078 - Highlights, Episodes 73-77: VC Visions, Pleb Power, Secure Payments, and Giving

This highlights episode of 'Build with Bitcoin' delves into the maturation of Bitcoin innovation through five key conversations. The discussion spans venture capital insights, the emergence of startup ecosystems like PlebLab in Austin, the transformation of charitable giving through Bitcoin, and the importance of payment security in the Bitcoin space.

The hosts, Israel Munoz and Lynne Bairstow, emphasize the evolving landscape of Bitcoin investments and the community-driven approach that is shaping the future of this technology.

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Chapters
00:00 Exploring Bitcoin Innovation and Venture Capital
07:21 Building Startup Ecosystems: The Pleb Lab Experience
12:36 Revolutionizing Charitable Giving with Bitcoin
18:12 Enhancing Payment Security in the Bitcoin Space


References
https://www.buildwithbitcoin.xyz/
https://x.com/BuildwBitcoin
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❗ DISCLAIMER: This show is for entertainment purposes only. Before making any decisions, consult a professional.

Transcript

Israel: 0:00

Lynne and I are partners at Bass layer advisors, where we use our network of Venture Capital Partners and startup founders to connect investors with unique opportunities within the Bitcoin innovation space. Alongside this, we help startup founders with their growth and fundraising. Visit our website's advisory section to learn more. Lynne Lynne, welcome to build with Bitcoin. Today we have a special highlights episode covering five recent conversations that reveal the maturation and depth of Bitcoin innovation. I'm co host Iran Munoz. I'm joined with co host Lynne Bairstow, and in these recent conversations, we span a big picture of venture capital. We cover startup ecosystems, particularly an example based out of Austin, Texas. We cover charitable giving and payment securities. So we're showcasing a variety of examples on how Bitcoin is shaping different industries and Lynne, why don't we start with the very interesting two set series that we had on the perspectives that we've gathered, gathered from our various conversations with some of the leaders in the venture capital industry. So let's start off there. What were your thoughts? Lynne, yeah,

Lynne Bairstow: 1:18

I you know, and I re listen to these episodes, and I have to say, I think these two episodes, Episode 73 and 74 are really worth a listen because they they conceptualize exactly what's going on in investing in Bitcoin companies, why it makes sense to invest in Bitcoin companies versus just holding Bitcoin. And also it points to an entire transformation of how startups can get funded. I think it just, I mean you and I talk about this a lot. It is actually the origin of why we recorded these two episodes, is that we have a really unique perspective, because we are sitting at kind of the point in time and space where we're talking to all of the innovators in Bitcoin infrastructure and the Bitcoin protocol, and not only the innovators, because the venture capitalists are talking to them also, but we're also talking to the investors that are putting money and identifying which of these companies they feel has the greatest opportunities for success. So we have the founder perspective and we have the investor perspective. And so talking to the Bitcoin oriented VCs, you know, we just were identifying some really special trends. And so that's what we've laid out in these two episodes, one devoted to kind of the big picture, why a company, an investor or venture capital fund, would decide to devote all of their time and resources and energy into investing in the Bitcoin protocol. And then the second one is a more tactical episode where we actually talk about how they evaluate companies, what the opportunities are in the spaces they're seeing, and what are some of the trends that they're seeing in terms of the companies that are generating the most traction and profitability in the Bitcoin ecosystem. So, you know, for anybody interested in just kind of a perspective of where bitcoin is headed, especially as we have these discussions on on Bitcoin Twitter, X, you know about, is Bitcoin a store of value or a medium exchange? You know, these are the individuals that are really creating both the tools that help us move from one to the other or have greater adoption in both of the spaces, as well as the investors who are backing those companies. But what did you think about it?

