BitAngels is looking for the next Vitalik Buterin and will support young founders with ideas. Director Alyze Sam and Brandi Veil had an inspiring and motivating conversation about Sam’s fintech journey, pitching, and women in tech among other interesting topics.
Alyze Sam’s story is extraordinary, and that is an understatement. A major accident left her with several shattered bones and made her bedridden for a prolonged period. The accident cut short her promising nursing career, forcing her to learn new skills to start afresh.
Being modest about her Blockchain story, Sam tells people she got into crypto ‘by accident’. While recovering after her accident, she reached out to industry leaders and zeroed in on fintech.
Under the mentorship of Dimitry Buterin, Vitalik Buterin’s father, she learned about blockchain and other computer essentials to get started in the bitcoin and blockchain industry. She hasn’t looked back since.
On Pitching & Why BitAngels is Special
BitAngels does pre-seed and advanced rounds. Talking about the process, Sam noted, “It’s easy. If you have a deck or a demo, you just go to bitangels.network/presenters and you apply to present.”
“We throw big parties and pitch competitions.” BitAngels had invested in Vitalik Buterin and the world’s first supercomputer. Notably, BitAngels comes under Transform Group, led by Michael Terpin, an industry leader.
The BitAngels Director said that slots are open in Nashville next week, one in Las Vegas during Halloween, and in Puerto Rico in December.
She added that founders could pitch their ideas at BitAngels Tech Tuesdays, hosted by Gordon Einstein, a crypto attorney. Sam emphasized that having a demo and a deck during the pitch would go a long way.
BitAngels doesn’t strike down ideas like some tradfi venture capitalists. If a founder doesn’t get a chance to pitch, they will explain their decision.
“The thing is that you don’t just get a yes or a no, we’ll book a meeting with you. We’ll send you feedback on why you were not accepted if we don’t give you stage time.” She said, “We don’t have a lot of people that we absolutely reject on stage because the whole premise of the thing is to make sure that we get all the founders on stage.”
Sam added:
“We want everybody to have stage time because everybody has a dream, everybody has a vision and maybe you’re not ready for the launch, maybe you’re not ready for money. But that’s where the BitAngels leaders, the chapter leaders come in…”
The struggle is real, getting financed is not easy and those starting out will face hardships. Alyze stressed the importance of showing up despite all odds.
Women in Tech, Future Outlook
Alyze and Brandi acknowledged the seriousness of the challenges women face in workspaces. Frequent sexualization, abuse were the themes of the anecdotes they shared about their professional journeys.
Sam emphasized the importance of financial education and having a safety plan for women who are abused. “We are absolutely, completely, economically, spiritually and financially deplete of any type of [financial] education in America.”
Crypto and the blockchain industry is not as toxic as traditional finance as a space for women. However, Sam waned that while Bitcoin was born as a funky, futuristic and inclusive space, the entry of traditional money (institutional finance) might change that.
The speakers agreed that while there was a positive shift in the structural characteristics of the industry, there’s room for improvement. Brandi highlighted the increase of women in tech over the years is refreshing and welcoming for our generation.
Inclusivity and gender equality could go a long way. And if that’s a quality the young Blockchain industry embraces from the get-go, it’s likely to outperform tradfi by leaps and bounds.
