Crypto Courage

The unbeaten path to joining crypto communities & creating the future

Meet Mary Gao, Investor at General Catalyst, a $7B global multistage venture fund, where she primarily focuses on early fintech and consumer investing, in particular the crypto and creator economy. Prior to GC, she was the first employee at Upsolve, a legal-tech startup helping discharge almost $400M worth of debt for low-income Americans, and Joro, a mobile-based carbon tracking, and offsetting startup. She loves the social sciences as much as computer science and studies French, Chinese, and pottery in her free time. She's starting a Youtube/TikTok channel along with every other day videos about life in Startup Land.?

We dive into what Mary thinks is the future of crypto, blazing your own trail in the crypto investing space, being intentional with where you invest your time, and why intentional projects and communities backed by protocols, clear goals and values that align with your own might be worth your time.

Eve #WealthWednesday Highlight #11: Mary Gao, Investor- General Catalyst

Do you remember what your first ever investment was or how you got started??

My first personal investment was actually when I was very young! My mom gave me some money and laid down two rules for me: 1) I couldn't give the money to someone else, and 2) I needed to put it somewhere. I ultimately chose to invest in a pharmaceutical company, a very random company on the Toronto stock exchange, but that small investment was what got me into this space.

When I was seventeen, I remember that I used to go to Stockhouse, which offers small cap stock market news and analysis, portfolio tracking, investor message boards and forums (“bullboards”), newsletter aggregation, and more. I read through the forums and took note of what people felt good about and what they didn’t have confidence in. If the majority of people felt good about a stock or investment opportunity, it helped me build my own confidence and helped me identify companies that I wanted to invest in--like that first pharmaceutical company.

My first personal investment as a VC was into a company called Aisle, which is a Gen Z text-based cashback system. Aisle has an omni-channel approach to retail which is still 80% offline and lets you turn your grocery receipts into cash back via Venmo.?

How/why did you get into your space?

When I joined General Catalyst we already had a handful of crypto investments that have actually played out. As a whole, crypto wasn’t a sector that we approached in the structured way as others. I was looking for something new to do and I quickly realized that crypto was a crazy new space to be in, that it was just emerging. I knew I had nothing to lose other than spending a bunch of my time digging in, learning, and exploring. Choosing to invest that time upfront turned out to be really fruitful and I found crypto to be a really creative and fun space to play in and dig deeper, even on a philosophical level.

When I think about what gave me the confidence to go into such a crazy vertical is identifying as an underdog. I feel like underdogs have no choice but to go into these spaces. I've always gravitated towards alternative paths because I couldn't force myself to do only traditional things. I think I had to go down a weird, funky path in order to stand out as an applicant for General Catalyst and past opportunities that came my way. Being a young VC in a very established company is incredible but I did have a moment of imposter syndrome and felt intimidated. When I first joined, I didn't feel like I could just claim my spot in something where I felt others were truly experts. Having settled in and looking back on the journey so far, I often think there was no other choice for me but to take the unbeaten path.?

The first time I heard about crypto was ten years ago. It was brought to my attention by “blockchain bros” and I just remember feeling put off at first. I didn’t think that crypto was something I wanted to be involved in. About five years ago I read Satoshi’s white paper and I remember being surprised that it was actually very short and clear. I thought it was super interesting and it made me curious and excited about crypto. I realized there are some legitimately talented people who have dedicated much of their lives to something I now think is revolutionary.

What role do you play in the wealth space and why is it important?

I've cared about personal finance for a long time and it’s something I talk about with my immediate circle a lot. I even wrote a Medium post to make some of those insights easier to share because personal finance is something that people often learn through their family, as opposed through an education institution. It’s become a duty of mine to get the basics out there and explain it to people in a way they can digest.

?Even from an investment point of view, I’m attracted to startups that talk a lot about how to increase the personal wealth of people. I feel like you have to ask yourself, “How do I increase my income streams?” or “How do you get a fair deal?” With crypto, it’s becoming a mainstream asset. People seeking alternative investing opportunities like those in the crypto space are going to be able to make a lot of money. I love that I'm a piece of the crypto community as well.

What do you believe is the most exciting thing you’ve learned and want others to know?

As someone who was able to succeed outside of the norm, I really feel like it is your obligation to do something others might think is really crazy and risky. There was no traditional path to follow to get to where I wanted to go. I really feel like there’s no other way to live the life you truly want without going off the beaten path. The number one thingI think others should embrace is thinking conceptually and staying rooted to your principles. After reflection, people need to take the logical steps and speak or write out your conclusions and convictions. Overall, I feel like meaningfulness will come from the fact that you’ll have an amazing experience and amazing memories with people you love. These fundamental beliefs drive a lot of how I spend my day and how I think about my career.?

Who is a person or company that inspires you in the space and why?

Dapper Labs inspires me in the NFT space. There are many companies that quit and fail because they're too early. However, there are also some companies that are early and they lead the charge to make the world change with them. I think what Dapper Labs has done with digital assets is super inspiring. No one wanted what they were giving, but they just forced the world into reality where digital assets and NFTs are a hot commodity, which is pretty incredible.

Another company that is really inspiring is Ethereum, in the sense that they spawned the notion of utility tokens. With Bitcoin, you had to do all of this work and then you’d effectively throw it away. If you think about gold jewelry, or even silver or gold coins, those kinds of commodities were inherently valuable. I think that the idea of utility tokens is so smart because it has inspired a whole host of things where you can get directly rewarded for the work you do, and that work is useful in all sorts of different ways. Conceptually, I think it’s a big breakthrough in the crypto space.

What advice would you give to someone getting started?

Don’t forget that what makes you different is actually what makes you valuable, and in some cases even more valuable to certain communities. Whatever topics you know about and have experience would be missing in the very space you’re looking to go because more often than not, there are not many people like you--especially in the crypto space. I think what crypto really needs to do in the next decade or so is to go mainstream, but to go mainstream it has to represent the people that are a part of mainstream society. I definitely think playing to your strengths and highlighting what makes you different as opposed to focusing on what everyone else is good at will actually make you a better member of different crypto communities.?

When you’re going through the process of selecting which communities to jump into, I like to start with a white paper. You don't need to read back through that much and you can just skim it. I like seeing people who've been really thoughtful about the policy around crypto or the system that it creates. You might want to look for signs that tell you the creators of a certain project or crypto community are thinking in a way that’s aligned with your own values and goals. Are those values and goals documented? Can you start playing around with their project and exploring?

I highly recommend asking yourself whether the creators have made it dev-friendly and whether you actually want to participate. Make sure that as you're testing these things out, you’re taking time to reflect and ask yourself if they are building a community in the way that you want to see it evolve, if they’re upholding the policies they’ve claimed, and if they’re being thoughtful about the way they’re designing their protocols for their community. Be selective about what you’re investing your time in. Being intentional ensures you’re also able to add something valuable to the projects and communities in the crypto space you want to be part of.?

Anything else we should know?

I’m going to start a YouTube channel soon that will be pretty casual and focus on things that I hear and have observed in Startup Land. The region of Startup Land that I live in is primarily in the crypto space, so if you're interested in that stay tuned and feel free to stay in touch!?

#wealthwednesday #crypto #womenincrypto #fintech #womenswealth #futureoffinance #investing #venturecapital

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Have thoughts on this week’s topic or questions for me or Mary Gao? Post your thoughts in the comment section. Until next week. ??

You can connect with Mary on LINKEDIN

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