- Duration: 26 min
- Platform: zoom
- Source: Read.ai 01JS2K7GS0JQH8QPRQ52BEWE4D (https://app.read.ai/analytics/meetings/01JS2K7GS0JQH8QPRQ52BEWE4D)
Transcript
[UNKNOWN_SPEAKER]: Hey, Michael. [Maxime Bucaille]: Hey, Max. [Maxime Bucaille]: How you doing, man? [Michael Houck]: Good, man. [Michael Houck]: How are you? [UNKNOWN_SPEAKER]: Good. Good to meet. [Michael Houck]: Good to meet. Where are you calling from Right now, I’m in Charleston, South Carolina. [Maxime Bucaille]: How about you? [Michael Houck]: New York City. Nice. [Michael Houck]: I just left New York after four years there a few months ago. [Maxime Bucaille]: Oh. [Michael Houck]: Why did you go back or go to Charleston, I guess? Well, I went to Brazil and Argentina first. Yeah, I got divorced last year and yeah, just took some time to refresh. And now I’m sort of like checking out some new cities in the US to see sort of what’s next. [Maxime Bucaille]: Sorry to hear, but hopefully for the best. [Michael Houck]: It was for the best. We had diverging views on having kids, so incompatible at that point, but all good. It was a while ago at this point. [Maxime Bucaille]: That’s good. All right, sweet. I’m not really sure how you’re working with Michelle on all things. I figured if she’s going to send me every week, a long word doc that I have to edit. [Michael Houck]: No, that’s not the plan. I think she just wants your take on the altitude that we should be writing the crypto stuff about because for context, we’re working with Tim’s accounts across X and LinkedIn and also the Dreamweaver Associates. LinkedIn and X as well. And that’s, you know, we’re starting there. And yeah, I think the idea is like, we want to know what altitude to write the crypto stuff, because our writer is very well versed in it. And she’s just not totally sure yet about what level the audience is. And so for crypto specifically, and so we want some sort of expertise on that. [Maxime Bucaille]: Okay, got it. Yeah, I think like, it’s a bit trickier for crypto because like Tim’s voice It’s like, it’s like when he’s known for a lot. So that’s why I want to be a bit more mindful of the things we put out there, like, specifically, because I think like, he’s, I mean, I think most of his followers and things that, you know, he walks around with a Bitcoin tie, like, he’s like, the, the Bitcoin wording is like, pretty important. So, I mean, most of the posts for the other stuff, how do you How do you operate normally? [UNKNOWN_SPEAKER]: How does that work? [Michael Houck]: In terms of how we create it? [UNKNOWN_SPEAKER]: Yeah. [Michael Houck]: Yeah, so it’s me and my team. I have a partner on the agency. Both he and I have large audiences that we’ve built. And then we have a writer who works with us on Tim’s account specifically. She’s written for Morning Brew and Robinhood Snacks in the past. And so we edit everything before we send it over for approval. And we send over new batches of content each week. It won’t always be crypto content necessarily each week, but you know, just based on obviously who Tim is, we think it’s important to have that be part of the Yeah. [Maxime Bucaille]: Well, I think there’s like a couple of things, right? Like, I think like his account should comment on like big industry events and like, that’s like pretty straightforward, right? Like a company goes IPO and acquisition happens and So that’s like fairly easier to do. More like the thought leader piece pieces like on his views and stuff. I’m happy to run you a bit of his philosophy and what we look at, but I’m not sure what’s the can be the most useful for time today. [Michael Houck]: Yeah, I think I think just like getting a sense of how the crypto world looks at Tim today. Something from his account, like what is their level of sort of knowledge and also their like expectation for what they would see coming from him? [Maxime Bucaille]: Yeah. I think he has a broad audience in crypto in general, but one thing that is like pretty known for is kind of like the Bitcoin guy, because he’s one of the world’s largest holder of Bitcoin. His scene is a bit more Bitcoin nerds than like your NFT or crypto gaming or stable coin payment infrastructure kind of people. So he’s not like a, there’s this thing, this thing called like Bitcoin maximalist, which is people that believe there should only be Bitcoin. But he’s not that, but I think a lot of his audience is a bit more towards that in general. [Michael Houck]: Okay, got it. So basically, in terms of topic selection, you would say that we should probably only talk about like Bitcoin related topics? Or should we branch out into broader like crypto world? Like, how do you how do you see that? [Maxime Bucaille]: I think like, should be probably 75 over 50% around Bitcoin stuff. Yeah. Okay, cool. [Michael Houck]: And then any any guidance around sort of how to talk about that specifically coming from him. Obviously, I’ve been a holder since 2013, so very familiar. We have two or three kind of thesis. [Maxime Bucaille]: He thinks that there’s going to be some sort of hyper-Bitcoinization moment where Bitcoin is going to take over a lot of the fiat currencies. So when you see headlines about El Salvador or Bhutan