Israel: 3:35

Israel? These two episodes worth listening to, and I do encourage people to to go through them. They're relatively brief. And to your point, Lynne, since we have spoken with so many of these capital allocators in the Bitcoin ecosystem, we what we did here was try to find the common threads, right? So all of them come from a slightly different approach. Maybe they're investing in companies at slightly different stages, or maybe they're a fund of funds. However, they they all share some common Whys right as to the the money and the time that they're spending in this space makes a lot of sense to them for various reasons, and we highlight a few of those, right and and it's actually extremely interesting when you, when you, when you take a cold headed analysis at at this niche in venture capital, because venture capital is a massive industry. Then a subset of that is the greater crypto ecosystem, and then an even smaller subset of that, which is starting to shift, but and grow, but it's the big Lynne only VC focus which offers so much opportunity, and we get into a lot of that in those two episodes. You know, we don't need to go through all of the common themes and the tactical approaches, because those are well. Laid out in there. But from my end, I think one main message that I'll I'll highlight here is, and this was, I believe, something that that Jeff from ego death articulated very well, which is essentially, once you understand that that Bitcoin is its own protocol and monetary system, and we're, you know, you're either gonna be plugging into the Fiat world, into the fiat system, or the Bitcoin protocol and system. And once you understand that, and you understand the implications of that, as far as bitcoins rate of return and this whole concept of opportunity costs, then you come to the conclusion that the only way to actually beat that internal rate of return is by investing in profitable businesses that are measuring profits in Bitcoin. So that gets into the entire mentality, I think of the VCs, and that's shared across all of these allocators, yeah,

Lynne Bairstow: 5:56

and Israel, you just mentioned Jeff, but that's Jeff booth of the price of tomorrow fame, and also the founder of ego death capital VC fund. And so I think it's worth a mention to just talk about how these two episodes are structured. It's, you know, we identify a theme, but instead of us just talking about it, we we pulled the quotes from all the different episodes with our investors. So you're actually hearing the voices of the investors, like Jeff booth and his partners, Andy Pitt and Nico, and then also 1031 who's one of the original players in the space, with Grant Gillian and Marty bent. We have time chain capital with Alex Fulgur, ventures with Oleg. We have cantilever fund of funds with John and Brendan. We have, I'm going to leave some people had unintentionally, but it's like we have just the best and brightest minds all throwing incredible James lavish and David Foley from Bitcoin Opportunity Fund, which is more of a hedge fund, but so you have all these perspectives of some of the brightest minds investing in Bitcoin so and speaking on their own. And so it's been interesting to kind of pull the commonalities of what they were saying amongst these various episodes and put it into a condensed listen for our audience.

Israel: 7:07

Yeah, it's the we tried to do a good job of officially going through all of these quotes and specific examples from our more than 70 episodes to date, right? So, yeah, highly encourage giving that venture capital big picture. Set a listen. Then moving on to the ecosystem startup. So this is the most recent conversation of the series, which is with pleblab. Car Gonzalez, so CEO and co founder at pleblab, which is an ecosystem startup, ecosystem that has really taken roots in Austin, Texas, and Carl does a fascinating job in this episode, going through both his journey in Bitcoin, but almost more importantly, the deep roots that pleblab is having as far as bringing together the community in Austin. So what were some of your takeaways from the conversation with car Lynne,

Lynne Bairstow: 8:01

yeah. And I think, you know, just to contrast that with the investors, just as in traditional early stage tech, you have the venture capital or the angel investors, and then you also have the accelerators, which kind of started with a Y Combinator and TechStars out in Silicon Valley and so pleblab started in Austin, Texas, which is kind of between Austin and Nashville. These are the hotbeds of startup innovation, the Bitcoin protocol space. So we see those two geographical areas really, kind of the place where talent gathers and people seem to come together and exchange ideas. Car, you know, was, I think pleblab really was the very first accelerator for Bitcoin companies with the Bitcoin focus out of Austin, and he's just done an incredible job of building community. And you hear it like from like, we just recently published the episode, and all of the founders that are part of the pleblab community are just kind of piling on and just, you know, saying what a great episode it is and what a great community is to be a part of. So that sort of groundswell support for their community just shows the depth and the strength of it. And so what cars pleblab does is is, you know, they have a filtering process, obviously, but they, you know, they have a common space where everyone comes together and they work and they share ideas, and they have structured programs to help startups be more successful. And I think if we find anything in these more technical areas of tech development broadly, you know, as often a technical founder may not understand how you take that concept and get it to business success. And so that's where pleblab and accelerator programs in general will help a company round out the areas in which they need to succeed. And so, you know, they've got a number of different startups. And card talks about the evolution of pleb lab, the types of companies that are in there and and then highlights an event that they're having in a couple weeks. Actually. Be next week in Merida, in Mexico, but they do these startup days where the startups get to showcase, you know, the work that they're, that they're completing, and new developments in their in their teams and their products. And so it's a great way to kind of bring everyone together for a single day of celebrating the innovation that's taking place in the Bitcoin protocol.

