"Can't Be Done"

Ep. 103: Why Now is the Right Time for Crypto—with Chris Dixon of a16z

Ep. 102: The Next Big Idea in Crypto—with Cameron & Tyler Winklevoss of Gemini

Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss have been on the forefront of two internet revolutions, social networking and cryptocurrency. So, what do they think is the next big thing? Cameron and Tyler are the Cofounders of Gemini , a next-generation cryptocurrency exchange and custodian that allows users to buy, sell and store digital assets. The brothers are famous for creating the precursor to Facebook (as portrayed in The Social Network ) and owning 1% of the global Bitcoin. Cameron and Tyler are also the ...

Ep. 101: A Batwoman-Signal for Female Founders—with Jesse Draper of Halogen Ventures

Despite being raised in the tech startup world, Jesse Draper didn’t believe she could BE that. Because she didn’t see women entrepreneurs, it didn’t seem like an option. So, Jesse started seeking out female founders—first to interview and later to invest in. And now, she runs a venture fund that is like the Batwoman-Signal for companies with female founders, attracting 4,972 deals last year alone. Jesse is the Founder and Managing Director at Halogen Ventures , a VC fund focused on investing in ...

Ep. 100: To Define Your Business Model, Follow the Money—with Emily Dong of Snout

A lot of founders are focused on making their solution accessible to everyone, so they offer it for free. But you’ve got to make money if you want to build and sustain a successful business. So, how do you identify who sees the most value from your product or service and design a business model accordingly? Emily Dong is the Founder and CEO of SnoutID , a company working to improve the patient experience at veterinary practices through the centralization of data. Prior to Snout, she built and so...

Ep. 99: Finding VC in an I-Don’t-Know Moment—with Dillon Liang

Finding VC in an I-Don’t-Know Moment—with Dillon Liang Are you curious about how different industries work? Would you like to learn something new every day? Then a career in venture capital might be a good fit. Dillon Liang is a Junior VC at Bullpen Capital , an early-stage, post-seed venture fund based in Silicon Valley. His resume prior to Bullpen includes roles at M13, Techstars Cedars-Sinai, Core Innovation Capital and Uncharted Ventures. Dillon earned his BA from UCLA, where he cofounded a ...

Ep.98: The Evolution of a Founder as a Startup Scales—with Spenser Skates of Amplitude

In the early stages of building a startup, the founders are doing all the things—all by themselves. But as a company grows, the most successful founders evolve, taking on whatever role is necessary to move the business to the next level. So, what does that journey look like? And what do you need to know as a founder in the early stages of building a business? Spenser Skates is the Cofounder and CEO of Amplitude Analytics , the leading product intelligence platform that helps companies leverage c...

Ep.97: If You Can’t Be a Unicorn, Be a Workhorse—with Aleem Mawani of Streak

Boost VC S5EP4 Streak CRM If You Can’t Be a Unicorn, Be a Workhorse—with Aleem Mawani Not every startup can be the proverbial venture unicorn. But just because a company isn’t valued at $1B or more doesn’t mean it’s dead. So, how do you build a profitable, growing tech workhorse? And how might venture evolve a new model that supports these businesses? Aleem Mawani is the Cofounder of Streak , a CRM for Gmail that helps small teams manage any workflow from their inbox, including sales, project ma...

Ep. 96: The Future of Education is VR—with Tom Impallomeni

We learn more through experience. And we experience more through VR. In fact, virtual reality solves for many of the limitations of in-person learning, allowing students to practice new skills through simulation. What if the future of education is VR? Tom Impallomeni is the Cofounder and CEO of TribeXR , a startup that leverages VR to teach creative skills, with the ultimate goal of turning aspiring musicians into professionals and performers. Tom has an extensive background in building companie...

Ep.95: How dWeb Outdoes the Traditional Internet—with Matthew Gould & Brad Kam of Unstoppable Domains

Most of us spend a significant amount of time cultivating our online assets. And yet, we don’t actually own our slice of the digital economy. Our social media accounts and even our personal websites can be censored or taken away from us at any time by the big companies that control them. But the decentralized web is different. Matthew Gould and Bradley Kam are the cofounders of Unstoppable Domains , a crypto startup that builds censorship-resistant websites and sells blockchain domain names to f...

Ep.94: Funding Biotech with Conscious Capitalism (to Save the World)—with Arvind Gupta

The old way of doing capitalism is about making money in the short term, and that way of thinking has caused a lot of destruction. But some venture funds are taking a new approach and deploying capital in a way that is net beneficial for society in the long term. So, how do we leverage this new kind of conscious capitalism to support the biotech companies that are making the world a better, more sustainable place? Arvind Gupta is a Partner and at Mayfield Fund , a venture capital firm that opera...

Ep.93: Leveraging VR to Revolutionize Healthcare Education & Training—with Brian Conyer of GIBLIB

A whole lot of founders make the mistake of undervaluing their product. Some even give it away for free, not realizing that generating revenue is critical to proving out a business model and attracting venture investors. Healthcare education startup GIBLIB struggled to gain traction until the team shifted to a subscription-based platform, and now they are thriving in their mission to leverage virtual reality to revolutionize medical training.

