Invest Like The Best
Episode 287 Searching for White Space
Invest Like The Best

Episode 287: Searching for White Space

Invest Like The Best

Episode 287

Searching for White Space

Alok Vasudev is the co-founder of Standard Crypto. We cover what advice he would give to crypto skeptics, whether the recent bubble in cryptoassets meets the definition of productive speculation, and look at some underestimated big ideas.

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[00:02:31] - [First question] - His history in venture and thoughts on the crypto ecosystem

[00:06:06] - What it means to be great at searching for white space as a venture capitalist

[00:08:00] - Things his original venture peers would say he was best and worst at

[00:09:24] - How he would address crypto skeptics broadly given today’s market

[00:13:35] - Whether or not it’s appropriate to look at each crypto token as a stock 

[00:15:32] - The pool of demand for Dai and the end use-case itself for the stablecoin 

[00:17:01] - What matters to him the most in the world of stablecoins 

[00:19:59] - Defining sound and unsound collateral 

[00:21:02] - Why the US doesn’t digitize the dollar and how being a government entity would impede some of their capabilities 

[00:23:21] - What a community operated computer unlocks compared to a standalone one

[00:27:09] - What persistence and resilience from community computers open up  

[00:29:30] - Something going on that people aren’t talking about yet in regards to blockchains

[00:33:54] - The notion of productive speculation and what it means 

[00:36:03] - One of the best historical examples of productive speculation

[00:42:29] - How things outside of the blockchain become integrated and connected to it

[00:45:43] - Ways crypto will impact the gaming world over the coming years

[00:49:10] - Handicapping a potential future where NFTs work and blockchains don’t benefit

[00:51:42] - Thoughts on the world of art, IP, NFTs, and its changing landscape

[00:54:43] - Whether or not there are companies being built that can streamline and facilitate this form of connection between artists and their fanbases

[00:58:13] - Other controversial opinions he holds in the crypto community 

[01:03:13] - What he’s most bullish and bearish on right now

[01:07:29] - The kindest thing anyone has ever done for him

Searching for White Space

Introduction

Patrick
My guest today is Alok Vasudev. Alok is an early stage investor who has been in the crypto space for a very long time. Before co-founding Standard Crypto, he was an investor at Benchmark and S28 Capital. Given Alok's experience and the prevailing mood right now in crypto, this is a particularly interesting discussion on the ecosystem at large. We discuss whether the bubble can be thought of as productive speculation, his views on skeptics in the space, and look at some big potentially underestimated ideas. Please enjoy my conversation with Alok Vasudev.

A View of the Current Crypto Ecosystem

Patrick
So Alok, I think the benefit of this conversation today is the very long experience and perspective that you bring to our topic. And it's also a good time to be talking about crypto, because it's finally in a season where there's a lot that's gone wrong. There's been some extremely epic meltdowns in different parts of the ecosystem. I think the general tenor is very bearish and very skeptical and a lot of worry out there, and so it's a good time to have a conversation like this. Maybe you could just tell your story a little bit. I want to give frame of reference for those listening why you're different and interesting voice having come to this a lot earlier than most and I think having a unique way of thinking about the ecosystem and its potential. So maybe just give us a little bit of history lesson on your own experience here, and then we'll go into 30 different topics.

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