Israel: 10:23

Build with Bitcoin is a proud affiliate partner of river, a Bitcoin only financial services company that I've personally been using for years. I really enjoy the strong focus they have on security and reliability, which ultimately leads to peace of mind. I know you. You're a big fan as well.

Lynne Bairstow: 10:38

Lynne, I am, I am. I feel so confident referring people to river, in addition to what you mentioned, also they get us based phone support, which I think for somebody who's less familiar with the space or used to personal service, is really helpful. In addition, they have a private client services division, so if you're looking to invest 100,000 or more, they have a special suite of services designed for you, whether you're a high net worth individual, a family office or trust. I also really appreciate the continued improvements they make in the back end, so that that reliability and security continues to be really apparent.

Israel: 11:11

They they additionally also have US dollar cash deposits paid out in big Lynne. They have a yield product for that, which is an interesting alternative way of accumulating Bitcoin. Overall, fantastic suite of services if you're interested in onboarding and opening up an account at River use partner.river.com/build, with Bitcoin for personalized onboarding. Yeah, and you know that that community component is so important, I think, and actually, car, I believe, closes off the episode with some thoughts on this and and basically some advice that if you're if you are a an entrepreneur in the Bitcoin industry or interested in joining a company, perhaps what that's that's working in this space, to join one of these co working spaces in your respective community. And he really highlights how the transformation of Austin, right? I mean, in just a short few years now, it's become, I believe he even refers to it as up and coming Bitcoin Valley. He makes mention of other hacker spaces, other co working spaces that are now present in Austin and the greater area. He makes mention to the early writers, physical space that's opening up as well. So you see, you see the community truly forming, right as far as not only physical spaces to go and exchange ideas and to work with like minded builders, but also the capital allocators. He goes through how that's been such a such an important maturation in the in the Texas and Austin ecosystem, because now they actually have a network of investors that they can always funnel ideas and early stage companies to. He He really does a good job explaining all of the benefits and the fruits that this community building approach that they've taken has and he also goes through the details of their programming as well. If you're if you are interested in learning more, that's a great episode to to tune into the next episode or theme that we covered is charitable giving. So this was a new one, I believe, first time we've covered that that sector, and that was with evergive and the co founder and CEO, Ismael, and that's a very noteworthy episode. So you know, Ismael comes from, he's an entrepreneur. It's not his first time building businesses, but he comes from a realization that, and he explains his prior involvement in charitable giving and how he basically ran into the ran to the conclusion that the model's broken, right, that this entire charitable giving industry is broken. What he pinpoints that to is a feeling he had that they raised a lot of money. I believe it was 100 million pounds, if I'm not mistaken for different nonprofit and charitable giving causes, and that he he felt like they didn't have an impact at the end of the day, which is quite something to say, right? I mean, you've successfully raised and funneled 100 million in funds to supposedly have social impact. And you can't really measure that impact. You can't feel it. Which is what is Mao expresses. And so this all gives, gives way to ever give and pick the Bitcoin story. So what I found, I don't know about you. Lynne Bairstow, when I heard Ismael explaining what he identified in this broken charitable giving sector, he basically says the cycle is essentially fundraise.

Unknown: 14:55

Donors give, charities spend. They run out of money. Lynne and repeat the cycle.

Israel: 15:03

And what does that sound like to you? You know, I mean, I think you can put many parallels in the fiat system there. I mean, one that came to mind for me was, I mean, just the actual at the highest level, the government and fiat system, you know, fundraise. Donors give in that example of the government, you know, it's, it's not an option. Donors, being the taxpayers, knowingly or not, are giving government spends run out of money. Repeat the cycle. You can draw a few parallels in the traditional VC model. You can, you can say the same thing, you know, substituting a couple words. So, yeah, I don't know about you, Lynne, but that really it was just so clear, you know, that that Bitcoin, luckily, is plugging into so many of these broken models and starting to kind of, you know, breathe new life into them. But what were some of your thoughts from from that episode?

