Leaving an executive role after a decade in creative agencies wasn’t the safe move. I had a great career and was surrounded by friends and a team doing amazing work. At home I had an eight-month-old daughter. But I couldn’t shake the feeling that something had been lost in technology.
When I first started building for the web, it felt open, alive, full of possibility. Early social networks were composable, APIs were free and open, but that world slowly closed. Walled gardens rose and the internet became less about possibility and more about control.
When I found crypto and the vision of web3 it felt like those early days again. Open, decentralized, permissionless. A chance to help build the kind of internet I used to believe in.
So I made the leap.
The Crash That Tested Me
Of all the places in crypto, Solana stood out to me immediately. It felt different. The user experience was fast, cheap, and simple in a way no other chain could touch. And more than that, the energy was undeniable. The best builders I met, the people I most wanted to learn from, were all here.
I joined Metaplex, a talented team building a critical piece of Solana token infrastructure. I was excited to start building the new Internet.
But just two days into the role, the unthinkable happened: FTX collapsed. Overnight, Solana was in freefall. Metaplex laid off over half the company, and as the newest hire, I was in that group. Gone as quickly as I had arrived.
I had an eight-month-old baby at home, no job, and a pit in my stomach that asked: what have I done? It was one of the scariest moments of my life, trying to break into a new industry with a young family depending on me, just as the whole world seemed to turn against it. And on top of that, the imposter syndrome I’d always carried was louder than ever. Maybe I didn’t belong here after all.
And yet, beneath the fear, I still believed. The technology hadn’t changed, the talent hadn’t left. I chose to listen to the smartest voices I could find in the space, the ones who saw past the panic. I decided to hold my conviction.
The Darkness of the Bear and the Temptation of AI
Holding conviction was easier said than done. I joined an NFT data startup as a founding engineer, but the bear market only deepened. Liquidity dried up and teams folded. It was a dark time to be in crypto.
Meanwhile, AI was booming. Everywhere I looked, attention shifted. Crypto was yesterday's story. The loudest voices in tech were declaring the future belonged to AI. Jason Calacanis tweeted: "If you're in crypto, pivot to AI." And one by one, startups did exactly that, including the one I had joined.
It wasn’t the first time I’d seen this movie. A decade in creative agencies had shown me how quickly hype cycles rise and fall. Trends flare up, get overhyped, collapse, and then after the noise is gone, the underlying technology finds its real footing.
I wouldn’t let the cycle dictate my path. Even though the pressure was overwhelming, colleagues, friends, and the market all saying I was wrong, I had to trust the conviction that had carried me this far.
Diving Deeper at the Bottom
Not long after, I faced a choice. The NFT startup was shifting toward AI, and the easy move would have been to follow. But I couldn’t shake the thought: don’t chase the hype.
Friends called me crazy. People I respected doubted me. The AI startup I was leaving behind couldn’t believe I’d walk away from the “next big thing” to stay in crypto.
But my conviction wasn’t about chasing trends. It was about crypto, about blockchain, about the possibility of a decentralized, permissionless internet. That was the mission that drove me then, and still drives me today. And this time, it would turn out for the best.
It was then that I found marginfi, a DeFi startup with some of the smartest people I had ever met. They were young, but the talent was undeniable, and they were building at full speed in the depths of the bear. Their conviction was contagious. While others pivoted to AI, I doubled down on crypto.
When Conviction Paid Off
Slowly, the tide began to shift. Solana, left for dead from FTX, started to come back around. The technology kept proving itself, the community never stopped building, and bit by bit, confidence returned.
At marginfi, that momentum was tangible. What started as a small team in the depths of the bear grew into the fastest-growing DeFi company in the Solana ecosystem.
And the conviction I had held through the darkest days was finally rewarded. The SOL I had quietly accumulated during the bear suddenly meant something. But more important than the price was the validation: the belief that open, decentralized, permissionless systems could endure and come back stronger.
What the Cycle Taught Me
Looking back at my journey through the cycle, the lesson I took away is simple: conviction over hype. Form your own view on fundamentals. Find the smartest people and learn from them. Tune out the noise. Because the crowd always overshoots, the bubble bursts, and the best ideas endure.
Along the way I also learned to quiet that imposter syndrome I’d carried for years. Conviction isn’t just about ideas, it’s about yourself. Believe in your skills and trust your judgment, even when the crowd disagrees.
Don’t chase hype. Find what matters and just build.