By: Tom D’Agustino
In recent years, the story of a young tech entrepreneur became iconic. Many young people find that their age is a barrier to entering industries like venture capitalism, where older, more experienced professionals are often dominant.
Mads Pedersen is a 23-year old partner at FIGMENT Capital, a $60 million fund. He challenges this notion. He believes his age and digital background give him an advantage in connecting with tech startup companies, where the average founding member is only 34 years old.
Learn more about Pedersen’s journey, his accomplishments, and how youth can be both a challenge and a benefit in venture capital, especially within the Web3 space and cryptocurrency.
Pedersen’s Digital Upbringing
Pedersen, like most people of his generation, was immersed in the technology since a young age. This inspired him to act. After convincing his father to invest into exciting and rapidly-growing companies like Apple and Amazon, he was captivated by their remarkable success. Pedersen says, “I believe that those early investments (alongside my obsession with digital world) set up the stage for my cryptocurrency venture capital journey.”
Pedersen, after learning about cryptocurrencies, and the ambitious goals of digital sovereignty realized that technology was moving forward in a powerful, inspiring direction. It promised to make the Internet a more transparent, and secure place. Even at that young age he knew he was going to be a part of this.
This growing passion was not just another digital enthusiast dabbling in the tech world. It was also a result of his social and politcal context.
“I spent seven years of my childhood living in Malaysia during the tenure of Najib Razak, a corrupt and now imprisoned Prime Minister,” says he, “which instilled a distrust in me of opaque, powerful organizations.”
The financial losses his family suffered during the 2008 financial crises exacerbated this. Pedersen says, “I didn’t just question the current digital landscape.” “I dived into our entire financial systems and the safety of using banks as middlemen for every transaction.” I was most concerned about why we could not have our own assets.
Pedersen’s digital skills and socioeconomic outlook positioned him to have a meaningful impact on a world increasingly dominated these “opaque institutions”. His view is that cryptocurrency and Web3 will bring transparency, empowerment and innovation to the forefront in the financial system.
From Digital Enthusiasts to Young Venture Capitalists
Pedersen’s work began when he entered college. His college mentor, a Bitcoin miner who was an early adopter, encouraged him further into this emerging area, leading him to manage the books for an Ethereum mining company. Pedersen was tasked with diversifying the mine assets to improve returns.
Pedersen’s passion for working with entrepreneurs at the early stages began around this time, when he made his first angel-investment in a project allowing fractional investments in fine arts.
He was soon hired by Inception Capital to manage their crypto venture. He invested 15% of the $80 million fund in promising crypto projects. He is now set to join Figment Capital as a partner aged 23.
Leveraging Youth in Crypto Investment
Pedersen is often not treated as a valuable asset, despite his digital upbringing which has prepared him for a successful career as a young crypto venture capitalist. Pedersen has found that he is able to work with younger founders, and is a tech-savvy partner who understands their goals. However, he finds it more difficult when working with older business owners.
Pedersen says that he is able to overcome this obstacle because of the unique perspective he brings to older founders, who may not be as familiar with the latest trends and technologies in crypto, social media or emerging industries. He also has a better understanding of marketing strategies aimed at a younger audience. “Furthermore,” he adds, “as a digital native, I have a keen sense of which applications are likely to be successful.” I understand the target market, especially because a large percentage of crypto users are young people.
Digital Sovereignty through Web3 Venture Capitalism
Pedersen’s mission is to contribute to a transparent digital ecosystem. He says, “It is about digital transparency and financial independence versus digital and monetary dictatorship.”
This distinction is crucial to understanding Pedersen’s mission. He supports and invests into innovators who develop technologies within the Web3 eco-system (the next version of the internet that focuses on decentralizing control and data, and putting the power back in users’ hands) — from the foundational infrastructure to cutting edge consumer applications.
By championing these founding members, he hopes to “drive a new era decentralized technology which empowers individuals and society and reshapes industry on a global level.”
Pedersen, for instance, will invest in projects at Figment Capital that support decentralization and self-custody. This includes work on proof-of stake models, in which the power to validate transaction is spread over many individual computers rather than being concentrated in just a few large mining pools. In proof-of stake, validators are selected based on how many tokens they have and are willing “stake” to act as collateral. This is different from banks who independently control financial transactions.
“Our current financial system faces a serious threat from crypto: the ability to self-manage your assets without relying upon banks. Pedersen muses that “I think we won’t need banks at any point in the future.”
Pedersen helps create a transparent and fair digital environment by investing in blockchain projects which promote decentralization. His work aims to give individuals more control and power, reshaping digital landscapes for the better.
Elevating Young Voices in Venture Capital
Mads Pedersen, a venture capitalist, can attest that being young comes with unique challenges and advantages. His digital expertise and fresh perspective have helped him overcome his initial challenges. He is just one example of a young, tech-savvy individual who can lead the way in connecting generations and pushing towards a more decentralized and open digital future.
Follow Mads Pedersen on LinkedIn to learn more about his work. Visit Figment Capital for more information on how Web3 investments can shape the future of digital technology.