Content

The Next Generation of UI

People think a lot about how the iPhone changed our lives with the introduction of the app economy and how our lives revolve around this device. They think a lot less about the fact that it simultaneously killed off the dominant user interface we’d grown accustomed to for decades - the physical keyboard. I think we’re about to witness a similar paradigm shift, but this time it's the entire concept of graphical user interfaces that's on the verge of disruption. A few months ago, I wrote about ...

July 14, 2025

The New Economics of Early-Stage Startups

Shrinkage After watching presentations from teams coming out of recent accelerator demo days, conversations with founders surprised me. The new normal was targeting $2-3 million raises at $10-15 million valuations—a notable shift from the $5 million rounds at $20-25 million caps that characterized previous markets. The driving factor wasn't market pessimism or lowered ambitions. Instead it was a reflection of a profound change in what it actually takes to build a profitable company today. Thi...

July 14, 2025

A Million New Founders

We’re experiencing a profound shift in how software companies are founded, developed, and scaled, driven by the rapid advancement of AI models and sophisticated coding tools. Just a few years ago, launching a software startup required substantial capital, extended development timelines, and sizable teams of highly skilled engineers. It typically took months or even years before a viable product reached the market.

April 1, 2025

Market Dynamics For The New Year

Looking back and looking forward, how we anticipate technology and crypto markets evolving as we move into 2025.

January 14, 2025

Rethinking the Killer App Theory

From the Early Internet to Blockchain: How Utility Expands Markets In the early days of the internet, few destinations offered deeply engaging, everyday utility. Browsing was sporadic, and persistent online activity was rare. Services like AOL and Yahoo were entry points, but they lacked platforms that could anchor users for hours at a time. Facebook changed that by creating an ecosystem where users scrolled, connected, and interacted for hours daily. This unprecedented level of engagement ex...

December 20, 2024

Electric Storm

Crypto and AI converge through rapidly changing energy markets.

August 9, 2024

Yes People Want Crypto Apps

Goldman, Blackrock, Nike and others have demonstrated the demand, but the porn industry can be the real driver if founders pay attention.

July 15, 2024

Rethinking Data Ownership

Each year, as the holiday season approaches, the rush of text messages commences with friends soliciting updated addresses to minimize the number of ...

May 13, 2024

Real World Applications

Historically, applications with largely crypto-native impact rather than real-world impact dominate Web3. Crypto skeptics often cite this dynamic as ...

January 24, 2023

Exploring The Design Space of Tokenization

The emergence of blockchain technology has revolutionized the way we perceive and trade assets. It has enabled us to tokenize traditional assets and ...

May 30, 2023
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Strategy

We invest at the earliest stages of company formation, typically as part of a team's first institutional capital raise. We look for founders leveraging emerging technology, particularly crypto and AI, to construct transformative business solutions and consumer applications.

Team

Jake Dwyer

Jake has spent most of the past two decades building and investing in businesses that apply emerging technology to established industries. Prior to founding Factor, Jake led venture investing at GSR Markets and has invested in nearly 100 early stage companies as both an angel and professional investor. Jake has held executive roles at several high-growth technology companies and successful startups, including Two Sigma Investments ($60B+ AUM), HyperScience, Handy (acquired by Angi), and Instinctiv Technologies (acquired by SoundCloud).

Contact

Factor Capital Management LLC

2 Boars Head PL
Suite 110
Charlottesville, VA 22901

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