My guest today is Sean Judge (https://twitter.com/seanjudgeciv ), general partner at Castle Island Ventures (https://twitter.com/CastleIslandVC ). Sean has been investing since he started working in 2011. He was fortunate to take a wide lens approach early on in his career and narrowed over time until he ultimately landed in the Web3 early stage venture space. He is partnered with some amazing minds as Castle Island, and aspires to build a generational VC firm. He takes us through the mega trends they invest in and why the future for this space is bright.
First receiving ICO offers at Highland Capital Partners from companies started by major talent but no revenue and a white paper to meeting Matt Walsh while he was at Fidelity and putting a personal check in Castle Island
We Discuss...
2023 Outlook
-Proof of Reserves with Exchanges
-Stablecoins
-From 555 Seed and Series A deals in 2019-20 to 1400 in 2022
-People are still leaving comfortable full-time jobs because of the promise of Web3
How to Survive a Bear
-Seed or Series A check to last closer to 36 month rather than 18
-Plan for the best (rebound mid-2023), Prepare for the worst (2-2.5 yr bear)
-Big consumer brands are still moving forward so lean into Sales and Marketing
-If your audience are crypto-native then focus on making your product as sticky as possible
Pick and Shovels Business following 3 megatrends:
Chapters:
00:00-10:50 Founding Story
10:50-14:19 Outlook for the Space in 2023
14:20-19:37 VC advice to Survive a Bear Market
19:38-24:30 Role of Decentralization in Web3 Startups and Investing
24:31-29:36 Crypto-Native Portfolio Breakdown and Outlook
29:37-44:20 What is the Future of DeFi and Enterprise Blockchain?
44:21-51:40 Consumer Side of Web3 in 2023
51:41-57:26 Closing Questions
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