Markets Outlook (CoinDesk)

Episode: Taking a Page From 'Elon's Book': Mo Shaikh on His New $50M Fund

Date: October 28, 2025
Host: Jen Sanasie
Guest: Mo Shaikh, Co-founder & General Partner, Maximum Frequency Ventures

Episode Overview

In this episode, Jen Sanasie sits down with Mo Shaikh to discuss his new venture fund, Maximum Frequency Ventures (MFV), recently launched with $50 million to support early-stage crypto and Web3 startups. The conversation explores Mo’s investing philosophy, the fund’s hands-on approach inspired by Elon Musk, macro trends influencing the industry, the importance of founder qualities, and which areas of crypto innovation he’s most excited about.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Taking Inspiration from Elon Musk: The Hands-On Approach

• Mo describes MFV’s approach as highly operator-oriented and intensive, modeling it after how Elon Musk manages his companies.
  • “We come in and work with founders in a way that we will not leave the end of the day until we've solved the hardest problem for them. And this is something that we've taken out of Elon's book...”
    — Mo Shaikh [00:00]
• MFV aims to act almost as co-founders, bridging a gap Mo struggled with as a founder: hands-on investor support from people who’ve faced similar scaling and product-market fit challenges.

2. Macro Trends Shaping Crypto

• U.S. Regulation & Global Capital Markets:
  • Mo watches U.S. regulatory appointments closely (e.g., CFTC developments) and the overall dialogue in D.C.
  • “What happens in the world of finance ends up having a massive sort of trickle effect or domino effect into the world of crypto... Not only from a price perspective, but also more from a sentiment perspective.”
    — Mo Shaikh [01:50]
• Role of Traditional Institutions:
  • Positive signals from the BIS, IMF, and events like the Federal Reserve’s recent meeting on payments.
• How macro events influence product strategy:
  • “For Maximum Frequency Ventures, we think about what products will be built that sustain multiple crypto cycles... We also pay attention... to how our portfolio companies can benefit from that immensely.”
    — Mo Shaikh [03:14]

3. MFV Investment Thesis & Gaps Addressed

• Fund Structure:
  • MFV is a $50M fund focusing on pre-seed, seed, and Series A, industry-agnostic but centered on crypto’s disruptive potential.
• Closing the Operator Gap:
  • Mo points out the lack of early-stage crypto investors who have actually built L1s or significant blockchain companies.
  • “What I wish I had was that level of support where someone had built a crypto company before or an L1 before, those founders don't exist as investors.”
    — Mo Shaikh [05:37]
• Unique Value:
  • Intensively supporting founders, sometimes acting as “co-founders,” especially on toughest challenges like tokenomics or go-to-market strategies.

4. The MFV “It Factor” and Founder Qualities

• Depth + ‘MF Factor’:
  • Seeks founders with deep domain knowledge and an indefinable resilience/passion to push through adversity.
  • “We look for... that founder that has something... the MF factor essentially. That is something hard to sort of pin down. It takes multiple meetings... to understand who they really are, what makes them tick...”
    — Mo Shaikh [08:14]
• Hands-on founder enablement:
  • Once the right qualities are identified, MFV builds operational scaffolding around the founder to accelerate and de-risk the journey.

5. Challenges of Building in Crypto

• Dual Cadence Complexity:
  • “Building in crypto is hard... an industry that moves at an incredibly rapid pace... you want to make sure that you're building long, sustainable product that stands multiple cycles... how do you balance both short term windows and long term product market fit? That's hard to do in crypto.”
    — Mo Shaikh [09:40]
• Token Founding as Public Company Simulation:
  • Managing market perception and tokenholder expectations is akin to running a public firm.

6. Asia as a Crypto Epicenter

• MFV’s Asian Presence:
  • 50% of partners and portfolio companies are in Asia.
  • Asian crypto markets substantially outpace U.S. activity and have done so for a decade.
  • “We believe that founders can come from anywhere... crypto activity is massive in Asia. In fact, Asian crypto markets market activity dwarfs that of the US...”
    — Mo Shaikh [11:02]
• Cross-Pollination:
  • Sharing learnings across geographies and ensuring both U.S. and Asian founders benefit from mutual innovations and regulatory shifts.

7. Infrastructure vs. Application Layer

• Focus Moves Beyond Infrastructure:
  • Infrastructure has matured; main focus is now on products solving real pain points atop robust blockchains.
  • “When I think about infrastructure... I think infrastructure is in a pretty good place... We're now moving towards seeing products being built on top of these networks. And the products themselves have massive value.”
    — Mo Shaikh [12:34]

8. Emerging Narratives: Belief Markets and Financialization

• Excitement about ‘Belief Markets’:
  • Mo is particularly interested in how crypto/future tech enables the “belief economy”—markets where people economically express opinions, predictions, or views, from commodities to sports to broader societal events.
  • Examples include Kalshi and Polymarket allowing micro/personalized prediction markets.
  • “What we're going to start moving towards is a more efficient belief economy... I'm excited about that as a theme permeating throughout crypto but also permeating throughout human society.”
    — Mo Shaikh [13:58]

Notable Quotes & Moments

• “We come in and work with founders in a way that we will not leave the end of the day until we've solved the hardest problem for them. And this is something that we've taken out of Elon's book...”
  — Mo Shaikh [00:00]

• “What I wish I had was that level of support where someone had built a crypto company before or an L1 before, those founders don't exist as investors.”
  — Mo Shaikh [05:37]

• “Building in crypto is hard... how do you balance both short term windows and long term product market fit?... if you happen to have a token... that's akin to running a public company.”
  — Mo Shaikh [09:40]

• “Crypto activity is massive in Asia. In fact, Asian crypto markets market activity dwarfs that of the US...”
  — Mo Shaikh [11:02]

• “What we're going to start moving towards is a more efficient belief economy... I'm excited about that as a theme permeating throughout crypto but also permeating throughout human society.”
  — Mo Shaikh [13:58]

Segment Timestamps

• 00:00 – Elon Musk-inspired hands-on founder support
• 01:50 – Macro trends: regulation, capital markets, IMF/BIS signals
• 03:14 – MFV’s investment approach grounded in cycles and consumer behavior
• 04:45 – MFV’s structure, philosophy, and founder-assistance gap
• 05:37 – What was missing for earlier founders; “operator” support
• 08:14 – What makes a successful founder; the “MF factor”
• 09:40 – Hardest challenges in building crypto companies (tempo, tokens)
• 11:02 – Why focus on Asia—market activity, ecosystem strengths
• 12:34 – Shifting attention from infrastructure to applications and products
• 13:58 – Excitement about belief markets and the financialization of opinions

Overall Tone & Takeaways

Mo Shaikh delivers his insights with the empathy of a builder and the ambition of a new-age VC. The episode gives listeners a sense of the next phase of crypto: hands-on support for founders, global capital flows, and the rise of belief-driven financial instruments. The discussion is optimistic yet grounded in hard-won, operator-centric wisdom.