Check size? Stage? Lead?

$600-900k. Pre-seed and seed. Yes we lead.

What areas in crypto do you invest in?

Trick question! We’re intentionally generalist within crypto. The best companies define new categories and don’t fit existing labels. Not specializing keeps us nimble so we can be early to the next big trends. We like companies that aren’t in super obvious crowded markets.

Likewise, we value founders over ideas. Ideas pivot all the time but founders stay the same. We care about how ambitious you are and how big your upside can be.

How are you different from other funds?

We only make around 6 new investments per year. We are high-conviction investors and hate spray and pray. A small concentrated portfolio gives us the bandwidth to focus on founders and be their most helpful investor on the cap table.

At pre-seed and seed, it’s important for investors to have skin in the game and not view startups as call options. An investor with a big portfolio is likely to quickly move on and focus on other priorities if a startup takes a while to find product-market fit. We want to be there in the trenches helping founders when times are tough.

How are you helpful to founders?

I’ve been a VC in crypto since 2017 and lived through multiple cycles. Having deep historical context helps me pattern match what founders are facing right now to what I’ve seen with other projects so I can give accurate strategic advice. I’ve built up a strong rolodex from working in this industry for almost a decade that I can easily make warm intros to customers, business partners, follow-on capital, etc.

I also love building Dune dashboards and built a strong brand as the data wizard VC. My dashboards help founders learn what users are doing onchain and what products they should be building based on the data.

Why the name Varrock?

Short answer: IYKYK.

Long answer: Crypto is a real life MMORPG game. The best founders grew up on the Internet and understand meme culture. Survival in this industry means grinding in the trenches making money each cycle while avoiding NPCs like SBF or Do Kwon who are trying to kill us. I first learned about financial markets growing up on the streets of Varrock West Bank and The Grand Exchange.