Alt Goes Mainstream

“Our aim is to create the biggest entertainment brand in the world, starting with sports … we are building a cult brand around NFT collectibles and we are bringing usage value for them in the fantasy game and the physical world.” - Nicolas Julia, Sorare. Today on the Alt Goes Mainstream podcast we have a fascinating discussion about the intersection of culture and finance with Nicolas Julia , the...

“What I’ve come to realize is that investing literally shapes the world that we have. It is effectively at the highest of levels, allocating resources, whether financial or human capital, to things and teams that build the future that we all live in. Investing builds the world.” - Ian Lee, Syndicate. Today we discuss the topic of a revolutionary new construct – DAOs – and how it can change investi...

Today on the Alt Goes Mainstream podcast we have Web3’s wizard with words. Jarrod Dicker , Partner at TCG , where he focuses on crypto investments that are enabling the consumerization of crypto. Jarrod is an expert at the intersection of crypto / NFTs and the media world. He was both an entrepreneur and investor in the media world prior to joining TCG. We had a fascinating discussion about the tr...

Today, we have a unique episode on Alt Goes Mainstream. We have our first episode with a founder and their lead investor from their Series B. We have the founder of leading alts fund investment platform, Moonfare , and their Series B lead investor, Fidelity International Strategic Ventures , on the podcast to talk about why both of them believe in the future of retail distribution in alts and the...

Today we have a guest who is an expert from both the traditional financial services world and the crypto world, which has equipped him with the ability to bridge the two worlds and build onramps into the crypteconomy. Tom Jessop , who heads Fidelity Digital Assets , is an expert in market structure, capital markets, and crypto. There are few who have seen as much as him when it comes to the evolut...

Today we have a guest who is transforming the private debt markets. Nelson Chu is the Founder & CEO of Percent (formerly known as Cadence), a leading digital securitization and investment platform for private credit. Nelson has built a marketplace to revolutionize private credit by leveraging technology and data to enable efficient price discovery and funding for originators so they can lower thei...

Today we have a founder who is creating a modern insurance provider for the collectibles industry that was made for collectors, by collectors. Calvin Bradley is the Founder of WAX , a digital insurance company for collectors to protect the value of their collections by making collecting safer, easier, and more community-oriented. Calvin and I had a fascinating conversation about how the modern wor...

Today on the Alt Goes Mainstream podcast we have a guest who may be young in age, but has already done more and lived through more than many people twice his age. Anthony Zhang recently turned 26 but has already successfully built and sold two companies, secured funding from Mark Cuban, and received a Thiel Fellowship grant before starting Vinovest , his third company, which is making it easier to...

Today on the Alt Goes Mainstream podcast we have one of the OGs of the crowdfunding space on to talk about how he’s built platforms that have evolved in tandem with the alts ecosystem. Slava Rubin is the founder of both Indiegogo , one of the first crowdfunding platforms, and Vincent , a platform that is making discovery and alternative investments easier for investors. He is also the founder of h...

Today we have a special episode of Alt Goes Mainstream – the co-founders of Rally on to discuss how people can now invest into defining cultural moments and assets that are aligned with their passions. Chris Bruno and Rob Petrozzo grew up together - and they have combined their respective talents to form what has become one of the symbols for the financialization of all sorts of assets. Rally, whi...

Today, we have an expert in lending and capital markets on the Alt Goes Mainstream podcast to discuss how his company, Pipe , is building a new asset class. Michal Cieplinski is the Chief Business Officer for Pipe, a fast growing fintech company. Pipe has seen a rapid rise over the past year. They are one of the fastest fintech companies to reach a $2 billion valuation – and it’s in large part bec...

Today, we have our first LatAm guest on the AGM podcast. And it was a special one. Bitso , LatAm’s leading crypto exchange, is fresh off of raising a $250M round led by Tiger Global months after raising a $62M round led by QED and Kaszek - and has been minted as one of LatAm’s newest unicorns. We had Bitso’s co-founder and CEO Daniel Vogel on to talk about what it has been like to build a leading...

Today on the Alt Goes Mainstream podcast we have a domain expert in the world of VC – and someone who has been a visionary when it has come to one of the biggest movements in VC over the past 8 years: emerging managers. Samir Kaji , the Founder & CEO of Allocate , is a well-respected industry leader in the VC world. He has spent over 20 years partnering with VCs at First Republic Bank and Silicon...

