Steven Willinger, Co-Founder & Managing Partner of the $28 million Blockchain Builders Fund. As a Web3 investor and entrepreneur, he’s helping lead the charge on what’s to come. Willinger’s travel down the crypto rabbit hole started in 2016 after coming back to his own company from Google, based within Asia. He brings to bear lessons from his time as the former head at Coinbase Ventures. Having co-led Stanford’s Blockchain Accelerator, he learned how to connect the dots between exciting new ideas and practical new business initiatives. The Blockchain Builders Fund focuses on very early-stage entities connected to Stanford and other top-tier universities. It provides critical assistance in creation, staff recruitment, strategy development and funding pursuits.

Willinger’s unique perspective on digital assets industry comes from the cross-functional experience. This experience ranges from leading the corporate venture team at Coinbase to witnessing and participating in the 2021–2022 bull cycle. He teaches a course at Stanford, MS&E 447: Blockchain Technologies and Entrepreneurship.

Universities, especially Stanford, play a vital role in fostering multi-disciplinary research and innovation. Willinger deeply engages with teams even at the very earliest stages, offering teams an on-ramp to portfolio companies through organizing events and fostering a community of founders.

We’ve already deployed more than half of our capital into pre-seed and seed-stage ventures. After all, product-market fit is paramount for founders, as Willinger stresses. He identifies two broad categories for the intersection of AI and Blockchain: AI for Blockchain and Blockchain for AI.

Willinger's career in crypto began in 2016. This had only been a few months after his return from working at Google in Asia. His first interest was sparked by the possibilities that blockchain technology opened up.

It’s all his journey that landed him at Coinbase Ventures. There, he captained the venture team through the breakneck bull cycle of 2021–2022. This experience gave him priceless first-hand perspectives as to what the quickly changing space of digital assets looks like.

Willinger’s transition from Coinbase Ventures to the Blockchain Builders Fund. This move reflects his commitment to further fostering that innovation from the start. His new role will let him use his knowledge and resources to back the most promising Web3 ventures.

"Tech as a whole, and especially Blockchain, is not a field where you can really understand it in the abstract. The details really matter and fundamental limits of a seemingly “good idea” are always couched in the details." - Steven Willinger

His leadership of the Stanford Blockchain Accelerator further consolidates his claim. He is a prominent figure among the academic and entrepreneurial elite. This new role gives him the opportunity to continue mentoring and guiding the next wave of aspiring blockchain entrepreneurs.

Willinger's course at Stanford, MS&E 447: Blockchain Technologies and Entrepreneurship, is designed to equip students with the knowledge and skills necessary to navigate the complexities of the blockchain industry. The course explores dozens of topics. From the technical aspects to building a robust business model, you’ll discover the principles of blockchain technology and how to create and launch a successful blockchain-based startup.

This is why Willinger believes that interdisciplinary collaboration is essential in the blockchain space. He likes the idea of the most successful ventures bringing together experts from different fields. These are computer science, engineering, business, and law.

Academic institutions, including research universities like Stanford, are an essential hub for this kind of partnership. They produce a fertile base where researchers, students, and entrepreneurs can come together. Collaboratively, they discover new strategies and hone cutting-edge solutions.

The Blockchain Builders Fund plans to invest primarily in ventures connected to Stanford and other world-class universities. This strategic focus is helping the fund to draw from an incredibly deep pool of technical talent and innovation.

Beyond the vision, Willinger and his team are active, hands-on partners in their portfolio companies. This is direct support from nascent formation, hiring key talent, strategic planning and operational roadmap, to effective fundraising strategy.

Beyond the financial return, the fund further serves as a community nexus for our portfolio companies to network, collaborate and idea-bounce with one another. That sense of connected community is very important for igniting innovation, and in turn, sparking new economic growth.

"The most common and frustrating misconception amongst crypto founders, Stanford or otherwise, is that anything other than finding product market fit is the most important objective of a founder." - Steven Willinger

Finding product-market fit is the first and foremost goal of any startup,” Willinger concluded. This is true across every industry and technology. He is passionate about understanding the challenges his customers face and focusing on creating solutions that truly solve their needs.

The Blockchain Builders Fund has thus far deployed more than three-fourths of its capital into well-managed pre-seed and seed-stage ventures. These investments have been diverse in their applications, from decentralized finance (DeFi) to non-fungible tokens (NFTs), to blockchain infrastructure.

Willinger is especially passionate about the overlap of AI and Blockchain. He identifies two broad categories for this intersection: AI for Blockchain and Blockchain for AI.

AI is being used to help improve the performance of blockchain networks. It further enhances their security and scalability. These are valuable applications like fraud detection, anomaly detection, and smart contract optimization.

Blockchain for AI uses blockchain technology to increase the accountability of AI systems. It further improves their security and auditability. These include applications like data provenance, model governance, and decentralized AI marketplaces.

Willinger is convinced that together, AI and Blockchain have the potential to create innovative and disruptive new applications. We believe that this innovation has the power to change nearly every industry. He’s walking the talk, aggressively seeking out and investing in ventures that are exploring this intersection.

"Risk in early stage is obviously extremely high. As most investors at this stage will tell you, this risk isn't that many investments will go bust (they will) its that you miss or do not own enough of the big winners." - Steven Willinger

Willinger recognizes that there are risks built into the nature of early-stage investing. He feels like the risks are worth the rewards, especially in the fast-moving world of blockchain.

His experience at Coinbase Ventures has given him a unique perspective on trends and how values are being established in this new crypto market. This understanding helps him spot most interesting businesses and good investment opportunities.

Willinger’s dedication to empowering early-stage ventures goes far beyond capital investment. In addition to employment, he offers mentees mentorship, guidance and access to his extensive network of industry contacts.

He’s convinced that a robust support ecosystem is central to success. This healthy foundation is crucial to the success of every project and the entire blockchain industry. And he actually works very collaboratively with the best founders to really arm them with the resources they need. His mission is to make blockchain technology faster and easier to develop and adapt.

This impact goes well beyond Willinger’s position at the Blockchain Builders Fund. He also teaches at Stanford and is a boots-on-the-ground player in the Stanford Blockchain Accelerator. These roles have placed him at the very center of academic and entrepreneurial innovation right now.

As a recognized expert on blockchain technology and the digital asset industry, he is a sought after speaker and commentator. His original ideas can be read on the pages of top media outlets and heard at the country’s most prestigious conferences.

Willinger's dedication to fostering innovation and supporting the next generation of blockchain entrepreneurs has earned him a reputation as a visionary leader in the field. His projects—fair.xyz, mint.fun, together.xyz—are all actively building the future of Web3. Most importantly, it fuels blockchain technology’s widespread adoption in industries beyond finance.