Summer Hua

AI x Blockchain x Energy x Physical Infra | Building + Investing | Prev. @aramcoventures @soma_capital @morganstanley | @ucberkeley @phillipsexeter

[Summer Hua @summerhua_]

"There is no need for a permanent middle management layer. Everything else the old hierarchy did, the system coordinates, and everyone is empowered, with a role that’s much closer to the work and the customer."

[Sequoia Capital @sequoia]

“In a conventional company, the intelligence lives in the people and the hierarchy routes it. In this new model, the intelligence lives in the system and the people are the edge constantly aligning it.”

New piece from @jack and @roelofbotha

[Alfred Lin @Alfred_Lin]

A CEO from one of our portfolio companies shared this with their team. I’m re-sharing it with their permission, because it resonated and reflects what all founders and CEOs should be communicating.

--
We are living through a period of compounding change. And in moments like this, the biggest risk is no longer making the wrong decision. It is moving too slowly while the world moves around you.

There are two paths. We can play defense:
- Protect what we have
- Optimize what works
- Wait for clarity

It feels safe. It isn’t.

Or we can play offense:
- Learn faster than the environment changes
- Use new tools to solve old problems in better ways
- And create entirely new strategies and businesses

That’s where the opportunity is.

Challenge yourself to do things faster and better than you have ever attempted. Stay uncomfortable. Stay on the front foot.

[Lily Liu @calilyliu]

Blockchains are tech for finance.

The moonshot that Bitcoin originally proposed, that many of us came to build, has gone by many characterizations over the last decade: open finance, decentralized finance, internet of money, tcp/ip for money to name a few.

All point to the same thing: moving financial infrastructure from analog to digital and enabling all the 5.5B users of the internet to have default access to an always on, permissionless financial rails.

This vision is inseparable from a commitment to self sovereignty.

Where different ecosystems diverge is in articulating the path for blockchains to enable self sovereignty.

My view is that the path is necessarily an economic one. Look around in history both ancient and modern, and there is not a single vision that has reached scale without an economic engine underwriting it. Every ancient empire, underwriting every major religion. And in more recent times, every outstandingly successful city state has focused on building its economy first, before projecting cultural, political influence beyond its borders. On chain economies should learn from this. The path to self sovereignty is based on a strong and differentiated economy.

In our industry, our differentiated economy is defi. DeFi is not an application vertical. It is the core reason why any blockchain outside of Bitcoin has a reason to exist and grow, why blockchains can add value to not just some users but eventually, 5.5B users.

To reach this scale, networks must be neutral, global, performant - and committed to open systems that pave the way to self sovereignty.

On this last point, the greatest difference that has emerged in this industry is between corpo infra and open systems. Corpo infra benefits from huge day 1 distribution, but ultimately serve the same ownership structures and private interests that characterize finance today. These projects may have their role (and certainly creating value for their owners), but let us not confuse them as legitimate inheritors of the original ethos that brought blockchain into the world: self sovereignty, open access, radically equal opportunity served to the broadest set of humanity reachable in an instant - the 5.5B on the internet.

[Summer Hua @summerhua_]

@ayushnoori @cosmos_inst @PhilippKoralus @UniofOxford Let’s go 🧠

[Summer Hua @summerhua_]

@cosmos_inst @ayushnoori Yes Ayush!!