Investment Thesis
Ownership economy. Users should own a stake in the networks they contribute to.
What Excites Them
User ownership, creator empowerment, protocols rewarding participation
What They Pass On
Extractive platforms disguised as web3, ownership theater
How to Pitch
Show how your protocol distributes ownership to users and creators.
Key Frameworks
Ownership Economy Model
Three-phase approach to building crypto: product-market fit, community cultivation, sufficient decentralization.
Ownership Economy
Users who contribute value to networks should own a stake in those networks
Notable Writing
Tokens transform passive users into active stakeholders with aligned incentives.
Permissionless composability in DeFi creates innovation faster than any closed ecosystem.
Crypto enables users to become owners of the networks they contribute to
Crypto enables users to become owners, fundamentally changing the relationship between platforms and users.
Three-phase approach: build product, nurture community, sufficiently decentralize.
Podcast Appearances
Key Quotes
“In the ownership economy, users are owners and owners are users.”
— Variant blog
“Progressive decentralization is the path to legitimacy.”
— a16z blog
“In the ownership economy, every user is a stakeholder. That changes everything about how products are built and distributed.”
— Blog
Background
Founder of Variant Fund. Previously at a16z crypto. Former manager of electronic music artist RAC.