Ep. 92: The VC’s Role as the Sixth Man—with FinTech Investor Michael Sidgmore of Broadhaven Ventures

How is an early-stage VC a lot like Shane Battier or Andre Iguodala? When they are on the court, they make the players around them better. That’s how Michael Sidgmore sees his role as a pre-seed and seed round FinTech investor: He’s the sixth man, coming off the bench to serve as the glue that helps his team get to the next level. He may not be in the trenches on a daily basis, but when he does get in the game, good things happen. Michael is a Partner at Broadhaven Ventures, an independent inves...

Ep.91: Filling the Voids in the Crypto Market—with Joey Krug of Pantera Capital

An Amazon study revealed that 100ms in latency cost them 1% in sales. Meanwhile in crypto, it can take as long as a week to set up a CoinBase account! Imagine how conversion rates would skyrocket if the industry tackled latency and solved for the two greatest voids in the market: fiat on-ramping and scalability. So, what blockchain startups are making progress toward these goals? And how is the blockchain landscape likely to shift in the next few years as we work toward large-scale adoption? Joe...

Ep. 90: Sparking Great Companies—with Keith Rabois of Founders Fund

The best venture investors bring more to the table than capital. The most successful venture investors serve as active advisors, mentoring unproven entrepreneurs and propelling startups forward. So, what do such founder-driven investors look for in emerging talent? How do they teach the fundamentals of operating a business? How do they identify and then cultivate the SPARK it takes to build a company with the potential to change the world? Keith Rabois is General Partner at Founders Fund, a VC f...

Ep. 89: Inspiring Deep Tech Founders to Invest in Sales & Marketing—with Greg Castle of Anorak Ventures

CEOs in the deep tech space are deeply passionate about what they are building. But these brilliant technical minds tend to be less passionate about sales and marketing. So, how can a VC with a background in branding inspire his founders to invest in marketing material that reflects the power and beauty of what they’re building technically? Greg Castle is the Founder and Managing Director of Anorak Ventures, a fund dedicated to early-stage, disruptive technologies like virtual reality, robotics,...

Ep. 88: Building the Superpower of Personal Flight—with David Mayman of JetPack Aviation

If you’ve ever wished you could fly, your dream is within reach. The jetpack industry, though still small, has developed to a point where a handful of startups are consistently carrying out safe flights and building businesses around the superpower most of us have daydreamed about, but never recognized as a realistic possibility. David Mayman is the founder, CEO and Chief Test Pilot of JetPack Aviation, the undisputed leader in turbine-powered, VTOL aircraft. With more than a decade of experienc...

Ep. 87: Opportunities in Ocean Tech—with Liané Thompson of Aquaai

Prior to 2016, no proper study had been done around the economics of the ocean. At the time, the ocean economy was estimated at $1.5 trillion and expected to reach $3 trillion by 2030. In fact, the ocean has the potential to solve several of humanity’s biggest problems, and the opportunities in ocean tech are as vast and deep as the ocean itself. Liané Thompson is the cofounder and CEO of Aquaai, a B2B startup using AI, computer vision, machine learning and biomimicry to create ecofriendly robot...

Ep. 86: The Tipping Point of VR Mass Adoption—with Tipatat Chennavasin of Venture Reality Fund

If you look at the numbers, VR appears to be on the precipice of mass adoption. 60 virtual reality titles have generated more than $1M in revenue, with the top-grossing games making $10M-plus. Millions of headsets are in circulation, and we’re seeing 3K to 5K concurrent users per popular title. Governments are investing billions to develop VR technology and $3.4B in VC money was invested in the ecosystem last year alone. So, what will it take for VR to take off around the world? Tipatat Chennava...

Ep. 85: Solving for Shared Experiences in XR—with Anjney Midha CEO of Ubiquity6

“Clearly, the killer use case, the most valuable thing 6DoF can do is allow two or more humans to interact—just be with each other from wherever they are.” The internet has succeeded in connecting people to machines and information. So, what’s missing? Anjney Midha argues that the element of human interaction is what the web lacks, and he is on a mission to develop the tools creators can use to design shared experiences online through XR. Anjney Midha is the cofounder and CEO of Ubiquity6, a sta...

Ep. 84: Media in Crypto with Mike Dudas of The Block

The world of cryptocurrency is fascinating. It is also noisy. And if you are trying to learn more about digital currency or blockchain technology, it’s necessary to sift through a lot of misinformation to get to the good stuff. So, how do you know who to listen to in a space where everyone seems to be shouting from the rooftops? Is there a media outlet you can trust to deliver the truth in an otherwise LOUD ecosystem? Mike Dudas is the founder and CEO of The Block, the most reliable source of in...

