Join Tommy Shaughnessy as he sits down with Mike Dudas, Managing Partner at 6th Man Ventures, to discuss one of the most successful seed investments in crypto history. Mike shares the inside story of backing Pump.Fun years before it became a cultural phenomenon, generating over $800 million in fees and reaching a $5.5 billion FDV. From cold DMs to billion-dollar outcomes, this conversation explores venture capital strategy, founder evaluation, and navigating the intersection of AI and crypto investing.

6th Man Ventures: https://6thman.ventures

🎯 Key Highlights

▸ The untold story of Pump.Fun's seed round: from cold outreach to billion-dollar success

▸ Why regulatory risk-taking paid off in the Trump administration

▸ How to evaluate crypto founders differently than traditional startups

▸ The creator economy revolution: streaming meets tokenomics

▸ Digital Asset Trusts (DATs): the new MicroStrategy wave

▸ AI's impact on venture capital processes and decision-making

▸ Why attention spans are killing crypto Twitter's excitement

▸ From Bonk to Pump: lessons in meme coin investing

▸ Building conviction in contrarian bets during bear markets

▸ The importance of speed and decisiveness in early-stage investing

💡 Subscribe for more crypto & AI insights! 🔔

🧠 Follow the Alpha

▸ Mike's Twitter: @mdudas

▸ 6MV's Twitter: @6thManVentures

🔗 Connect with Delphi

🌐 Portal: https://delphidigital.io/

🧠 Intelligence: https://www.delphiintelligence.io

🐦 Twitter: https://x.com/delphi_intel

🎧 Listen on

Spotify:

Apple Podcasts:

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC9Yy99ZlQIX9-PdG_xHj43Q

Timestamps

00:00 — Intro: Mike Dudas, 6th Man Ventures

00:30 — The Pump.Fun origin story: cold outreach and magical moments

03:45 — Regulatory risk-taking and the Trump administration impact

06:30 — Why other VCs backed out over legal concerns

08:15 — Being hands-on with portfolio companies without being pushy

10:30 — Pump.Fun's evolution: from bonding curves to creator streaming

14:00 — The Bonk vs Pump competition and market dynamics

17:00 — How AI and AGI are changing venture capital investing

20:15 — Digital Asset Trusts: the new wave of crypto investment vehicles

26:00 — Why crypto Twitter seems less excited despite regulatory clarity

32:15 — Using AI in venture processes: market research and founder support

38:45 — The most common path from DM to investment

42:00 — Founder evaluation: red flags and green flags

47:15 — When to tell portfolio companies it's time to move on

51:15 — Decision-making under pressure: the "hell yes" principle

54:00 — Staying entrepreneurial as a fund grows and succeeds

Disclaimer

This podcast is strictly informational and educational and is not investment advice or a solicitation to buy or sell any tokens or securities or to make any financial decisions. Do not trade or invest in any project, tokens, or securities based upon this podcast episode. The host and members at Delphi Ventures may personally own tokens or art that are mentioned on the podcast. Our current show features paid sponsorships which may be featured at the start, middle, and/or the end of the episode. These sponsorships are for informational purposes only and are not a solicitation to use any product, service or token.

Join José Macedo and Yan Liberman as they host Michael Egorov, co-founder of Curve Finance and one of DeFi's original pioneers. Michael introduces Yield Basis — his ambitious new protocol that aims to solve one of DeFi's biggest problems: impermanent loss. Learn how this innovation could finally unlock natural, sustainable yield on Bitcoin at scale, creating the long-sought "holy grail" of yield-bearing Bitcoin without the downsides of traditional AMM strategies.Curve Finance: www.curve.financeYield Basis: https://yieldbasis.com🎯 Key Highlights▸ Yield Basis: Eliminates impermanent loss for single-sided crypto exposure

▸ Impermanent loss problem: Why AMMs underperform buy-and-hold

▸ Michael's solution: 2x leverage counters square-root pricing

▸ Why Curve pools beat Uniswap v2

▸ Historical sims: 10-20% APR on Bitcoin

▸ Borrowing mechanism: Capital via crvUSD allocation

▸ Tokenomics: Choose real yield OR tokens

▸ Dynamic admin fees adjust with staking

▸ GTM: Target miners, funds, treasuries

▸ Multi-chain: Separate tokens vs. bridges

▸ Market size: $50-100B addressable

▸ Beyond Bitcoin: ETH and volatile assets

▸ Michael on DeFi vs. OG principles

▸ Challenge: Matching sims to reality

▸ Why this beats points and yield farming💡 Subscribe for more crypto & AI insights! 🔔🧠 Follow the Alpha▸ Michael's Twitter: @newmichwill▸ Curve Finance Twitter: @CurveFinance▸ Yield Basis Twitter: @yieldbasis🔗 Connect with Delphi🌐 Portal: https://delphidigital.io/🐦 Twitter: https://x.com/delphi_digital💼 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/delphi-digital/🎧 Listen onSpotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/62PR1RigLG2YN5Pelq6UY9?si=18ac7ccf36ab4753&nd=1&dlsi=50105fd66e6c4124Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-delphi-podcast/id1438148082Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC9Yy99ZlQIX9-PdG_xHj43QTimestamps

00:00 - Intro: Yield Basis and Michael Egorov

01:15 - Yield Basis: Single-sided LP without impermanent loss

02:00 - Impermanent loss with Bitcoin/USDT

07:30 - AMMs create "buy low, sell high"

