Dragonfly Partner Interview: How to Succeed in the Cryptocurrency Field without Relying on Luck?

In the world of cryptocurrency investment, finding the next hundredfold income opportunity is every investor's dream. As the world's top cryptocurrency investment fund, Dragonfly is known for its unique investment vision and deep technical understanding, and its portfolio includes Avalanche, Near Protocol, Monad, Athena and many other star projects. This article originated from a podcast by When Shift Happens and was compiled, compiled and written by PANews. (Synopsis: Dragonfly partners criticize tokenomics for obsolescence: unlocked coins should not stake, cliff unlock the elimination: . In this issue of When Shift Happens, Dragonfly Managing Partner Haseeb Qureshi shares his journey from professional poker player to top cryptocurrency investor and how he built a lasting impact in this fast-growing industry. This episode covers the most critical topics in cryptocurrency investing: how to turn cryptocurrency into a team sport, why money can't buy happiness, how to deal with imposter syndrome, and common mistakes new investors make. Personal background Haseeb: I'm Haseeb Qureshi and I'm currently the managing partner of Dragonfly Fund, a global cryptocurrency investor with billions of dollars in assets under management. When it comes to my career, it's quite dramatic: it's been more than six years since I started as a professional poker player, transitioned to a software engineer, then became an entrepreneur, and finally entered the VC industry. Of all my professional experiences, cryptocurrency investing, while the most challenging field, is also the option that I find most valuable and meaningful. Interviewer: What made you decide to give up poker? Haseeb: It was a very chaotic time. I've built quite a reputation in the poker community, but my reputation has taken a serious hit because of an incident involving my students cheating. At the same time, I grew more and more tired of poker. I don't want to look back at 50 and find that I've spent my whole life playing cards to win other people's money. It's not the meaning of life I want. I made a radical decision: I set aside only $10,000 for myself for basic living expenses, and the rest was either donated or given to my parents as a pension. This is how I want to force myself to start over. I was 23 years old and went back to school to study non-technical majors like English and philosophy. As the oldest student in my class, there was nothing on my resume but "professional gambler", which really scared me. This decision gave me a new perspective. When I was a software engineer in Silicon Valley, I made about $100,000 a year, which was much less than when I played poker. But interestingly, my happiness hasn't changed much. Because what truly brings satisfaction is learning new knowledge, achieving personal growth, and making genuine connections with those around you. Similarities and differences between poker and VC Moderator: From professional poker player to venture capitalist, it's a big shift. How do you see the similarities and differences between the two fields? Haseeb: The most essential difference between venture capital and poker is the length of the payback cycle. In poker, the correctness of decisions can be verified in a very short time. For example, when you judge that your opponent is bluffing and choose to call, the results will be revealed immediately. In the world of venture capital, the situation is completely different. It often takes six to seven years for an investment decision to become truly clear. As we often see: a startup that goes from seed round to Series A seems to be going well, but can suddenly encounter a fatal crisis in Series C. This latency feedback mechanism places extremely high demands on investors' judgment. It is worth mentioning that it was with rigorous judgment that we successfully avoided FTX, BlockFi, Luna, and other projects that eventually collapsed. Moderator: It sounds like you feel very differently when you judge correctly, right? Haseeb: Exactly. This difference is very stark. In the world of poker or trading, the rewards for making good decisions are immediate and intense, producing an immediate dopamine pleasure. That sense of "I won" accomplishment comes very directly. But in venture capital, success is a gradual process. It's more like nurturing a tree: not having that dramatic orgasmic moment, but requiring constant patience and commitment. You'll see startups grow step by step: each round of funding leads to a steady increase in valuation, a sustained improvement in operational metrics, and a joint search for solutions when faced with challenges. This process requires great patience and perseverance on the part of investors. Unlike the quick win-loss determination in poker, venture capital is more like a marathon, testing the spirit of long-term philosophy and continuous value creation. It's this gradual growth process that makes venture capital work particularly meaningful. Investment judgment In the world of venture capital, judgment of people is often more critical than analysis of business models. While investment pros like Naval Ravikant or Chamath Palihapitiya often emphasize breaking stereotypes, the actual judgment process is much more complicated. As a seasoned investor, I find an important paradox involved. Junior investors often need to go through a cognitive process: understanding business models and technological innovations does require continuous learning and in-depth research, which often requires studying the history of technology and business to build a systematic analytical framework. But interestingly, an understanding of human nature is something we are born with. Our nervous system is inherently capable of reading others. When you develop a feeling of distrust of someone, even if you can't pinpoint the specific reason, it often stems from a combination of subtle signals you receive. However, junior investors often ignore this intuitive judgment and instead rely too much on superficial evidence: "Maybe I'm inexperienced and inaccurate" "The founder has an excellent resume and a sound business plan" "He has so many well-known partners" As you gain experience, you will gradually realize that you need to learn to trust your instincts. The key is to look beyond superficial social identification, to perceive a person's essential characteristics, and to consider the choices he may make in the face of stress, uncertainty, and moral dilemmas. More often than not, your first instinct is often correct. Venture capital is essentially an industry about people. While the field of social psychology faces a "reproducibility crisis," "stereotype accuracy" is one of the most robust findings. For example, when you feel that extremely aggressive people tend to lack reliability, this judgment is usually accurate. The human brain is a system that continuously undergoes statistical learning. Although contemporary culture tends to reject stereotypes, in reality stereotypes can be positive, negative, or neutral. For example, the stereotype that Asians prefer rice is neutral and statistically accurate. Moderator: What drives you to stay engaged in these untapped areas? Haseeb: Essentially, the field I'm in, whether it's early poker or now cryptocurrency, has two distinguishing characteristics: a high degree of chaos and creativity. This is in line with tradition...