Ep. 83: Solving for Volatility in Crypto with a Decentralized Stablecoin—with Steven Becker of MakerDAO

The most popular criticism of the crypto space is its lack of stability. What if you could solve for volatility, leveraging a decentralized stablecoin to mitigate the risk associated with a cryptocurrency portfolio? And how would a market risk manager from the traditional finance and investment industry assess the current risk profile of the blockchain space? Steven Becker is the President and COO of MakerDAO, a decentralized, autonomous organization on the Ethereum blockchain. Based in Santa Cr...

Ep. 82: The New Frontier of Marketing in the Crypto Space—with Jordan Spence of MyCrypto

While the rules of traditional marketing are clearly defined, marketing in the cryptocurrency space is a whole new ballgame. How do you approach promotion in a decentralized market? What are the best strategies for driving traffic to your site and building a strong community around your brand? Jordan Spence is the CMO of MyCrypto, an open-source, client-side tool for interacting with the blockchain. The Ethereum interface provides a suite of tools the community can use to generate a wallet on th...

Ep. 81: Healthcare Innovation, Data Access & the Blockchain —with Kat Kuzmeskas of SimplyVital

Building a blockchain startup is hard enough. How do you educate the market around the technology itself? How do you communicate the business case for your product? But if you’re really looking for a challenge, build a company with a focus on innovation in the healthcare space—an industry notoriously slow to adopt advanced technology! Katherine Kuzmeskas is the founder and CEO of SimplyVital Health, a startup building the blockchain infrastructure for healthcare. By way of open source and propri...

Ep. 80: Pen Testing, Persistence & Product/Market Fit—with Jacob Hansen of Cobalt

When you’re building a startup, it is easy to get caught up in creating the product itself and assume that the technology is the most important thing. But Jacob Hansen argues that an early focus on users is necessary in finding product/market fit. And as your company grows, attracting the right talent becomes just as important as the technology itself. Jacob is the co-founder and CEO of Cobalt, a security platform that is reinventing the pen test for web applications, mobile apps and APIs. An ad...

Ep. 79: {Rebroadcast}: Returning the Power of the Internet to Its Users—Via Cryptocurrency with a16z VC Chris Dixon

‘Who has the power of the internet? Does the power lie in the hands of a few centralized companies? Or does it lie in the hands of users and communities?’ We all know the answer here. Though the web initially gave authority to its users, the pendulum has swung the other way. Now there are four companies with all the data and all the power, and many would argue that they are using it in questionable ways. Chris Dixon believes that there is still a chance we can shift the power dynamics back to us...

Ep. 78: {Rebroadcast}: Olaf Carlson-Wee, Founder of Polychain Capital

Do you know how a former lumberjack becomes the founder of and leader of the largest crypto hedge fund? Listen to this episode of The Boost VC podcast where Adam Draper talks to Olaf Carlson-Wee the founder of Polychain and one of Boost VC's portfolio companies, about starting the first ever crypto hedge fund, and how he now manages more than $250m in assets.

Ep. 77: {Rebroadcast}: Freedom, Global Entrepreneurship and the Possibilities of Cryptocurrency with VC Tim Draper

“Venture capital, to me, is a way that we can raise money to help entrepreneurs who can go out there and do something for the world that just opens it up. I am always pushing for freedom, and I think it’s great to see venture capital be able to support entrepreneurs—wherever they are—to go out there and do something extraordinary for freedom.” Tim Draper is the founding partner of Draper Associates as well as Draper Fischer Jurvetson (DFJ). His gift for assessing the fastest way to get a service...

Ep. 76: {Rebroadcast}: Sidechains, Stable Coins, and What’s Wrong with the ICO with Charlie Lee of Litecoin

‘There’s definitely some teams that are using [ICOs] and are able to fund their ideas better and more easily than the traditional VC way of doing things, but there’s just too many bad actors that just want a get rich quick scheme.’ Charlie Lee created Litecoin in 2011 while he was working as software engineer for Google. Litecoin is ‘the silver to Bitcoin’s gold,’ functioning as a peer-to-peer cryptocurrency that complements Bitcoin. In the long-term, Charlie sees Litecoin becoming a payment cur...

Ep. 75: Solving Big Problems with the Power of VR—with Morgan Mercer of Vantage Point

When problems don’t affect us directly, they are easy to ignore. But if we create a connection with the people who ARE impacted and truly understand the consequences of our own action (or inaction), that’s when we start to care. What if we leveraged the immersive experience of virtual reality to establish empathy for marginalized groups? What if VR could give people the agency to take action and solve the world’s biggest problems? Morgan Mercer is the founder and CEO of Vantage Point, a startup ...

Ep. 74: Fintech Applications & Cryptocurrency in Emerging Markets with Helghardt Avenant of REHIVE

If you want to work in the cryptocurrency or fintech space, there is no doubt that Silicon Valley is the place to be in terms of access to opportunity, financing and a network of peers. But what if your home country happens to be an emerging market like South Africa? What is it like to be part of a foreign national startup in the San Francisco Bay Area? And how do you effectively manage a distributed team working from a different time zone? Helghardt Avenant is the co-founder and CEO of Rehive, ...