In this episode of Edge of NFT, host Richard Carthon interviews Christian Narvaez, the dynamic founder and managing partner of Rayo Capital, a venture capital firm that accelerates early-stage Web3 founders globally, with a focus on Latin America. Christian shares his journey from selling sneakers in NYC to becoming an investor in the future of Web3, his vision for bridging the gap between TradFi and DeFi in Latin America, and why Roatan Island, Honduras, is an undiscovered gem for vacationers.
This episode is brought to you by Rayo Capital—an early-stage venture firm investing in Web3 innovations to bring financial inclusion and new infrastructure to Latin America and beyond. Powered by Edge of NFT, the platform that explores Web3’s most exciting developments and their impact on industries worldwide.
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Key Topics Covered:
- Bridging TradFi and DeFi: Christian shares how his venture capital firm Rayo Capital is helping to create financial inclusion in Latin America through DeFi, stablecoins, payments, and remittance services.
- Web3 Familia: Christian discusses the importance of building Web3 Familia, a community and event initiative that fosters Spanish-speaking founders and developers in the Web3 space.
- Latin America's Financial Revolution: Learn how Rayo Capital is helping early-stage startups tackle credit problems, high inflation rates, and the archaic banking infrastructure in Latin America by supporting projects across DeFi, remittances, and FX hedging.
What was your favorite quote or lesson from this episode? Please let us know in the comments on YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/@edgeofnft/
Episode Highlights:
- Christian Narvaez: “DeFi is leveling the playing field in Latin America by solving access-to-credit problems and providing more stable financial tools to communities that need them most.”
- Christian Narvaez: "Our accelerator is focused on legal frameworks, tokenomics, go-to-market strategies, and fundraising to ensure our founders are set up for long-term success."
- Christian Narvaez: "Roatan Island in Honduras is a hidden paradise with a strong Bitcoin community, crystal clear waters, and the second largest coral reef in the world."
For the full transcript, see further below.
People and Resources Mentioned:
- Rayo Capital Website – rayo.capital
- Roatan Island, Honduras – Roatan Travel Guide
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About Our Guest:
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- Bio: Christian Narvaez is the founder and managing partner of Rayo Capital, focused on investing in Web3 projects in Latin America. With extensive experience in finance, Christian helps startups navigate legal frameworks, tokenomics, and fundraising through his accelerator program. He also leads Web3 Familia, a community initiative supporting Spanish-speaking founders and developers in Web3.
- Linkedin: Christian Narvaez
- Instagram: Christian
- Twitter: @NarvaezChris_
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Full Episode Transcript:
Christian Narvaez: Hi, everyone. This is Christian Narvaez from Ryocapital, investing the future of Web3 in Latin America and across the world. You're tuning to the Edge of NFT, your choice for gaining alpha on the latest Web3 projects. Keep listening.
Richard Carthon: Hey, Web3 curious listeners, stay tuned for today's episode to learn how today's guest's journey from selling sneakers to Wall Street shaped his vision for his VC and accelerator, and how DeFi is leveling the playing field in Latin America for access to capital and helping to solve the credit problem faced. And finally, why you should consider Roatan Island, Honduras, for your next vacation. All of this and more at the edge of Rayo Capital. Cue the intro.
Intro: Welcome to the Edge of NFT, the podcast that brings you the top 1% of Web3 today and what will stand the test of time. We explore the nuts and bolts of the business side and also the human element of how Web3 is changing the way we interact with the things we love. This podcast is for the dreamers, disruptors, and doers who are pumped about this ecosystem and driving where it goes next.