or people that want to make Bitcoin, legal tender in their country like that’s kind of relevant for him anything around that topic like essentially what we try to invest in is if there was a world without the US dollar so and everything run on Bitcoin so how do you hold Bitcoin more easily, how do you send it more easily, how do you pay your taxes with Bitcoin, how do you invest in companies with Bitcoin, how do you pay for your life insurance with Bitcoin, how do you any any kind of software that could help fully integrate Bitcoin that it replaces shared currency. Like a lot of the thinking is the same way that there’s like a run on banks and that you have banks that, I don’t know, in Greece, people were, everybody was running to the ATM to get their euros out. At some point, there’s going to be a black swan event where people are going to run to the bank and try to exchange all their dollars to Bitcoin because there’s going to be a total failure in trust of the government. I think like most of the things that we invest in, whether it’s biotech, space tech, crypto, like it all comes down to that it doesn’t trust the government in a lot of things and think private sector can do it much better. And the way to do money without the government is to do it with Bitcoin. So that’s the first kind of large thesis around it. The second big thesis is to think that, you know, everything that happened outside of Bitcoin was experimentation. And that it will all move back to Bitcoin. So Ethereum, Solana, all the other smart contracts, blockchains were amazing because, you know, much faster and they brought programmability, which created DeFi and all the applications on crypto that we have. And that at some point, this will all move back to Bitcoin. So, you know, we invest heavily in essentially turning Bitcoin into a productive asset, meaning you yield from your Bitcoin, you can borrow and lend against your Bitcoin, but also turning Bitcoin as a programmable blockchain. So, you know, instead of doing your NFT on Ethereum, you can do your ordinal on Bitcoin. Instead of doing your token on Ethereum, you can do your runes or BRC20, which are the new token standards on Bitcoin. Instead of doing your on-chain lending protocol, you can do it on Solana, you can do it on Bitcoin. So how to make Bitcoin blockchain, not just, you know, not just what they call it, that digital gold, but how do you make Bitcoin like a true programmable blockchain that can replace the financial system or applications and stuff. So we have a bunch of investments in that sphere. Also, yeah. Okay. It makes a lot of sense. [Michael Houck]: I mean, All right, my first investor in my last company was Balaji, and he feels very similarly about the Black Swan event, obviously. [Maxime Bucaille]: One thing we could post at some point is we just invested in a Balaji company called Prospera, which is like a land of free kind of stuff in Honduras. [Michael Houck]: Yeah, very cool. [Michael Houck]: Is that something we’d want to highlight? [Maxime Bucaille]: Yeah, it’s not public yet, but at some point, yeah, we should. [Michael Houck]: Okay. Um, yeah, that’s super cool. I’ve, uh, I’ve sort of seen that, seen that develop a little bit. Um, sweet. Nice. Any like do’s and don’ts for how we talk about Bitcoin or crypto more broadly that we should keep in mind? [Maxime Bucaille]: I just think like, it’s, I mean, I’m, I’m in love with the subject and it’s my work every day. [Maxime Bucaille]: So it’s just like, I think like ease. [Maxime Bucaille]: Like, you know, if it’s saying like, oh, Bitcoin is a blockchain and every block is immutable, like I think like we need to find like some way to either like either like very inspiring things, like kind of like the freedom talk or like do stuff that’s a bit more technical also, because Is that a true expert in the thing? [Michelle Kwok]: I think that is what we should start with. Bitcoin is going to free the economy. That type of voice, like, and this is why. And then it’s like Argentina’s currency was so volatile that I don’t know what the number is, like 60% of their population bought Bitcoin. Something like that where it showcases It showcases why Bitcoin is here to stay and why we were early investors in it and not as much like Max was talking about, not as much the 101. Let’s assume people get the immutable blockchain. Let’s assume that. We don’t want to teach them as much as we want to be like, this is why this is a sick opportunity. Got it. [Michael Houck]: Yeah, I think that was my read on it. When I saw the first pass there, because obviously if our goal is not educating, but more inspiring, then we should take a different tact than I think what we wrote. So it makes total sense. So the idea would be really big, big things, and then also maybe more technical voice than we were using. Is that fair to say? [UNKNOWN_SPEAKER]: Yeah. [Michelle Kwok]: I think if we’re being educated, It’s like something that’s really interesting and technical that people wouldn’t know. People who have Bitcoin and just like traded on Coinbase or whatever wouldn’t know. And it’s like, oh, this is a new technical thing. I don’t know. I feel like that would be me, right? I’m like, I know