Kyle Samani and Tushar Jain - Multicoin Capital (Manager Meetings, EP.20)

Episode Summary

Executive Summary: The episode examines how Evanston Capital underwrites crypto managers and why it allocated to Multicoin. Kyle Simani and Tushar Jain explain Multicoin’s thesis-driven, long-horizon, concentrated approach to crypto investing, their active role in protocol governance and capital markets, and why Solana, Helium, and emerging consumer applications fit their framework. The conversation also covers their origin story, co-PM partnership, and mission to accelerate decentralized, self-sovereign software.

Main Topics: Evanston’s crypto allocation process and diligence (Priority: 5/5): Mike Liddy explains Evanston’s path into crypto, how it evaluated dedicated crypto hedge funds, and why it chose Multicoin as a concentrated allocation rather than a basket approach. Founding story and personal background of Multicoin’s partners (Priority: 5/5): Kyle and Tushar trace their shared interest in software, finance, entrepreneurship, and the Ethereum white paper as the catalyst for launching Multicoin in 2017. Thesis-driven investing and long-term horizon (Priority: 5/5): Multicoin argues it starts with a thesis about how a crypto sector will evolve, then expresses that thesis in portfolios designed to compound over 10-20+ years rather than trade short-term cycles. Research, writing, and organizational culture (Priority: 4/5): The firm treats writing as central to truth-seeking, internal debate, and idea meritocracy, using memos to surface logic gaps and reduce hierarchy in decision-making. Portfolio construction, volatility, and risk tolerance (Priority: 5/5): The managers defend concentrated portfolios, high risk tolerance, and holding through drawdowns, emphasizing that crypto investors must accept large swings and avoid mean-reversion thinking. Protocol investing, network-level governance, and ecosystem support (Priority: 4/5): Multicoin says crypto investors must participate in network-level governance, help entrepreneurs navigate token launches and capital markets, and add value beyond capital. Solana, Helium, and the next wave of crypto use cases (Priority: 5/5): They explain why Solana’s engineering choices made it compelling for trading and why Helium’s decentralized telecom model and proof-of-coverage mechanism represent a powerful business-model innovation.

Key Arguments: Evanston moved from curiosity to investability in crypto only after the space matured from an ICO boom into institutional-grade managers with technical depth and infrastructure. Multicoin’s edge is starting with a thesis about a sector or protocol, then finding the best expression of that thesis in liquid and illiquid markets. Long time horizons matter because the best crypto theses can compound for decades, and short-term trading often adds noise rather than value. Writing is not just external marketing; it is a core internal tool for logic, transparency, and maintaining a flat, merit-based culture. Crypto investors must think differently about risk: drawdowns of 50% to 85% are normal, so volatility targeting can conflict with maximizing absolute returns. In crypto, investors often need to perform network-level governance and capital-market support, not traditional board-level oversight. Solana stood out because it was explicitly engineered for fast, cheap, low-latency trading, unlike sharded competitors that still needed major computer-science breakthroughs. Helium is primarily a business-model innovation that dramatically lowers telecom infrastructure costs by decentralizing deployment to consumers through hotspot hardware. Multicoin believes many future crypto opportunities will be higher up the stack in consumer-facing products as infrastructure matures. The co-PM model works because Kyle and Tushar have a long history, shared principles, complementary skills, and a willingness to challenge each other in writing and dialogue.

Data Points: Evanston AUM: $4.5 billion - Mike Liddy describes Evanston Capital Management as a hedge fund of funds. Multicoin AUM: $4.5 billion - Kyle and Tushar say Multicoin has grown into a large thesis-driven crypto manager. Multicoin hedge fund launch: October 1, 2017 - Kyle recounts the launch date of the hedge fund vehicle. Multicoin venture fund 1 deployment: 100% deployed - Kyle says venture fund one is fully invested. Multicoin venture fund 2 size: $100 million - Kyle states the size of venture fund two. Team size: 15 people - Kyle says Multicoin has a 15-person team across the U.S. and China. Helium hotspots: 250,000 live hotspots - Tushar and Kyle cite network scale and adoption. Solana early conviction: April or May 2018 - They met Anatoly and Raj during Solana’s earliest days. Apple call options mistake period: 2009-2010 - Kyle references an early timing mistake investing in Apple options. Crypto drawdown norm: 50% to 85% - Kyle says crypto assets have repeatedly fallen within this range over the last decade. Market peak-to-trough example in 2021: About 50% - Kyle notes the market fell roughly 50% from April to June and later recovered. Gnosis ICO raise: $12 million in 30 seconds - Tushar cites this as the moment they realized a crypto market existed professionally. Pristine funding: About $5 million - Kyle says his Google Glass startup raised around this amount. Pristine revenue: A few million dollars - Kyle describes the company’s scale before Google killed Glass. Pristine team size: About 25-30 employees - Kyle gives a rough headcount before the pivot/acquisition.

Pivotal Quotes: "We are not an investment organization. We are a truth-seeking organization." — Kyle Simani: Explaining Multicoin’s thesis-first framework and research culture. "The best way to understand the space is to get your hands dirty." — Mike Liddy: Describing how Evanston learned crypto before investing client capital. "You have to be comfortable being uncomfortable." — Tushar Jain: Discussing the pace and chaos of crypto investing and firm culture.

Implications: Listeners should see crypto investing as a thesis, research, and protocol-participation game—not a short-term trading game. The industry rewards deep technical understanding, long time horizons, and active ecosystem support, especially as crypto moves into consumer applications and infrastructure matures.