Lynne Bairstow: 15:56

Lynne, yeah, I love this episode, and I really enjoyed our conversation with Ismael, who I think is just a super, just a, you know, a successful individual, and also very wise individual, who's really devoting his time and energy to fixing the broken system of charitable giving and and I've always devoted a part of my time to some sort of charitable or beneficial project. And as you know, Israel, it's like, I spend some of my time working with a charitable coalition today. And actually, this, this particular one, has been for the last 10 years, but so sitting from this, this odd place of working in tech innovation, where everything moves really fast and then contribute, you know, having some of my time is spent in the charitable world, to have a firsthand seat to how sometimes slow the decision making process is how so much of the decision making process is based on what the donor impact will be, or donor impressions will be. So he's absolutely spot on. It's like charitable giving has flaws, and that is stuck in this, that perpetual cycle that you mentioned. But not only that, but a great deal of there's inefficiencies built into that system, because you have to always be thinking about fundraising in order to support yourself. Charities are different than businesses, and you know, even you talk about a startup that has to continually fundraise in order to fuel their growth in traditional VC and and startup world? Well, a charity doesn't even have revenues, so they have to depend on all of it from gifts, and so they have to continually be fundraising. And Bitcoin has a potential of changing that system, where it can give with the price appreciation over time and the way he's structured ever give to where Bitcoin can be a permanent asset that throws off growth for that charity, that it could remake the system. So I'm really excited about what he's doing, and really hope this succeeds on a massive level, because I think it could, it could change it and, and I guess the parallel would be just as you and I had talked about how we're thinking about how Bitcoin remakes startup funding and venture capital. And so Ismael and evergive are thinking about how Bitcoin can remake charitable giving, which is a huge part of our society overall. So super exciting episode it is. And to

Israel: 18:25

and to your point. Lynne, yeah, it draws a lot of parallels with all of the work we're doing in in the startup growth cycle and fundraising cycle, right? So to learn exactly how they're plugging Bitcoin into that, into that broken model. I encourage you to to listen to the episode so that one was ever give with his mouth, and let's round off the highlights with an episode that focused on payment security. So this one was with the startup branta, and that was with founder and CEO Keith. And this one actually came up due to some recent events, because there was a relatively talked about and known hack in in the in the payment in the payment space. So branta, what they're solving for is one of bitcoins very unique characteristics, which is once a payment, it's sent, is sent, it's it's final, right? You can't reverse that payment. So how do you make sure that we build robust infrastructure to to account for potential hacks and to make these payments as secure as possible? So what were some of your thoughts on on brand. To Lynne, I

Lynne Bairstow: 19:43

think it's a really important problem that Keith is solving. And I also feel, you know, first of all, you can tell from the conversation just how incredibly bright and what a talented engineer he is and solving these problems. So he, you know, in becoming a big pointer as any engineer does, it's like, well, what is Lynne? I, what is the way I can contribute? How can I what problem can I solve? And payments, as he points out, it's like, the bigger the space grows, the more opportunity there are for scammers and people to kind of infiltrate this and to take advantage of weaknesses in the system. And he points out that our entire tech stack Today, on our computers, just the way it works. It's kind of been moving towards centralization and and these, and these kind of point points of weakness in our system where we're sharing data with big, centralized organizations. And, you know, everything that makes it easier to operate a computer also increases the vulnerabilities of being able to capture data and take your private keys away. So I think with branta, he's taking an engineering approach and just saying we really kind of rethink that, that tech stack and solve these problems so that payments can be secure. And he's going at it from a standpoint where or the service provider or the seller or the business entity that's accepting payments, they put a layer of protection in so that the individual that's paying them in Bitcoin, that's sending the Bitcoin to them, will understand that the bitcoin is actually going to where it's intended to go. So I think as we become more payment oriented using Bitcoin, that this will become increasingly more important, and individuals will look for businesses that actually provide this layer of security that help ensure that the payment that's being sent is delivered to where it's intended to go. And the beauty of Bitcoin is that peer to peer aspect of it, but it also presents a uncomfortable situation that we're not used to, because we're used to being able to say to Visa or MasterCard or AmEx, oh, that payment didn't arrive, and then Big Brother or daddy comes and fixes it for you. Well, that it can happen in Bitcoin. And so branch is solving that great problem of ensuring that that you have a trusted way of verifying the payment,

