Three Former Crypto VC Partners Discuss: Where to Find Web3 Killer Apps?
TechFlow Selected TechFlow Selected
Three Former Crypto VC Partners Discuss: Where to Find Web3 Killer Apps?
Asian founders are actually very good; they are highly skilled at thinking through business models and other factors.
Navigating Web3 tides with focused insights
In July, Jason Choi, former partner at Spartan Group, announced the launch of Tangent, a crypto venture club co-founded with Darryl Wang, ex-executive at DeFiance Capital. Mable Jiang, former partner at Multicoin Capital, also joined as an advisor.
In a recent episode of The Blockcrunch Podcast, the three former crypto VC partners discussed the founding of Tangent, their views on killer applications, how to evaluate strong founders, sectors they’re currently watching, and predictions for the bear market and next cycle…
For instance, according to Mable, the next wave of crypto growth may emerge in B2C applications—products with compelling UIs or frontends that can aggregate various protocols, with the core narrative centered on capturing more users. The podcast offers valuable insights and reflections, summarized here by TechFlow volunteer Yuan.
Leaving Crypto Funds
Darryl Wang: By the end of 2021, I realized I wanted to do higher-frequency crypto investing outside traditional funds. I identified several pain points that VCs or crypto VCs aren’t necessarily equipped to solve.
So Jason and I started building an investment entity—Tangent—that could genuinely address these issues. To do this, we needed to reduce the number of bets and focus our portfolio, ensuring we could deeply engage with each company and truly help founders solve urgent early-stage problems.
I view Tangent more as a service or product than a fund. My mindset is to act as an entrepreneur selling my services to founders—asking whether they’re interested in what I offer, rather than saying: “I’m interesting, here’s my money, want some?” This, I believe, is the key distinction between Tangent and other VCs when conceptualizing it.
Mable Jiang: Working at Multicoin Capital was fascinating—my colleagues were brilliant, and even now I feel I could learn from all of them.
One main reason I left Multicoin was my desire to work at StepN. Multicoin is highly focused on protocol-layer investments, doing little around consumer-facing or B2C products.
I really like Tangent’s operating model. It doesn’t force you to invest in anything—you only step in where you can truly add value. Essentially everyone in Tangent is a founder, each bringing different expertise, resources, and experience. So we can tailor our support and genuinely help diverse projects grow.
Jason Choi: I wanted to work more closely with founders. But in large or traditional VC firms, this is becoming increasingly difficult. The only way to build real intimacy and involvement is through a concentrated portfolio—but structuring an institutional fund around that is challenging. That’s why we combined the flexibility of DAO-like human networks with the rigor of fund diligence to create Tangent. We built this group around people who are friends, collaborators, or individuals we deeply trust and respect.
The Next Killer App
Mable Jiang: It might not be something fully crypto-native or entirely on-chain. Web2.5 is actually cool too—it can onboard one or two million new crypto users. StepN is a perfect example. In 2020, I was more focused on fully on-chain, DeFi super apps—a single project handling everything. But I’ve clearly realized that composability in DeFi makes this less likely in practice.
Now my view on super apps is: a sufficiently compelling UI or frontend. Then we can aggregate various protocols regardless of who provides the protocol layer—many different teams can work on backend protocols.
Sectors & Focus Areas
Mable Jiang: StepN is a social entertainment product partially powered by blockchain. Much of it isn’t about crypto at all—it simply leverages blockchain advantages like a simple account system.
Focus areas:
1. Increasing blockchain utility.
2. DeFi protocols don’t need to exist independently. Exchanges may still keep order books as standalone products, but most major players will likely build simple lending/AMM features in-house.
3. Leveraging app traffic to deliver DeFi products to users who haven’t participated in DeFi yet.
Darryl Wang: After Luna’s collapse, I believe decentralization is more critical than ever.
Focus areas:
1. Stablecoins with strong adoption. A sector’s health should be measured by product adoption.
2. Decentralized assets. Earning within games allows true decentralization—creating virtual economies and distributing virtual assets.
Jason Choi: Stablecoins are fascinating. On one hand, Terra collapsed due to lack of regulation, while USDC is technically regulated. On the other hand, if USDC reaches a $1 trillion market cap and permeates the entire crypto market, a regulatory ban would effectively shut down nearly all of DeFi.
Focus area: Robust decentralized stablecoins.
Verticalization in Crypto
Jason Choi: Back in DeFi Summer, I noticed projects beginning to verticalize. For example, 1inch, as an aggregator, built its own AMM—Mooniswap—but no one really used it. We haven’t seen successful examples of vertical integration yet. This contradicts the argument that “composability is one of crypto’s best features.”
Founders’ incentives are increasingly toward verticalization and building their own application stack layers instead of letting value spill over. They’re building their own banks, often isolated from each other—essentially recreating Web2.
Mable Jiang: Whoever owns the traffic can leverage it to do many things—including providing those protocols themselves.
