Web3 fintechs opening "warchests" to hire top talent in 2023

If you still want in on crypto in 2023, you'll have to choose the place you work carefully. However, with many institutional players suffering or vanishing from the market, they who remain are being more selective. A group of venture capitalists in the web3 space converged for a panel at the 2023 Digital Asset Conference, speaking on who's hiring and who they're investing in.

The most bullish on web3 hiring was Geoff Hamilton, an ex-Millennium researcher turned investment partner at early-stage crypto fund Variant. He says that the fintechs with "projects of great merit" were able to "maintain substantial warchests." Now, with talent on the market, they're breaking them open to "attract superior talent."

Where are these projects of great merit? Somewhat self-evidently they're at companies with "sound fundamentals." Hamilton says he's looking for "compelling founders with new ideas," and "strong teams" to back them.

It can be very easy to join the wrong startup, however. Ruud Smets, managing partner of crypto native fund Theta Capital, says there were "a lot of things that raised money two years ago that wouldn’t succeed at any price point today."

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As for the specific services provided by the fintechs of merit, Smets and Hamilton both like startups working with stablecoin technology. Hamilton also asserts that "consumer facing crypto applications will get traction over the medium term, if not sooner," despite institution-focused firms seeming the safer bet. 

Vanessa Grellet, managing partner of Aglaé Ventures, says most funds are open to investing in companies with "non-traditional business models." However, Hamilton said it's "not voodoo or magic that creates value in crypto," and experts will notice when a model won't work. 

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