When venture capital lawyer Kaylan Sliney first became ‘crypto-curious’ five years ago, it was late, by early adopter standards. The academic part of her brain was ‘both stimulated and fully engaged’ when she began learning how to use technical analysis in relation to digital currency trading, finding it more accessible, and more transformative, than traditional equity markets.
A year later, some of Kaylan’s legal clients in the venture space started querying how they could invest using cryptocurrency and asking for her help to negotiate partnerships in the blockchain technology space.
“I quickly became familiar with the myriad applications of the underlying technology that went far beyond digital currency, and haven’t looked back since.”
This leap into uncharted waters is hardly surprising, given that this New York-based lawyer, web3 builder and entrepreneurship mentor remarked to ‘dive into pools you think might be too deep.’
With an infectious smile and her ‘dearly held philosophy of saying “yes” to everything possible in this short, short life,’ Kaylan doesn’t just wear one hat.
Besides being a Partner at New York law firm Kimelberg PLLC, she’s also CEO of MAGNETIQ, Inc., a tokenized membership platform, and Cofounder of both Gotham Labs, an impact-driven web3 execution studio, and Blockchain + Main, a consulting firm specializing in blockchain technology education.
In addition, she began angel investing 5 years ago with Pipeline Angels, a network creating capital for women and non-binary femme social entrepreneurs, and now is an Advisor to Bad Bitch Empire, the global investment collective building unapologetic worth and wealth for women.
Practicing as a corporate lawyer for 12 years, Kaylan focuses on early-stage companies, growing market leaders in novel spaces. Her recent primary efforts have fallen on two sides of the same coin: ‘shepherding existing brands and new web3 projects to meet the biggest proportion of their community where they are.’
“At Gotham Labs, we focus on impact-driven projects while at MAGNETIQ, Inc., we use B2B2C models to help brands build their web3 sustainable value strategy, thereby creating and solidifying relationships with their consumer communities.”
Defining the Metaverse as an optimistic parallel existence, this self-described blockchain evangelist quips that the past year has been ‘a wild ride for web3 and the Metaverse.’
“We saw major spikes in consumer appetite for both novel experiences and alternative asset classes, which translated well into NFT sales, Metaverse land ownership, and corresponding wearables.”
However, several factors also contributed to a plummeting confidence in the space, like projects not delivering on their roadmap, and a major economic downturn. These are ‘natural bumps along the way in an emerging space,’ yet we forget although all technology is intimidating while it’s new, it’s no different than any past revolution.
Kaylan predicts limitless opportunities in leveraging ‘web3 to course-correct the nightmares that lie within some of our most fraught systems.’ Plus, web3 will be able to support the creator economy in an unparalleled fashion, because there’ll be no bureaucratic administration or ‘waiting for permission to join the network to participate in new economic opportunities.’
As for barriers, she believes we’re at an inflection point of an apparent meeting of all time-high visibility of the technology, coupled with an all-time-low of understanding how the technology works.
Still, Kaylan reassures us it’s okay not to know everything all at once, adding, “it’s astonishing how much you’ll absorb just by engaging with the technology. You can’t be afraid to f*** up.”
What excites her most is the global shift away from centralization. Although institutions contribute to upholding certain aspects of “civilized society,” ‘we’ve all but obliterated the right to self-determination in how we conduct ourselves both offline and online.’
Kaylan alludes to her occasionally daunting work schedule in a social media post – about one massive project feeling on plenty of days like it was going to deplete her soul and bring her to the verge of collapse.
Fortunately she has a strong support system − heaping praise on her ‘tight, amazing circle’ who showed up in full force when she ran both the Paris Marathon and grueling New York City Marathon within two weeks of each other in 2021.
Her Twitter profile’s rhetorical question – ‘what if we spent the energy of having more, on being more?’ – reveals her unwavering determination to continue challenging herself, both in her profession and physically.
Ultimately, what drives Kaylan is her conviction that what’s ‘most important is to surprise yourself and see how deep your well of grit really runs.’
KAYLAN SLINEY’S METAVERSE & WEB3 TIPS AND RESOURCES