Today we have a guest who is bringing farmland investing to the masses. After working for one of Canada’s largest pension plans, Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan, and running Operations and as the CFO at a platform for buying and selling produce, Artem Milinchuk founded FarmTogether to bring an asset that has largely been the domain of institutional investors to individuals. Artem and I had a fascin...

Today, we have one of the pioneers of the European tech ecosystem on to discuss how the European early-stage VC landscape has changed since its early days – and how their fund, Passion Capital, has unlocked access to individual investors with an innovative decision for their most recent fundraise . Eileen Burbidge is a Founding Partner of Passion Capital , one of the UK’s top seed stage VCs. Eilee...

Today we have a special guest who is one of the foremost leaders in the alternatives industry. Bill Kelly is the CEO of the Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst Association (CAIA), the leading global educational and professional credentialing body dedicated to delivering greater knowledge and alignment for investors in the alternative investments space. Bill and I had a fascinating conversatio...

Today, we have a special guest who is changing the mechanics of private company stock ownership and investing for the better for employees, companies, and investors alike. Kelly Rodriques is the CEO of Forge , the leading private company stock exchange and investment platform. On today’s podcast, Kelly and I discuss: * How private markets are the new public markets. * How companies like Forge are...

We had a special live episode of Alt Goes Mainstream this past Wednesday on $COIN Day to celebrate a landmark moment in the crypto industry that has, in many respects, signified the mainstreaming of crypto - the Coinbase IPO. Adam Draper , the Co-Founder & MD at Boost VC , was one of the first investors in Coinbase’s Seed round in 2012. He joined the Alt Goes Mainstream podcast to discuss what he...

Crypto week continues with another industry luminary discussing the past, present, and future of the crypto space. Today on the Alt Goes Mainstream podcast, we have Matt Hougan , the Chief Investment Officer of Bitwise Asset Management and one of the leaders in the crypto industry. On today’s podcast, we talk about: * Matt’s views on crypto. * How Bitwise is bringing crypto to the wealth advisory...

Today, we have a special guest from an industry leader in the wealth management space. Ed Swenson is one of the most successful entrepreneurs in the wealth management space. Ed is the Co-Founder and COO of Dynasty Financial Partners , a leading RIA technology services platform. Ed and I had a really interesting discussion about the future of the wealth management industry – and how alts will play...

Today, we have a guest who is powering the retail revolution by democratizing access to private investing. Ken Nguyen is the Co-Founder and CEO of Republic , a multi-asset investment platform for private markets. Republic recently raised a $36 million Series A led by Galaxy Digital, with participation from Nomura, Motley Fool Ventures, Tribe Capital, Prosus Ventures (fka Naspers), and Broadhaven V...

Today we have a guest who is building the infrastructure for a new asset class – sports cards. Leore Avidar  is a visionary founder who is building a ground-breaking company, Alt , which is backed by Alexis Ohanian and Seven Seven Six , as well as First Round Capital , Addition , SV Angel , Box Group , and Kevin Durant ’s Thirty Five Ventures . Alt is on its way to changing how we think about inve...

I’m thrilled to kick off the Alt Goes Mainstream podcast with a special guest - one of the leaders in the alts industry, Lawrence Calcano of iCapital Network . Lawrence and I had a great discussion about how to build an alts platform for the wealth management community, why iCapital serves such a big need for wealth managers and banks, how iCapital thinks about democratization of access and focuse...

Welcome to the Alt Goes Mainstream podcast. I’m excited to share the Alt Goes Mainstream trailer here in advance of our first episode that drops later this week. We’ve been building up to this point for a while … and 2020 has witnessed a shift in how people think about investing. There have been a confluence of events that have changed people’s minds on how they invest. Everything from a low inter...

How can a piece of music be the expression of financial products? How can a piece of music exemplify how much finance is changing and capture how people are investing in everything from startups to sports cards to art to dinosaur heads? How can a piece of music express how Alts are Going Mainstream? Lenny Skolnik (aka Yung Spielburg ) worked his magic and figured out how to do it. Lenny is a proli...