Richard Carthon: Welcome to the Edge of NFT, the podcast created by Jeff Kelley, Ethan Jenny, and Josh Krieger, featuring a variety of top-notch guests and other hosts like myself, Richard Carthon. It's another production of the Edge of Company, a quickly growing media ecosystem empowering the pioneers of Web3 tech and culture, responsible for other groundbreaking endeavors like the OuterEdge Innovation Festival in LA and Riyadh. Today's episode features Christian Narvaez, the dynamic founder and managing partner of Rayo Capital, who accelerates and funds early stage Web3 founders globally with a focus in Latin America, leveraging his extensive experience in finance and venture capital, including roles at Inception Capital, RebelOne Ventures, and BNP Paribas. Rayo Capital is a venture firm that accelerates Latin America Web3 innovators through a 12-week remote first program offering guidance to legal frameworks, tokenomics, market strategies, and fundraising, while building a powerhouse community network for sustained support and long-term success. Christian, thank you so much for joining us here today.
Christian Narvaez: Thank you, Richard, for having me. Looking forward to this conversation.
Richard Carthon: No doubt. Well, you know, it's been a while since I last saw you. And, you know, you've you've done a lot in your history of working, like from hustling sneakers in NYC to founding your VC. So like, how did you even get involved in the Web3 space? And what was that journey to get here?
Christian Narvaez: Yeah. So my journey Web Three, I always say it started, I bought the local top in 2017. And what does that even mean? Um, back then I was working on wall street. Uh, I was actually living with a couple of roommates and, uh, they were on the trading floor at another firm. So they would buy, they started buying and selling crypto out of their own, you know, out of their own, um, uh, personal accounts. And they would come and during dinner, the conversation would be like, yo, we're looking at this, we're looking at this. looking at that cryptocurrency and organically it sparked some sort of curiosity and I bought back in November of 2017 to be more specific Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin and I did it with some research but not enough to truly understand the market dynamics and how it all worked from an infrastructure perspective. And sort of the market tanked about, I don't know, a month and a half, two months later, and I never sold, but it was how I entered the market. And then I went down the rabbit hole in 2020.
Richard Carthon: That's awesome, man. And, you know, obviously, it's been a roller coaster ever since, at the time of this recording, it's August of 2024. And it's even been a roller coaster of a year so far. But I want to get back into when you're getting into this space, of course, you build your firm, and you build Web3 familias. So like, how do those two synergistically work together? And how's it fostering a global community?
Christian Narvaez: So just for context, so I spent 10 years on Wall Street as an energy investment banker. And after a decade, I broke into venture capital. And I've been in venture capital for about almost five years now. But in November of 2021, when I was working over at other firms, Inception Capital, I launched Web3 Familia. And what Web3 Familia was then, it started as a passion project. to be able to bring resources to founders and developers that were Spanish speaking. There was a lot of everything was done in English. Everything was sort of catered towards maybe maybe it was just blindsided that I only saw things happening in the U.S. and me and my professional background, I covered Latin America for a whole decade. So I was very used to any resources that we had in the US, we would go to LATAM, vice versa, right? And I always was that bridge. And eventually, What Web3 Familia became for us and where it is today, it is our top of funnel. It is our community and our event time. It's how we engage, attract and sort of invest in early stage companies. And it's an important piece to the Rio group and the other sort of verticals that we have within Rio group itself.
Richard Carthon: That's awesome. And providing those resources back to native Spanish speaking founders, startups is incredible. And to be able to utilize all of the groundbreaking innovations that are happening through blockchain and kind of leveling the playing field of what we're seeing in the West. Because like I said, a lot of things are English focused. But it doesn't mean that there's not a lot of very smart, very capable, very innovative companies that are building. And so to help bridge that gap and to provide some initial funding to get those projects off the ground, I think is really awesome. But in that same vein, you've seen probably a ton of projects over the last several years. What are some of the projects that have come to mind and what are the sectors that you think are starting to take more prominence as you look at 2024?