what Bitcoin is. I get the blockchain and stuff. I don’t really know that much. I don’t really know what’s going on and if there’s like regulation changes. Or there’s different ways that you can like swap or like leverage your Bitcoin. Like, I don’t know how to do that and why that might be interesting. So like, I would assume everyone is kind of like me. [Michael Houck]: Yeah. Yeah, I think it’s a fair thought that the majority of folks that we’re speaking to in this case, probably Michelle or like similar level of involvement in the space as you or I, right? Like we’re in it. Not like at Max’s level of- Yeah. [Michelle Kwok]: Max is like famous. Max is like, he’s like the top user. I was at his birthday party and he was like, yeah, he’s the top user of this like crypto exchange, like top 5% or something. I’m like, I don’t know what’s happening. Every time I ask Max a question, he’s like, bro, everyone’s known this. I’m like, what? [Maxime Bucaille]: But I do think the audience is broader, yeah. Yeah, it’s true. I think one thing I want to be a bit careful sometimes is there’s a bit of politics behind crypto and we invest in competitors and when we name projects and things. One thing you don’t want to do as an investor, especially as a public voice like Tim, is like, oh, everybody should be buying stacks. So it’s tough to always because those things are not securities, but if Tim posts something and then you get a bunch of people buying and then he does shitty, then it’s not great. Yeah. [Michael Houck]: We have some other clients in the space too. And if there’s like a compliance layer, Michelle, that we want to introduce for the crypto stuff in particular, we know how to work within that sort of framework too. So not sure how you guys feel about that, but we know some other other folks have asked to add a compliance review to the process for the crypto stuff in particular. [UNKNOWN_SPEAKER]: Okay. [UNKNOWN_SPEAKER]: I don’t know if it’s probably there yet. [Michelle Kwok]: I feel like right now we can engage it. Let’s just keep maxing the loop with all the crypto stuff that we post for now. Another point that Tim just emailed me, we suggested getting a digital twin of its own so we can just, just… I was like, yeah, let’s also, let’s get it to its own social, let’s just push it to its own social. [Michael Houck]: So it is up somewhere, but I don’t know. That might solve some, that might solve some problems. [Michelle Kwok]: I hate that. Yeah, Max hates it. Him, the thing is, him, he’s detailing about it, he really likes it. So he’s like, let’s just push it to another social. So we’ll probably just do one post on Tim’s that’s like, if you want to follow my digital twin, follow this thing. And let’s just do that because I really don’t want to deal with it. [Michael Houck]: Okay, I’m still I’m waiting on a reply from from Mark and his crew this week. They didn’t get back to me yesterday. So I pinged him again this morning. So we’ll see. But it would be even sick. [Michelle Kwok]: Okay, what if we got them I don’t know if they’re down to post it because they know how it should be posted or whatever. The Mitch guy wasn’t able, didn’t know anything about social. So if we’re able to use Tim’s account to get that account followers, then it will be meaningful. [Michael Houck]: Yeah. My suggestion would be that for the first probably month or two that we’re doing it, we make occasional posts from Tim’s account with the videos into the account to follow it going forward. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Conscious of Max’s time though. Any, I guess, yeah, anything I’m not asking Max that I should be about how we use Tim’s voice within the crypto space in particular? [UNKNOWN_SPEAKER]: No, I don’t know. [Michael Houck]: I’m not sure. [Maxime Bucaille]: I’m not a video social expert. [Maxime Bucaille]: But no, I think, I mean, I got most of the things there that I that I need. [Michael Houck]: And I’m gonna go back, Michelle, to Jamie and I’ll have a debrief with her this afternoon about this too. But yeah, I think the main thing is just like what is that altitude? What is the level of knowledge that we should assume the audience has in terms of like the three tiers of like total newbies to like me and Michelle somewhere in the middle to like Max on the other side? And I think that I think that I have some clarity on that. So I can go back and talk to her and we can take another pass at that post. [Maxime Bucaille]: Okay, great. And also, what is easy for me? If there’s something we invest in or something that’s a news, like a topic that I think we should cover, do I send it directly to you? What’s the best way to share content that I think would be relevant? Yeah, we love that. [Michael Houck]: The more you send, the better. Just send it in the Slack channel that we’re all in and you can tag me and you can tag Jamie from my team as well. She’s the one who who’s executing the content. [UNKNOWN_SPEAKER]: Okay, perfect. [Maxime Bucaille]: I’ll do that. I’ll share some news article and stuff. And I think there’s topics we should be covering. [Michael Houck]: Awesome. [Michael Houck]: Super good to meet Michael. [Maxime Bucaille]: Yeah, good to meet man.