Smart Contract Wallets
Jason Choi: Argent is a smart contract wallet based on StarkNet. Recently it launched a gasless, seed-phrase-free recovery solution and enables direct dApp access within the app. Metamask is probably the most valuable product across all of crypto today—almost everyone uses it.
Darryl Wang: I think people haven’t adopted smart contract wallets widely yet because users still prefer desktop over mobile for Web3 activities. What’s missing is a secure mobile-first product that gives users confidence. As more protocols emerge, developers will prioritize security and focus on onboarding Web2 users. In the next cycle, we’ll see more solutions that truly boost adoption.
Mable Jiang: Mass adoption of Web3 account login systems is extremely important. I’m very bullish on smart contract wallets. I even think the reason on-chain order books didn’t take off this cycle is due to high barriers for traditional users—so lowering entry thresholds via smart wallets is key.
Smart contract wallets will be exciting in the next cycle. Private key management solutions like Torus may also find their niche. Since most smart contract wallets this cycle were built on Ethereum—with prohibitively high gas fees—people have gradually forgotten about them. But if we want users to access blockchain wallets in a non-custodial, simple way, smart contract wallets are almost the only viable option.
On-chain identity credentials are also worth watching—not just Project Galaxy, but many other projects working in this space.
To enhance user experience—both on-chain and off-chain—building such infrastructure will be crucial.
GameFi & NFTFi
Jason Choi: I’m optimistic about identity solutions and games that attract players outside the crypto bubble. I’m also interested in NFTFi. Both Darryl and I are big fans of Sudoswap—an AMM purpose-built for NFTs, which is a superior design compared to existing NFT marketplaces.
Putty Finance lets you buy put options on NFTs—essentially acting as NFT insurance. We previously invested in a project experimenting with various NFTFi ideas, and they’re now expanding into other verticals.
How to Evaluate Founders
Jason Choi: When filtering founders, first, although we do have an application form, we strongly prefer founders with warm introductions or referrals. When someone we’ve worked with or co-invested alongside recommends a deal, it’s usually a strong positive signal—we prioritize those immediately.
Second, we actually use a weighted scoring system across several metrics. We’ve backtested this using numerous deals completed at Defiance and Spartan.
Darryl Wang: Two things I care most about:
1. Whether the founder has unique ability to solve the team’s core problem.
2. Valuation discipline—safety margin is our top priority as a fund.
Mable Jiang: I support founders who are willing to work relentlessly and also know how to communicate progress so the public clearly sees the team executing.
Solana is a great example—they did a lot of hard work early on, but I believe they only took off once they learned how to market effectively. Both effort and communication are essential.
Thoughts on the Bear Market
Darryl Wang: The next few months will be extremely challenging. Ethereum’s drop from 4,000 to 1,000 caught many institutional funds off guard—some significantly pulled back capital, others exited the market entirely. With the upcoming Ethereum Merge narrative, many are holding off deploying capital, waiting to see if broader macroeconomic recession unfolds before rebuilding positions.
First, I’ll watch for signs of renewed attention driving capital inflows into crypto-focused funds from elsewhere. Second, inflation and GDP data will indicate whether the world enters recession or whether the Fed achieves a soft landing. I’m not a macro expert, so my perspective may differ from general audience views.
Mable Jiang: Everyone’s talking about the Ethereum Merge—it’s possibly the only hot topic these days. Between the Merge and rising interest rates, new capital isn’t flowing in.
Watch OTC markets—see if there’s increasing activity in SAFT sell orders. If that happens, I think it could signal a solid base to start preparing for the next cycle.
Be cautious with valuations—they’re a good proxy for gauging a project’s热度 (heat).
Jason Choi: The next two years will be very tough. For founders trying to raise capital—especially without strong backing—it will be hard to get a slice of the pie. For those who’ve already launched tokens, their runway depends heavily on secondary market token prices.
Predictions for the Next Cycle
Jason Choi: In 2019, I predicted DeFi TVL would reach $1 billion—but we peaked around $180 billion in recent years. So if I must make another prediction: within five years, total value locked across all applications will hit $1 trillion.
Darryl Wang: I believe the market cap or FDV of GameFi-related projects could reach $100 billion.
Mable Jiang: Three thoughts:
-
The next cycle may see social entertainment apps attracting around 50 million users who interact with blockchains and Web3 accounts.
-
Founders will likely pay more attention to UI and UX, as strong design drives massive user acquisition.
-
The next big explosion will happen in B2C applications. Many opportunities will emerge in Asia, though it will be a long process. Looking back at the Web2 wave, while innovation often originated in North America—especially the U.S.—few application-layer giants emerged there. Asian founders are actually excellent—they’re very skilled at thinking through business models and operational dynamics.
Join TechFlow official community to stay tuned
Telegram:https://t.me/TechFlowDaily
X (Twitter):https://x.com/TechFlowPost
X (Twitter) EN:https://x.com/BlockFlow_News