Christian Narvaez: Yeah, so we're really focused on bridging that gap between Trad5, FinTech and DeFi, the future of finance, right? Whether it's payments, remittances, stablecoins, all the unsexy stuff like KYB, KYC, compliance on chain, FX hedging. commodities, that is sexy to me, that is sexy to us. But I guess that is, those are the verticals that we're looking at in Latin America that are prevalent and sort of maybe are not so attractive here in the United States. I think a lot of A lot of the projects that we look at that are getting funded are more infrastructure plays. And I think in Latin America, it's not I don't think we see a lot of projects more focused on the consumer side of things, you know, making sure that individuals in different countries, for example, in Venezuela, in Argentina, you know, people need to have some sort of stability in their currency due to right high inflation rates due to political instability. So stable coins, that's why have been very popular in in the region. And there's a lot of companies that have come about engaging in the payment space and the peer-to-peer space, and the four major countries that are sort of, or the entrepreneurship that is coming from these four major countries, which are Mexico, Colombia, Brazil, and Argentina, are the ones that are building those consumer, more consumer-focused apps.
Richard Carthon: Yeah, I like that, man. I've been in the space since 2018. My personal background, I come from TradFi. I did wealth management with Merrill Lynch before getting more into the entrepreneurial scene. And one of the things that really resonated with me when I first learned about Web3 was the DeFi aspect of all of these highly tools that could be used to generate wealth, but not necessarily having those same tools for your everyday person. And cryptocurrency, Web3, allowed to help start bridging that gap. And it sounds like it's very familiar with your experience and how it's translating to Latin America. So how, since investing in some of these different types of projects, like how are you seeing that continuing to evolve over on that side of the world?
Christian Narvaez: So, I mean, one major example is credit. Credit is really expensive in the region. It's obviously the rails that are being used are old and archaic. It's not as easy, like, for example, in the United States, credit is pretty easy to come around, whether it's credit cards, personal loans, or as a small business owner, there's many programs that provide that. So a lot of companies have popped up, you know, sort of opening up that market, whether it's micro financing solutions, whether it's factoring, the factoring business on chain, we've seen a lot of that. And beyond that, just loans that leverage sort of DeFi rails to be able to open up credit to SMEs specifically. So that's obviously the space that we're looking at a lot, which is the SME and all the consumer side.
Richard Carthon: That's awesome. And Providing that access allows for more players to enter and for more liquidity for people to be able to, whether it's from the peer to peer standpoint or even to the small business standpoint. having the ability to get access to this liquidity and start a lot of this stuff, which is great. But another part of that, the word access that I want to focus on is on your accelerator. So your fund has an accelerator that it's been using for the last several years and it's been making waves with helping a lot of companies get some of the foundations of what they need to be successful. What are some of the things that companies that have gone through your accelerator have experienced and what has been the turnout so far?
Christian Narvaez: Yeah. In building out the Accelerator, we spoke to over, I mean, 300 founders and sort of try to hone in on what their major pain points were. And for us, we honed in on providing resources and support across legal, tokenomics, go-to-market, and fundraising, with legal being one of the major pain points that early-stage founders are or have a hard time understanding what structures to leverage, to use, et cetera. And yeah, the program has been pretty happy with the program. Our last year's batch of seven companies, they were building across DeFi infrastructure. They went off to raise over $10 million in a bear market. So again, they were building more web 2.5 consumer focused apps. And I think because of the need that the market sees, obviously they were able to get back and now they, some of them are, you know, are still growing and, and, and attaining users, et cetera.
Richard Carthon: Yeah, well, that's awesome. Congrats to your recent class. And like you said, raising $10 million during the bear market is a feat in itself, but also speaks to the lessons that I'm sure they're able to take from your Accelerator to apply and have the right information they need to be attractive to other potential investors. So I want to talk about that a little bit more. For people who are listening to this, let's say they're in their startup or they're trying to fundraise, and it has been challenging, what tools or aspects that has been for some of your different portfolio companies that have gone through the accelerator have been the change maker to get people to investors to say, yes, let's move forward. I want to invest in you. What helped set them apart?
