About – Variant

Jesse Walden is a Co-Founder and General Partner at Variant. Jesse led the firm's investments in Uniswap, Phantom, Mirror, Flashbots, Foundation and others. Previously, Jesse was an investment partner on the first crypto fund at Andreessen Horowitz and later led a16z Crypto Startup School.

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Li is a Co-Founder and General Partner at Variant, where she leads consumer investing for the firm and supports portfolio companies in their comms, community building, and go-to-market strategy.

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Spencer Noon is Co-Founder and General Partner at Variant Fund, where he leads DeFi investing for the firm and supports portfolio companies with their strategy, community building and go-to-market efforts.

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Geoff is an Investment Research Partner at Variant, where he focuses primarily on DeFi. Prior to joining Variant, Geoff spent 15 years investing in private and public companies.

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Medha is an Investment Research Partner at Variant. On the evenings and weekends she also runs she256, a 5013c she co-founded in 2018 that aims to increase diversity in the crypto space, and an investment DAO called Komorebi, which invests seed capital into female and non-binary crypto founders.

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Chris Lepensky leads Data Science at Variant. In this role, he uses data analytics and modeling to help Variant and its portfolio founders make better data-driven decisions. Prior to joining Variant, Chris was a Data Scientist at 0x Labs.

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Mason Nystrom is an Investment Partner at Variant, where he focuses on consumer crypto. Prior to joining Variant, Mason was a Sr. Research Analyst at Messari focused on Web3 infrastructure, NFTs, social tokens, and DAO infrastructure. He also worked at ConsenSys focused on marketing strategy for ConsenSys and its portfolio companies.

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Alana is an Investment Partner focusing on infrastructure. Prior to Variant, Alana worked as a consultant at BCG.

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Derek is an Investment Research Partner at Variant, focused on DeFi. His primary research interests include on-chain data analytics and token distribution. He is also a frequent contributor to Spencer’s newsletter, OurNetwork.

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Tom is the Chief of Staff at Variant, where he supports the firm across a wide range of functional areas and strategic projects. He previously worked as a Senior Investment Associate at HarbourVest Partners, a global private markets investor, where he covered venture capital managers.

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Alli is the Director of Education and Events at Variant. In her role, she partners with founders, builders, and community members alike to provide the tools, education, and support needed to bring the ownership economy thesis to fruition. She also hosts an ongoing interview series called “Fem3 Voices,” which aims to highlight the work of women and non-binary builders in web3.

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Caleb is CFO and COO at Variant Fund. Prior to Variant, he was a Senior Manager at BKD CPAs & Advisors.

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Marc is one of Variant Fund’s strategic advisors and is currently Chief Legal Officer at Polygon. Before recently joining the Polygon team, Marc served as CLO at dYdX. Previously, Marc was a partner in the blockchain and cryptocurrency and financial services group at Manatt, Phelps & Phillips, LLP alongside Rebecca. Marc is an expert on blockchain and digital assets, and he frequently speaks and provides education about issues related to blockchain technology and cryptocurrency regulations.

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Jake Chervinsky is one of Variant Fund’s strategic advisors. Jake is currently the Head of Policy at Blockchain Association, the largest advocacy group for the crypto industry in Washington DC. Prior, he was General Counsel at Compound Labs, one of the first companies to progressively decentralize and make users of the Compound protocol owners.

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Nina advises Variant and projects in our portfolio on comms and PR strategy. Nina was previously a Partner at Andreessen Horowitz, where she helped build the crypto fund’s brand through media, events and special programs like the Crypto Startup School. Prior to her work at a16z, she was an account director at the OutCast Agency, a marketing agency specializing in comms, creative, and digital.

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Elisha is an Executive Assistant at Variant fund. She has over 12 years of experience as an Executive Assistant.

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