Author: Vin Narayanan

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Keep Your Eyes on Ethereum

By Vin Narayanan on April 1, 2021

Ethereum needs a better publicist. Bitcoin grabs all of the headlines. Yesterday we learned Goldman Sach jumped on the bitcoin bandwagon and will soon be offering bitcoin investment vehicles to its wealthiest clients. BlackRock has quietly begun trading…
Andy Gordon and I spend countless hours each week reviewing startups and talking to founders. So does our friend Chris Lustrino, the founder and CEO of KingsCrowd. And every now and then, we meet a founder so interesting that we ask them to…
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A Unique Startup Investment Opportunity

By Vin Narayanan on January 12, 2021

As many of you know, the Early Investing team joined forces with KingCrowd last year. KingsCrowd is a startup whose goal is to provide all investors with institutional grade ratings and analytics for the startup space. In essence, it…
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Bitcoin’s Surge: Supply and Demand in Action

By Vin Narayanan on January 7, 2021

As I write this, bitcoin is trading around $38,300. That means investors that bought bitcoin at the previous market peak in late 2017/early 2018 are up 100%. And people that bought bitcoin at the beginning of 2020 are up about 432%. So why is bitcoin surging…

Making the Most of 2021: New Year’s Resolutions

By Vin Narayanan on December 30, 2020

Traditionally, I haven’t been a big New Year’s resolutions guy. Which is weird — because I love life hacks. I’m always looking for the best fitness app, the best portfolio tracking tool, the best note taking tool… you get the picture. I used to view New…
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Closing Soon: Last Chance to Invest in Winc

By Vin Narayanan on December 28, 2020

About a month ago, the founders of Winc joined Andy and me on Startup Insider (click here to watch). They wanted to update the First Stage Investor members that invested in them on their progress. And they wanted to…
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A Bright Future: Startups, Bitcoin and DeFi

By Vin Narayanan on December 21, 2020

I am hopeful. That’s not an easy sentence for me to write here at the end of 2020. Even as the new year approaches, there’s still plenty to be concerned about. A close friend’s dad has taken a turn for the worse (not COVID related —…
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Bitcoin Breaks Past $20,000 Mark

By Vin Narayanan on December 17, 2020

Bitcoin did it! On Wednesday, bitcoin cracked the $20,000 mark and set a new all time high at $22,065.07. When I wrote to you last week, bitcoin was trading around $18,000. And I was hoping bitcoin would hang out around $18,000 for a…

The Technical Founder Myth

By Vin Narayanan on December 16, 2020

There are a lot of investing myths floating around out there. Here are a few common ones: You need a lot of money to invest.  Cheap stocks have more upside than expensive stocks.  You can’t make money when the market is crashing.
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Slow and Steady is the Key to a Strong Crypto Asset

By Vin Narayanan on December 10, 2020

Slow and steady isn’t necessarily a bad thing — especially in crypto. Over the last seven days, the price of bitcoin has dropped about $1,000. As I write this, bitcoin is trading around $18,200. And that’s OK. In fact, if bitcoin decides to pitch a tent…

Be Ready for Direct Listings

By Vin Narayanan on December 9, 2020

I’m starting to think IPOs — initial public offerings — are overrated. That’s a really weird thing for an early investor to say. Because for early investors, the IPO is the holy grail. It’s why you invest in startups. An IPO is one of the few moments in…

Diversify Your Crypto Portfolio

By Vin Narayanan on December 2, 2020

Bitcoin cracked the $19,800 mark this week. It’s likely only a matter of time before bitcoin tops $20,000 and sets new all time highs. Who knows? As you read this, bitcoin could already be over $20,000. It’s a terrific time to be a bitcoin investor. In…

Economic Freedom Plan

By Vin Narayanan on September 30, 2020

I’ve been thinking a lot about freedom in the wake of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s passing. As Americans, freedom is in our DNA. It’s written into the Declaration of Independence. We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created…
Last week, Republic founder and CEO Kendrick Nguyen joined us for an exclusive live webinar. As many of you know, Republic is one of the most innovative equity crowdfunding platforms. In addition to helping everyday investors like you and me invest in startups, they also provide access to…
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Webinar Reminder: Meet Republic’s CEO

By Vin Narayanan on July 27, 2020

Editor’s Note: In case you missed it, we’re hosting a special webinar with Republic founder and CEO Kendrick Nguyen on Thursday at 3 p.m. ET/noon PT. The invitation is below. We hope you join us. Andy Gordon will be back on Thursday with…