Christian Narvaez: So I would say, I think access and signal. So what does that mean? I think And really happy and lucky to have worked over at other firms like Inception Capital. Specifically, when I say access and reach also, I was part of their fund of funds. We raised a $30 million fund of funds, and I was able to map out globally the crypto GP ecosystem. where today I leverage those relationships to help the companies that come through the program have access to, whether it's GP or crypto VCs that are, you know, their thesis is to back companies building infrastructure, whether it's DeFi, the payment space. So having that access, it might seem like common sense to you and I, because we are in the ecosystem. We do travel the world and sort of have been able to cultivate you know, those partnerships. But that's not, it's not common sense, right? You don't know what you don't know. So having those relationships helps a ton and being able to bridge that gap from a funding perspective. But beyond that also, for example, from a tokenomics perspective, right, we were working with Republic Crypto, we worked with SuperLayer. So building those strong relationships with established ecosystem players that not only have funded or work with tier one projects that have obviously done very well. Um, you know, they, they also now have, and there's a lot of interest in reaching to a different region of the world that otherwise they wouldn't have access to. And that's sort of the edge that we bring where that bridge between sort of, um, the U S and Latin America. And because there's intentionality in, in what we do and it's sort of, it's the thesis that we are going after. Right.
Richard Carthon: Right. Yeah, that's that's awesome, man. And I think being able to be that bridge and like you said, people don't know what they don't know, being able to help them get a good foundation, a good stepping stones of like, OK, do these steps. Because what I found with a lot of startups is they have the energy and they have the willpower to like go and figure this stuff out. But sometimes they get in their own way because they don't necessarily like they might be going full speed in the wrong direction, but at least they're going full speed somewhere to provide that guidance to kind of stir more in the a direction that leads to more success helps a ton. So I think that's really good insight. As being a seasoned investor, you get to see the forefront of blockchain and crypto evolve in constant innovations. Obviously, you already spoke to what DeFi does and bridging the gap with people that don't have access to credit and to all of that. But like, what are the other aspects of blockchain technology that you think has the most potential and that you think will continue to evolve the space?
Christian Narvaez: I mean, for us, right, we focus on the future of finance. So I think across, I already spoke about the SME ecosystem, the consumer, even across enterprise as well, right? The legacy banking rails that are used today are, you know, pretty archaic and built, you know, many, many, many decades ago. And I think looking at these builders that are building enterprise level solutions, leveraging blockchain technology is also another space that we're looking at. For example, foreign exchange hedging, right? The commodities market is pretty big as well. So we've looked at a couple of companies sort of fractionalizing real estate as well, right? to stay within sort of that realm where we stick to what we know, which is sort of the future of finance. I would say those would be two other areas that we're also looking to find solutions on at the enterprise capital markets, companies that are optimizing the capital market stack as well.
Richard Carthon: Yeah, that is an area I too am personally looking at, because I think there's just a tremendous amount of opportunity in it. So it makes a lot of sense to be looking at that. I'm sure there's a lot of companies listening to this right now, as we do have an audience that is in Latin America. And they're like, wow, this sounds really awesome. I might want to apply. What's that process look like? And what can someone do to help polish up their application to be seen better?
Christian Narvaez: Yeah, we, we, we, so at a high level, right, we like to work with early founding teams that have a good combination of a commercial side and a technical side, right, someone that is, has either built or has, is a seasoned operator, and you've built the company in web two and now are in a discovery phase and want to tinker and build something or product in web 3 combined with one of your co-founders being also someone that has a technical background who's built, you know, infrastructure stack in web 2 understands, you know, how hard it is to, you know, build a product, ship, you know, ship a product and be able to go out to market and get users. I think having those seasoned either operators or seasoned tech folks as founding teams is the preference that we like to engage with. And then outside of that, for us, we like to see early stage teams that have some sort of traction that they already talking to customers and sort of have a proof of concept in place to be able to help them work and navigate and move forward and leverage the resources that we have to get them to the next level.
