My guest today is Matt Huang, co-founder of Paradigm, a leading crypto investment firm with over $12 billion in assets under management. Before launching Paradigm in 2018 with Coinbase co-founder Fred Ehrsam, Matt was a partner at Sequoia Capital, where he led many of the firm's crypto investments. It’s widely reported that Michael Moritz called Matt “the only regrettable loss in Sequoia’s history.”
In our conversation, Matt shares his framework for navigating the often illegible frontier of crypto, how his early investment in ByteDance (now worth 10,000x his initial capital) shaped his approach to identifying exceptional founders, and why he believes so deeply in crypto’s long-term potential. His firm, Paradigm, not only invests in many of the leading companies in the industry, it also builds open-source tools used by most of crypto.
Matt has a rare blend of IQ and EQ that allows him to understand technical complexity, bring together unique talents, and ride out crypto’s notorious volatility. Whether you're crypto-curious or crypto-skeptical, I think you'll find his perspective valuable. Please enjoy my great conversation with Matt Huang.
Matt Huang's Profile in Colossus Review.
For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here.
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Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant (https://thepodcastconsultant.com).
Show Notes:
(00:00:00) Welcome to Invest Like the Best
(00:06:15) Matt Huang's College Years and Early Career
(00:12:27) The Failed Startup and Lessons Learned
(00:16:51) Matt's Pivotal Trip to China and ByteDance Investment
(00:25:58) Sequoia's Culture of High Standards
(00:32:51) Discovering Bitcoin and Crypto
(00:39:33) Founding Paradigm
(00:45:40) Building a Unique Investment Team
(00:48:03) Challenges and Volatility in Crypto
(00:53:10) The Relationship Between Legibility and Investing
(00:58:40) Crypto as a New Financial System
(01:05:19) The Importance of Stablecoins
(01:09:54) AI and Crypto: The Next Frontier
(01:16:19) Personal Motivations and Important Crypto Use Cases
(01:29:23) The State of Regulation in Crypto
(01:32:27) The Kindest Thing Anyone Has Ever Done for Matt