E131: @diogomonica: Why DEFI will NEVER WORK, unless these two things change! Diogo Monica is the General Partner at @HaunVentures, President at @NEARFoundation, and the co-founder of @Anchorage. Join me for this captivating 2-hour conversation with Diogo - a crypto founder turned VC, now backing the next wave of blockchain innovation and driving mainstream adoption through Anchorage Digital, the first federally chartered crypto bank in the U.S. Timestamps: 0:00 Introduction 1:54 Partnerships: @JupiterExchange, @KASTcard, @BitwiseInvest, @SuiNetwork, @Mantle_Official, @ForzaBitcoin 2:44 Beauty Privilege Is Real 3:26 Why Fitness Builds Trust 8:30 Who is Diogo Mónica? 9:56 Self-Custody with @Trezor 10:48 Silicon Valley Changed Everything 12:03 Why I Left San Francisco 15:52 The Crypto Traveling Circus 18:31 Stablecoins & FinTech Founders 20:36 Ambition Through Discomfort 23:17 Retirement Is a Myth 25:25 The Evolution of Jack Dorsey 27:37 The Cost of Working Sundays 29:10 Working Sundays & Culture 33:51 Missionaries vs. Mercenaries 36:26 The Loneliness of Founders 38:09 Why Starting Is Easier Now 40:32 Watching Your Team Disappear 43:13 Hiring Self-Starters Only 45:29 Why Most Startups Fail 51:56 Is Life a Single-Player Game? 53:28 The Struggles of Solo Founders 55:43 The $1.5M Bitcoin Mistake 58:13 The Magic of Zero to One 58:50 Why Zero to One Needs In-Person 1:00:02 Scaling From One To Hundred 1:00:54 From Employee To Multi-Founder 1:05:10 Proactive Mental Health Care 1:06:24 Starting Couple Therapy Early 1:07:24 Founder Burnout Is Common 1:09:33 Entrepreneurs Becoming VCs 1:10:35 Founder Vs. Venture Investor 1:12:41 Why VCs Seem Arrogant 1:15:13 Why Founders Make Bad VCs 1:16:20 VCs Have Higher Expected Value 1:19:01 The Accountability Gap In VC 1:21:19 Why I Joined Haun Ventures 1:23:39 Balancing Work And Family Life 1:26:42 When Family Changes Priorities 1:28:26 What Does Enough Mean? 1:30:24 Balancing Happiness and Anxiety 1:32:35 Contrarian Views on AI 1:34:04 Changing Minds Through Debate 1:37:41 The New Default Career Path 1:39:07 Crypto’s Incentive Problem 1:42:07 Prediction for the Next 12 Months 1:43:30 Concluding Remarks

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