Richard Carthon: Yeah. All of that sounds good. And for everyone listening, you heard it here first on ways you can get started. Now, a challenge that potentially comes up in the world of DeFi and in lots of other aspects of Web3 are the regulations and how there's not necessarily extreme clear guidance on how all this is going to pan out. What's your take on what's to come? And if you could wave your magic wand and make things a lot more clear with regulation, like what are the things that you would set up to help propel innovation forward as it relates to DeFi?
Christian Narvaez: So I would say to talk about regulation in America, I think, you know, there needs to be some sort of guidance or a sandbox put in place to be able to allow for entrepreneurs to build without being afraid of, you know, going to jail without being, you know, shut down or being even arrested. Right. So I think that's what we've seen a lot of that happen lately. And I think it does no good to our country, to our economy. If anything, it's pushing away great talent. It's pushing away also capital. Right. And I think And due to the fact that now it's, you know, our generation is more mobile, right? And we could, you know, build and ship product from anywhere in the world. If you could do that somewhere else, like Latin America, like Mexico, like Brazil, like Argentina, where there's a lot of great talent as well, where it's easy to hire, why not do that? So I think forward looking, it would be great that, you know, sort of regulators, and I think we are You know, we're advancing on those fronts. And I think there's a lot more attention coming to the ecosystem, to Web3 in general, because it's an election year. And I think now it's becoming a bit, I hope that it stays bipartisan, right? But I think there's a lot of attention coming to it. And the hope is that some sort of sensible regulation gets put in place to allow for innovation to flourish. to allow for talent to stay and to allow for capital to flow into these companies that are building within the United States.
Richard Carthon: Yeah, I hope it stays partisan as well. And in a lot of ways, I think the conversation around regulation has been brought up a lot because both parties are being forced to talk about it, which is great. And I think it's only going to, as more regulation comes in, the more money that's able to enter the space and continue to have really amazing innovations, both here in the States and internationally. But as we kind of wrap up this segment, You are now being an investor in a space for multiple years, having gone through and seen multiple companies go through accelerator programs. You have a very entrepreneurial spirit. And there's a lot of people that who listen to this show that are builders. You know, what's some advice that you would give to these founders that are navigating both, not just the regulatory environment of the crypto space, but just everything that's kind of happening right now in this moment?
Christian Narvaez: Wow, I don't think there's one right answer. I think at a high level and obviously in engaging and working with founders and sort of launching and being a founder myself with Hafayo, just continue to be curious. Obviously, whatever it is that you're building, whatever your North Star is, continue to push forward every single day. I think from a personal level or from an individual level, I would say you have to be patient with yourself. I think you have to take one step every single day, right? Be consistent with whatever project you're building, whatever team you're building, whatever, you know, the culture you want, you know, the company to have. It has to be consistent. And obviously, as long as you have a North Star, I think you're able to walk sort of towards that North Star. And as long as you stay consistent, A lot of magic happens, but obviously consistency, you know, takes work and it takes time. And I think across a lot of that, from an individual perspective, a lot of founders, I think the successful ones sort of have empathy within themselves, within their teams to be able to understand that sometimes, you know, things don't well, Things won't move as fast as you want them to be. Projects are not going to pan out as you plan them to be. But as long as you keep a positive mindset and you, again, take one step forward every single day, I think good things will happen. And then obviously, be realistic. If things are not working and if things are, you know, if you're bumping onto a wall and, you know, things are not panning out as you want them to be, I think it's also, necessary to know when to give up or pivot, right? And I'll raise your hand when you need help. So I know that's very general, but I think I would want to focus more on the individual and sort of understanding that One self needs to be and have empathy because if not, you're going to go crazy, right? Like I think building a company, building a community, building an ecosystem, I think it takes a lot of work. And if you're not doing well mentally, spiritually, nothing else matters, right?
