Boris Wertz, Version One - I Really Think About The Next Decade As A Golden Decade For Technology | #298

Episode Summary

Executive Summary: Boris Wertz of Version One Ventures traces the evolution of marketplaces from eBay-era buyer-seller matching to crypto-native, decentralized networks. He argues marketplaces create value through liquidity, transparency, and trust, and that blockchain/NFTs extend this by enabling digital scarcity, ownership, and participant incentives. He also highlights climate tech, AR/VR, and digitization as major next-wave themes.

Main Topics: Boris Wertz’s background and path into venture capital (Priority: 5/5): He recounts founding A Books in 1999 as an early marketplace for used and out-of-print books, selling to a Canadian company and later to Amazon, then transitioning into angel investing and founding Version One Ventures in 2012. How marketplaces work and why they succeed (Priority: 5/5): Wertz outlines his marketplace framework: identifying verticals suited to marketplaces, solving the chicken-and-egg problem, and scaling operations once liquidity is achieved. Marketplace evolution from eBay to vertical specialists (Priority: 4/5): The discussion contrasts early horizontal marketplaces like eBay with more modern verticals such as StockX, GOAT, and AngelList, emphasizing transparency, price discovery, and better incentives. Crypto and decentralized marketplaces (Priority: 5/5): Wertz explains how blockchain can transform marketplaces by removing intermediaries, distributing ownership to users, and enabling governance and incentive alignment through tokens. NFTs and digital scarcity (Priority: 5/5): He argues NFTs restore scarcity to digital goods, enabling new marketplaces for crypto art, sports collectibles, and fan engagement, using NBA Top Shot as a leading example. Climate and energy as a marketplace/data opportunity (Priority: 4/5): Version One’s climate investments focus on software/data infrastructure such as carbon-offset marketplaces and APIs that improve measurement, verification, and market access. Long-term innovation themes (Priority: 4/5): Wertz highlights decentralization, AR/VR, and climate/energy as major investment themes, arguing the next decade will be a 'golden decade' for technology.

Key Arguments: Marketplaces succeed when they create liquidity, transparency, and better price discovery in fragmented markets. The hardest marketplace problems are solving supply-demand cold starts and scaling without degrading customer experience. Vertical marketplaces often outperform horizontal ones because they can solve highly specific market frictions. Crypto takes marketplaces a step further by turning users and contributors into co-owners via tokens and governance. NFTs are not just collectibles; they represent a new model of digital scarcity and ownership that can support entirely new industries. The first wave of the internet made digital goods abundant; blockchain may reverse that by reintroducing scarcity. Climate tech is becoming more investable because core infrastructure like solar and batteries has improved enough to support software/data marketplaces on top. Innovation in areas like decentralization, AR/VR, and climate is still early, so many opportunities remain underfunded or mispriced.

Data Points: Version One fund size: $35 million - Boris says Version One is on its third fund, a full $35M early-stage fund. Version One portfolio count: About 65 investments across three funds - He notes the firm has made about 65 investments across the funds, plus ~35 before that. Personal angel investments before Version One: About 35 early-stage investments - He spent four years investing his own capital before launching the firm. A Books sellers: 13,000 booksellers - At the time he left A Books, the marketplace connected 13,000 sellers from over 50 countries. A Books platform revenue at sale: About a quarter of a billion in platform revenues - He describes the scale of the business when it was sold to Amazon. A Books employee count at sale: About 140 people - He references co-running the company as it grew to around 140 employees. Uniswap token airdrop: 400 UNI tokens - He says early Uniswap users received 400 UNI tokens when the protocol launched the token. UNI token value: Over $12,000 - He estimates the airdropped UNI tokens were worth over $12K at current prices for holders. NBA Top Shot transaction volume: Over $300 million - He cites Top Shot’s rapid growth as evidence of NFT marketplace demand. Version One capital mix: About 80% institutional capital - He says the firm’s fundraising has shifted over time to mostly institutional LPs. Founding year of Version One: 2012 - He launched Version One after years of angel investing and thesis development. Initial marketplace company sale: Sold in 2001 - He says the first company was sold to a Canadian company in 2001 during the post-bubble downturn.

Pivotal Quotes: "the people that have used the service, bootstrapped the service, contributed to it, to its success, are now owners of the service or co-owners of the service" — Boris Wertz: Explaining how crypto and tokenization change marketplace incentives and ownership. "the first phase of the internet made everything abundant... now we have the technology to create unique and very valuable experiences around that again" — Boris Wertz: Describing how NFTs and blockchain reintroduce scarcity to digital goods. "the next decade as a kind of golden decade for technology" — Boris Wertz: Summarizing his broad optimism about innovation across multiple sectors.

Implications: Listeners should expect marketplaces to become more vertical, more transparent, and increasingly tokenized. Blockchain may shift value from platform owners to participants, while climate and digital ownership emerge as major new investment frontiers.