About this episode
Alyse Killeen is the founding Managing Partner of Bitcoin VC firm Stillmark. In BTC since 2013, Alyse is the Past President of the BitGive Foundation, Bitcoin's first 501(c)(3) non-profit. The San Francisco Bay Area native also mentors at Silicon Valley's Plug and Play Tech Center, Alchemist Accelerator, and NYFTL by the Partnership Fund for NYC and Springboard Enterprises. Reach out to Alyse at https://www.stillmark.com / REFERRAL LINKS: Coin Stories is powered by BITCOIN 2023, which will be the BIGGEST BITCOIN EVENT IN HISTORY held in April 2023. If you missed Bitcoin 2022, make sure to head to the @Bitcoin Magazine page to find videos and highlights of all the biggest events and panels. You can get an early bird pass for Bitcoin 2023 at a steep discount if you head to: https://b.tc/conference/2023 *** Okcoin is on a mission to make crypto investing and trading easily accessible to anyone around the world. We are building the next generation of tools to help onboard the investors and traders who have been on the fence about crypto. Okcoin is a globally licensed exchange with offices in San Francisco, Miami, Malta, Hong Kong, Singapore and Japan. We are a collective of global citizens with a common passion to help decentralize finance and level the economic playing field for everyone around the world. Visit https://www.okcoin.com/natalie for $50 in Bitcoin when you sign up. *** With iTrustCapital, you can actually invest in crypto without worrying about taxes, or fees. iTrustCapital allows their clients to invest in crypto through an individual retirement account, or an IRA. IRAs are tax sheltered accounts, which means all your crypto trading is tax-free and can even grow tax-free over time. The best part is that it's totally free to open an account, and there are no hidden fees. You don't need to pay any monthly subscription or membership fees either. If you open and fund an account, you will get a $100 funding bonus added to your account. To learn more, click the link below and open a free account to learn more. https://itrust.capital/nataliebrunell *** Fold is the best Bitcoin rewards debit card and shopping app in the world! Earn Bitcoin on everything you purchase with the Fold's Bitcoin cashback debit card and spin the Daily Wheel to earn free Bitcoin. Head to https://www.foldapp.com/natalie for 5,000 free sats! #bitcoin #cryptocurrency #inflation Timecodes: 00:00 Promo codes 01:59 Growing up in SF Bay Area 04:35 Childhood dreams: science, research & statistics 05:25 Studying psychology 06:04 Interest in health, first responders 07:09 Traumatic stress response 08:27 Finding peace in health 10:17 Pivoting to venture capital 12:26 How does VC work? 14:54 Valuating companies 17:31 Where does the capital come from? 19:29 Learning about Bitcoin early on 23:02 Financial inclusion 24:36 Dignity and freedom through commerce 25:30 iTrustCapital break 26:18 Fold app break 26:51 Building Bitcoin VC firm Stillmark 29:47 Token investing 32:41 Investment growth in BTC space 35:13 Taro integrating fiat with Bitcoin over Lightning Network 37:19 Stablecoins vs. Bitcoin adoption and growth 38:57 Institutions coming into Bitcoin 40:37 Economic environment and BTC price 43:01 Bitcoin not on Stillmark's balance sheet 44:50 Pink Frog Games (Candy Crush) utilizing Bitcoin & Lightning 48:11 Backing decision makers, supporting founders 50:59 Advice for a young Alyse getting into VC 52:26 Bitcoin in the future 52:59 Pitches don't have to be perfect