Mastering Token Ops: Max Torres on handling multi-entities with tokens

Season 2 of our Mastering Token Ops series is here!?

In this episode, we caught up with Max Torres, former Head of Finance at 0x , and currently building Taco3 Ventures — an advisory company on a mission to “fuel the growth of decentralized technologies, fostering a future where digital systems are equitable, inclusive, and user-owned, with a deep focus on LATAM.”?

Max has a depth of experience scaling, advising, and leading crypto finance orgs, and we chatted about:?

→ His time traveling the globe, and how that led him to crypto finance?

→ How to manage finance orgs with mult-entities?

→ Tactical advice for CFOs managing? token vesting, distribution and more

Starting in Silicon Valley?

Born and raised in Silicon Valley's Menlo Park, Max graduated from the University of SF. Since graduation, his focus has been—and remains—finance: "I started off working in FP&A at several tech companies in Silicon Valley, and I did that for about eight years.”?

His background centered on financial planning and analysis—creating long-term financial plans, budgeting, forecasting financial statements, and managing accounting processes.

?In these roles, he explained, “I helped structure budgets for the company, including P&L’s, balance sheet, cash flow statements, etc. That way we’d have an operating budget for short-term survival, in addition to a strategic, long-range plan.”?

Experiencing the power of blockchain while abroad

After 8 years in traditional finance roles, Max felt the drive to search for deeper meaning in his work: "I quit my job, sold everything, packed a bag, and bought a one-way ticket to travel the world and figure stuff out." He spent time in Paris, Morocco, and wound up in Beirut, Lebanon.?

When he arrived he started seeing first-hand of the massive, systemic problems—both in the economy and in government—that exist in many of these countries.?

This exposure to economic hardship around the globe fueled his drive to "focus my work on something that would really change how things work.”?

That led him to blockchain networks, and he started “seeking out founders focused specifically in crypto.”

In Poland, in 2019, he met Antoni Zolciak (cofounder of Aleph Zero). Max remembers: “I met with Antony, we had dinner and drinks with the whole team, and I really enjoyed the vibe. Super smart, kind people.”

Max eventually joined the Aleph Zero Team as Finance Director, a Foundation based out of Zug, Switzerland.?

He’s been working in and around finance for crypto startups ever since.?

Launching Taco3 Ventures, prioritizing the LatAm ecosystem

Taco3 Ventures, Max remembers, started as a passion project:?

“I was traveling without much more than my laptop and backpack, and during that time I’d help founder/entrepreneur friends model financials for their pitches or decks. I remember helping a friend with a financial model in his pitch deck—then he went and raised $100,000 euros!”

When Max got to Lebanon, he began doing similar work “helping out the local ecosystem there”—creating financials and modeling for founder pitch decks that helped them close rounds.?

Over the years, even Max spent time in more “standard” FinOps roles—he served as Head of Finance 0x—he’s always returned to what he loves best: “grassroots-level work with founders, helping them get to the next level.”

Max’s skillset also lets him create financial models that help founders "explain the story of what they’re creating to investors, and visualize their financial path.”?

Today “Taco3 Ventures is and advisory company that helps founders—particularly in pre-seed—close their rounds, giving them the ability to actually work on their product.”?

Then, once the product launches, Max and his team jump back in, helping them move towards the next fundraise.?

On a personal note, Max’s family is from Mexico—which is why Taco3 Ventures focuses on companies emerging from LatAm, supporting interesting products that will make people's lives better in Latin America."

Leading crypto finance orgs over the years

After experiences all over the crypto finance world, Max noted both similarities and differences in terms of how the space has evolved:?

"At the end of the day, you have an idea, and you need to project it out—financially—to ensure that it’s actually sustainable. This type of thinking mirrors traditional companies. But there’s also nuances around, for example, different entity structures—a DAO vs a private enterprise—and how to manage both.”?

When he first started working in crypto finance, Max “didn’t have peers to talk to, so we literally created a Slack channel—Web3 HODL—to share ideas and insights. Back then the likely answer was 'no one has faced that,’ and we just figured things out together.”?

Ultimately, “not much has changed today. The world is still very gray, which means you always want to pursue and solicit legal counsel and advice from your peers to ensure your approach to finance carries a balanced risk profile.”?

The need to find a consolidated viewpoint in crypto finance

Across tradfi and crypto, core financial planning and operations remain consistent:?

"Finance is the FP&A aspect of making plans and budgets. It's accounting to track records. It's financial operations, like payables/receivables. It's figuring out tax considerations and building scalable processes around those.”?

The key differences lie in the need for what Max calls a "consolidated viewpoint" across multi-entity crypto structures: DAOs, private enterprises, foundations, and more.?

You need, he explained, “a holistic picture because one entity nearly always depends on/affects the others.”?

At 0x, Max saw this first-hand, since he oversaw both the private company and affiliated DAO. That leadership role required "a holistic mindset approach"—and close involvement with 0x’s legal counsel:

"I worked very closely with our legal team to understand all the different structures, like inter-company relationships and where our IP resided. Success in my role meant getting all those pieces mapped out. That was vital.”

How to successfully manage the challenges of multi-entities

For new crypto finance leaders dealing with multi-entity challenges, Max explained:?

"Step 1 is to connect with all peers in the company. Ask as many questions as you can to understand their work at high-level, and then dive into as many details as you can. Maintain a high level of curiosity — in crypto, random issues or challenges will pop up from nowhere.”?

It’s also important, he emphasized, to understand all the legal/regulatory statutes and context where you’re operating: "before setting processes, understand tax implications based on where your company / org is headquartered. Getting good tax advice early will save you down the line."?

In terms of tactical advice for managing tokens, Max stressed the need to first understand tax ramifications:

"Find a good tax partner who you can ask questions to upfront, before you set up internal processes—that will save you down the line. Once you have tax implications figured out, then establish a repeatable process."

At 0x, Max explained, "We initially did token vesting manually, but now tools like LiquiFi can streamline that entire process.”

In sum:

Understand (often alongside an EOR partner) the different rules as it pertains to taxes, in all the jurisdictions in which you operate. Troubleshoot with your peers and other crypto finance leaders — and with your company’s legal counsel. Once you’ve established a plan, operationalize it with a sound process that allows you to execute, repeatedly, with as few mistakes as possible.

The role of finance orgs in crypto’s evolution?

Looking ahead, Max foresees blockchain laying the "framework for how things will work in 10-20 years," with L1s and L2s supporting infrastructure proliferating in the near-term.??

He went on: "Beyond that, I can't wait to see the interesting apps that get built—apps we can't even think of now that enable society to interact in totally new ways. He cited Farcaster, a decentralized protocol designed specifically for building and connecting social apps, as an intriguing example.

In his mind, combining blockchain and AI could further disrupt societal and finance norms: "my goal is to establish an organization that can eventually be automated to deploy capital to founders the way I'm doing manually today."

Ultimately, Max told us that he “sees the power of AI streamlining [financial] processes and decision-making to increase total value output of organizations—all of which, honestly, will develop far beyond my lifetime.”?

It was an absolute privilege to chat with Max as the first feature of Season 2 of our series, "Mastering Token Ops."?

Connect with Max on Twitter, Farcaster (maxtorres.eth), or Telegram (@MaxTorres) to learn more about Taco3 Ventures!