- What do you look for in founders in an age of abundance? What marks a difference?thinking differently about markets and opportunity
Outside of your interest in Bright Moments, does USV invest in NFT's as an asset class?we have something like seven or eight "NFT investments". we even own a few NFTs but not intentionally.
People talk a lot about bringing consumers onchain, why isn't there more of a narrative around bringing work onchain?i think it is easier to bring work when everyone is already there- As a VC, what does selling to LPs and to founders have in common?you need to answer the question "why me?"
crypto startups, big and small, often rely on traditional VC funding models to get their projects off the ground. should we consider using crypto rails and smart contracts to fund early-stage projects in a more equitable and open/transparent way? revnets come to mind as one such example: https://revnet.eth.limo/about/yes. we were doing that but the regulators kind of hated us for doing it.- How did you approach parenting, and specifically the toddler years?with a lot of patience. i wish i had more back then.
fat protocol thesis or value captured by applications?both, but more value will accrue to the protocols.
any interesting stories behind the avc.com domain?Eric Friedman helped me buy it, about five years after i started blogging at avc.blogs.com
Why did you choose to be a VC?i wanted to work in tech startups in NYC. back in the mid-80s, it was the only way that i could find to do that
@fredwilson.eth All last VCs deals were focusing only on infrastructure not consumers app. How to find VCs who care and ready to support builders of the app for end users? Any recommendations?the times are changing. more and more of us are now focused on consumer apps.- Is Web3 an experiment doomed to fail & or how can it align with the emergence of AI?they need each other to succeed