Israel: 22:03

yeah. And, you know, you mentioned this payment side, and I think it is going to be a theme that is just going to grow and grow in importance. So it's great to talk to companies and infrastructure builders like Keith, and quite naturally, you know, the network has kind of grown with a particular focus, and the tools around it as well, and solutions on store of value first, I think that's pretty well cemented. Not say that there's not much more innovation to be had there, but there is a clear beginning to the transition of the of all the payment tools as well, right? I mean, frankly, that infrastructure and the UX around that has been suboptimal to date and and we're starting to see, I think, an era where Bitcoin will be used more for payment. So this is, this is a very interesting episode as well, for anyone looking for insights on just the company building approach as well, not just the moving away from payments, but just from a general entrepreneur explaining how they're thinking, and this tends to resonate a lot with Bitcoin builders, but how they're thinking about building a a very long term business, right? So Keith, I believe, says he's thinking about this as a 1000 year business. And so it's, you know, this kind of low time preference approach to building a profitable and sustainable business model. And you can tell, you know, Keith is, as you mentioned, a very disciplined engineer, and he's in no rush in the sense that he wants to make sure he does this right? You know, he says someone's going to do it. I want to be the first, but you can tell that he's being very thoughtful on how he rolls this out, how he provides the solutions, how he makes sure that this infrastructure is 100% robust and and strong, and he knows the importance of what he's building, yeah,

Lynne Bairstow: 24:06

and I'm so glad you brought that up, because, you know, not to, I mean, we talked about, we're not going to actually share what we what we discovered in our summary episodes, but one of them was the type of founder that is working on a Bitcoin company, and the investors just identified that the founder mentality is very, very different, that they take a long term approach. They don't necessarily want to give up equity. I mean, they're not looking for big exits. They're looking to build legacy companies that are profitable. And so, you know, when you take Keith and also Ismael. These are two examples of company founders who are just thinking so beautifully different and really want to make an impact and have a long term vision for their company. And then you also take car who in on his own. He's an entrepreneur in pub lab, because pub Lab is a company, but it's a company that supports. To other founders and so again, you have that ethos of Bitcoin giving back and and being the the source of improving the world and creating better solutions out of some of the broken the broken financial system impacts. So I love that part of it that I think if you listen to the insights of what venture capital investors are seeing in Bitcoin, you see that you not only have great companies that have opportunities for success, but you have a founder that's got such integrity, and envision that it is there are individuals that you really want to support and see do well.

Israel: 25:37

We keep having just such fascinating examples of startups and investors that are helping this innovation space grow. So this set of five was no exception, and maybe that's that's a great place to to wrap up this highlights episode to our listeners. If you enjoy our content, please remember to subscribe, share, follow, give us some feedback. Comments. Lynne and I are very excited on everything that we're that we're seeing. This is a pivotal moment in the in the venture capital model, in the startup ecosystem for Bitcoin builders. And things are looking up very brightly. I mean, just when you think you can't, keep getting more excited. I mean, each month that goes by, Lynne, I don't know about you, but you know my my that that light bulb in your head just keeps going off. And we're uniquely positioned, so we hope you enjoy the content as much as as we do. Any other thoughts there, Lynne,

Lynne Bairstow: 26:41

just to compliment that is like, yes, every day we just are running into new founders, new new thoughts, new ways of advancing Bitcoin use and around the world. And so we're we couldn't be more excited, and we really appreciate any comments that you share and sharing this if you find value with friends and family and just letting them know about us, because we are, you know, hoping that our content is meaningful to you and appreciate any feedback that you'd like to give us, or suggestions for other founders or investors that we should be speaking with you.