Episodes

Feb. 21, 2025

285: Startup Smarts & Web3 Wisdom | Highlights from the Past Year

This week, we’re taking a look back at some of my favorite moments from the past year—the conversations that stuck with me long after we hit stop on the recording. If you missed them the first time around, now’s your …

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Feb. 14, 2025

284: Operation Chokepoint 2.0 | SEC’s Next Crypto Journey | Solana’s …

Alejandro Gutierrez joins me once again to dive into some of the biggest conversations in crypto right now, including: The fallout from Operation Chokepoint 2.0 and the debanking of crypto startups —what it means for the indu...

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Jan. 31, 2025

283: Arabian Prince | The N.W.A Pioneer Empowering the Next Tech Gene…

This week, we’re tapping into the intersection of hip-hop, technology, education and startups with a true pioneer—Arabian Prince. If you know your rap history, you know Arabian Prince as one of the founding members of N.W.A, the Rock and Roll …

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Jan. 24, 2025

Trump Memecoin Mania, SEC Shakeups, and the Future of Finance with La…

Laura Walsh returns this week to help me unpack the whirlwind of events shaking up crypto, finance, and politics—from Trump memecoin mania to regulatory shifts and the ever-increasing adoption of crypto by institutional finance.

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Jan. 17, 2025

281: The Art of Startup Exits | Brian McDonald from Bay Advisory

Brian McDonald is a partner at Bay Advisory, a corporate finance firm helping founders navigate funding, scaling, and exiting their businesses. Brian first joined the show in 2021, and now, four years later, he returns to share updated insights on …

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Dec. 20, 2024

280: 2025 Predictions with Alejandro Gutierrez

In this special year-end episode, Pete Townsend is joined by returning guest co-host Alejandro Gutierrez for a wide-ranging conversation about what the future may hold with their 2025 predictions. Together, they explore transformative ideas, emerging trends, and groundbreaking technologies that …

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Dec. 13, 2024

279: Mastering the Startup Game | Nigel Eccles | Insights from a Seri…

This week, I interviewed serial entrepreneur Nigel Eccles. Known for his role as co-founder and former CEO of FanDuel , Nigel shares his incredible journey of launching and scaling multiple ventures, including his latest proj...

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Dec. 6, 2024

278: Money Talks w/ Mai Santamaria | The Butterfly Defect & the Futur…

This week, I’m joined by the brilliant Mai Santamaria for a far-ranging discussion inspired by Ian Goldin’s concept of The Butterfly Defect — a thought-provoking take on the risks and interconnectedness of our global systems....

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Dec. 1, 2024

277: Straight Outta Crypton | Swarm and the Rise of RWAs | Timo Lehes…

This week. I sat down with Timo Lehes and Philipp Pieper, the co-founders of Swarm, the RWA (or Real World Assets) platform that brings unique digitization and trading solutions to the world of traditional and decentralized finance. Swam is the …

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Nov. 22, 2024

276: Sponstar and the Rise of Fractional Sponsorship with Manu | Excl…

This week, we’ve got an exclusive interview with Manu, the founder and CEO of Sponstar, the fractional sponsorship marketplace that’s leveling the playing field for small and mid-sized brands to access high-profile sponsorship opportunities.

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Nov. 8, 2024

275: Web3 Fundraising Playbook | Pete Townsend | Raising Your 1st Rou…

We're diving deep into the fundamentals of fundraising for Web3 startups and early-stage ventures navigating their first capital raise. Fundraising is always challenging, but in web3, it’s a whole new frontier with unique hurdles. This session, originally presented at a …

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Oct. 31, 2024

274: Filmmaker to Founder | René Pinnell and Artizen | Funding Human …

René Pinnell is the founder of Artizen, a match-funding platform for human creativity, helping creators match fund new projects at the frontier of art, science, technology and culture. With over two decades of experience, René has helped creators raise more …

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Oct. 25, 2024

273: Mission Minded Founder | Niall Dennehy & AID:Tech | Fixing Human…

Niall Dennehy is an Irish entrepreneur and the co-founder and COO of AID:Tech, who are bringing traceability and transparency to the flow of funds for governments, NGOs and charities with their payments and digital identity infrastructure bridging web2 to web3.