09:00 - Solution: Leverage eliminates square-root pricing

13:00 - Curve beats Uniswap v2

15:30 - Historical sims: 10-20% APR

19:00 - Borrowing: Arbitrage and debt management

24:30 - Net returns after costs

25:15 - crvUSD as low-cost capital

27:15 - Separate protocol vs. Curve integration

28:00 - Tokenomics: Real yield OR tokens

32:45 - Points vs. transparent distribution

36:00 - Dynamic fees prevent zero-division

40:00 - GTM: Miners, funds, institutions

43:00 - Multi-chain: Instances vs. bridges

48:30 - BD with competing chains

50:30 - Curve vs. Yield Basis governance

52:00 - Modern vs. OG DeFi principles

55:30 - Treasury relationships vs. decentralization

56:30 - Challenge: Real-world performance

58:30 - Market: $50-100B addressable

1:02:00 - crvUSD scaling mechanics

1:06:15 - Market cap ceiling calculations

1:08:00 - Beyond Bitcoin: Gold, volatiles

1:08:45 - DeFi innovations: Pendle, Athena

1:11:30 - Hyperliquid bootstrap strategy

1:12:00 - Closing: Growth parallelsDisclaimerThis podcast is strictly informational and educational and is not investment advice or a solicitation to buy or sell any tokens or securities or to make any financial decisions. Do not trade or invest in any project, tokens, or securities based upon this podcast episode. The host and members at Delphi Ventures may personally own tokens or art that are mentioned on the podcast. Our current show features paid sponsorships which may be featured at the start, middle, and/or the end of the episode. These sponsorships are for informational purposes only and are not a solicitation to use any product, service or token.

Anil Lulla and Yan Liberman host Sapijiju, co-founder of Pump.fun. Sapijiju shares Pump.fun’s bigger vision: beyond meme coins, it’s aiming to be the most rewarding social platform, revolutionizing creator monetization, and building a $2B-backed financial ecosystem.

Pump.fun: https://pump.fun

🎯 Key Highlights

▸ Pump.fun’s vision: TikTok + Robinhood + Twitch in one

▸ Streamers earning 100–300x more than on traditional platforms

▸ 9 failed products before finding product-market fit

▸ Why most crypto firms are just riding Bitcoin

▸ New fee model: $2.4M to creators on day one

▸ Mobile-first: beating desktop crypto apps

▸ $2B balance sheet for smart capital moves

▸ 100% revenue buybacks (Hyperliquid/Binance playbook)

▸ Roadmap: stablecoin + full financial stack

▸ Young founders vs. traditional finance

▸ Why social media’s incentives are broken

▸ Targeting 16–24s ignored by incumbents

▸ Stats: 70 staff, $1.6B locked, billion+ daily volumes

▸ Aggressive M&A, Facebook-style

💡 Subscribe for more crypto & AI insights! 🔔

🧠 Follow the Alpha

▸ Sapijiju's Twitter: @sapijiju

▸ Pump.fun Twitter: @pumpdotfun

🔗 Connect with Delphi

🌐 Portal: https://delphidigital.io/

🐦 Twitter: https://x.com/delphi_digital

💼 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/delphi-digital/

🎧 Listen on

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/62PR1RigLG2YN5Pelq6UY9?si=18ac7ccf36ab4753&nd=1&dlsi=50105fd66e6c4124

Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-delphi-podcast/id1438148082

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC9Yy99ZlQIX9-PdG_xHj43Q

Timestamps

00:00 – Intro & Sapijiju’s crypto journey

04:45 – 9 failed products → Pump.fun success

07:15 – Product-market fit & anti-rug mechanism

09:15 – Scaling team to 70

10:30 – Vision: social trading super-app

13:00 – $2.4M to streamers on launch day

14:15 – Why social platforms fail creators

16:45 – 300x better monetization

18:15 – DMs, streaming & mobile-first

19:30 – Competing vs. Coinbase/Binance

21:45 – User patterns: TikTok + finance

24:30 – Network effects via creator rewards

26:30 – $500k creator starter kits

28:00 – Mobile strategy for viral growth

29:15 – Zora vs. Pump.fun (content vs. coin)

31:15 – Small changes → 5x streaming growth

33:30 – Sandbox for creator freedom

35:15 – Telegram + crypto-native tools

36:30 – Democratized ICOs

38:15 – $1.6B locked, billion+ daily volumes

39:15 – Stablecoin vision

40:15 – Long-term: global takeover

42:30 – $2B balance sheet strategy

44:30 – ROI-driven capital deployment

45:15 – M&A playbook

46:15 – DAT & institutional access

47:15 – Revenue buybacks model

49:15 – VCs missing meme culture

51:15 – Story Protocol critique

53:30 – Meme coins vs. infra “scams”

54:30 – Generational wealth cycles

57:45 – Crypto as last frontier

59:15 – TradFi as modern slavery

1:01:30 – Black Mirror & moderation

1:02:30 – Mobile growth engines

1:03:30 – Scaling to $200M daily revenue

1:04:30 – Post-token comms lessons

1:05:30 – Open DMs & next episode

1:06:15 – Closing thoughts

Disclaimer

This podcast is strictly informational and educational and is not investment advice or a solicitation to buy or sell any tokens or securities or to make any financial decisions. Do not trade or invest in any project, tokens, or securities based upon this podcast episode. The host and members at Delphi Ventures may personally own tokens or art that are mentioned on the podcast. Our current show features paid sponsorships which may be featured at the start, middle, and/or the end of the episode. These sponsorships are for informational purposes only and are not a solicitation to use any product, service or token.