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Oct. 18, 2024

272: Scaling Environmental Impact: Luca Franchi’s Journey with Ambien…

Luca Franchi is the CEO and a co-founder of Ambient, a decentralized network of air quality sensors. Luca brings to Ambient over two decades of leading growth at several startups and large corporations in the US and Europe (O2 UK, …

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Oct. 6, 2024

271: Luis Ramirez and Mawari | Building the 3D Internet

Luis Ramirez is the Founder and CEO of Mawari, a pioneer in cloud rendering and streaming technology. The Mawari team got started in Tokyo in 2017, and since then, the team has effectively built the foundation for the 3D internet.

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Sept. 27, 2024

270: The Stablecoin Revolution with Linda Jeng | Unpacking Castle Isl…

Linda Jeng is the Founder and CEO of Digital Self Labs, and she joins me in exploring the evolving landscape of stablecoins. Our discussion focuses on our key takeaways from Castle Island Ventures' latest stablecoin report, '...

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Sept. 20, 2024

269: Working in Web3 | Real World Asset Tokenization in Finance and B…

Alejandro Gutierrez, CEO of npayme Labs and co-founder of ETH Dublin joins me again as guest co-host this week. We recap our recent panel on working in web3 (‘Finding Web3 Talent’) at Dogpatch Labs, touching on market sentim...

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Sept. 13, 2024

268: Garvan Callan | Be the Change You Seek | Founder of OneZero1

Garvan Callan is the founder of OneZero1, a company that’s redefining how startups and enterprises alike can navigate the complex world of digital strategy and transformation.

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Sept. 6, 2024

267: Mark McLaughlin | Co-Founder & CEO of Coras | Building & Fundrai…

Mark McLaughlin is an Irish entrepreneur who has been at the forefront of the ticketing industry since 2006. Mark is the co-founder and CEO of Coras, a company that's been revolutionizing the ticketing landscape with its powerful API solutions, boasting …

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Aug. 30, 2024

266: Crypto Politics: Unpacking Trump's Campaign Promises

Returning from our summer hiatus, Laura Walsh joins the show again this week as guest co-host as we dive into Crypto Politics by unpacking Donald Trump's campaign promises involving bitcoin and crypto.

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June 28, 2024

265: Keep it Simple | Pranav Kanade from VanEck on Liquid Venture Inv…

Pranav Kanade is the Portfolio Manager of VanEck's Digital Assets Alpha Strategy. VanEck is an American investment management firm headquartered in New York City with over $100bn in assets under management. Although they’re well known for their passive exchange-traded funds …

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June 21, 2024

264: Rita Martins | Author of Web3 in Financial Services

Rita Martins joins the show to discuss her new book, Web3 in Financial Services, which explores how blockchain, digital assets, and cryptocurrency are disrupting traditional financial services.

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June 10, 2024

263: Decentralization: Do Or Do Not | Kene Ezeji-Okoye and Stella Dye…

This week, we dive into decentralization with Kenny Ezeji-Okoye and Stella Dyer from Millicent, Ilya Orlov from FileMarket, alongside Rita Martins, author and Techstars Web3 mentor. The discussion covers the journey from centralized to decentralized models, the impact of decentralization …

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May 31, 2024

262: Money Talks with Alejandro Gutierrez | ETH Dublin | ETH ETF | We…

Alejandro Gutierrez, CEO of npayme Labs and co-founder of ETH Dublin joins me again as guest co-host this week. We start with Alejandro's Token2049 Dubai ‘tsunami-in-a-yacht’ story, the upcoming ETH Dublin 2024, and the Techstars Web3 demo day on June …

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