Richard Carthon: Right. I think that's really good advice. There are a lot of people who come from traditional jobs and aren't necessarily entrepreneurs and get into this and then don't necessarily realize like, like you said, the, the consistency that's going to take having your North Star knowing your why. And then, you know, also knowing like when is it time to pivot, how do you have empathy with those that you're working with, how do you continue to persist on when things challenges are presented. So, although very general, it's still a great reminder and it's a great, great reminder for people who are constantly going, who are currently going through this on how they can get back aligned with where they're headed and what they're trying to build. So I think that's really valuable advice and definitely appreciate it. It's been great to get to know more about you and what you've been building, but now we're ready to learn more about you specifically. And we're going to dive into our next segment, which is called Edge Quick Hitters. Let's do it. And now for a quick word from our sponsor before we dive into the next segment. Are you ready to take your sports predictions to the next level? Look no further than MainCard.io, the fantasy management platform that's taking the blockchain world by storm. With MainCard, every card is a ticket to excitement. You can predict sport outcomes, trade cards in the marketplace, and challenge opponents in thrilling weekly duels. And don't wait, head to MainCard.io now and start earning rewards with your NFTs, because it pays to be early. And now back to today's episode. Edge quick hitters are a fun and quick way to get to know you a little better. There are 10 questions and we're looking for a short, a single, or a response. Feel free to expand if you get the urge. Are you ready? Let's do it. All right. What's the first thing you remember purchasing in your life?
Christian Narvaez: Purchasing. I would say the big purchase, maybe when I was like 14, I bought my first phone, the Nokia, the brick. Oh yeah. I worked really hard to buy that phone. So that was like the, that I recall having like a, It was a cool big purchase.
Richard Carthon: Yeah, that's an awesome purchase. And man, that phone lasts forever. Like you get it is it is a strong willed phone. Let me tell you. So what is the most recent thing you what's the first thing you remember selling in your life?
Christian Narvaez: Selling? I mean, I would say my, I, you know, as a kid, I was like 14. I, I, I, I wanted to work. So I started selling, uh, I love New York t-shirts in the, in Manhattan markets, uh, over the summers. So that was something that, um, I really liked. And I think, uh, I learned a lot of cool lessons and selling t-shirts and then eventually selling sneakers as well. So, um, selling was sort of my first job and something that I liked to do.
Richard Carthon: Yeah, that's awesome. And building a lot of skills, barely selling in front of people, much of strangers, like you build up a lot of skills that way. So I think a lot of early good skill building. What is the most recent thing you've purchased?
Christian Narvaez: Purchased? What did I buy? I travel a lot. I got no luggage. I had my luggage for about like six years. So I think I needed a revamp. So I got no luggage.
Richard Carthon: Oh, great. Yeah, man. Um, with the amount of travel, it's, it's good, especially, um, having luggage that like, uh, they're able to drag very well, that has really good wheels. I found it's like so important these days.
Christian Narvaez: Compartments, my book bag, like I have a new book on.
Richard Carthon: So good. Yeah. Awesome, man. Um, what is the most recent thing you've sold? Sold?
Christian Narvaez: Um, I, I would say with When it comes to Web3 Familia, we're locking in a lot of great partnerships, especially in Latin America. So I would say we locked in a couple of great partnerships that we're going to work towards and announce later in the fourth quarter of this year.
Richard Carthon: Awesome. Well, congratulations on those. What would you consider your most prized possession?
Christian Narvaez: My most prized possession? Oh, I would say I have two. from a capital front, radio capital, right, where I want to be, it's the baby that I want to build out and sort of continue to work on for the next couple of decades. And I think we are in the early innings, but I think we want to be able to sort of continue to add value to the startup ecosystem around the world, but obviously specifically Latin America, that's one baby. And then the other would be Web3 Familia. That's more of a resource, a vehicle or a resource channel. And it's for us. I think it's a win-win. Why? Because from one way, we are able to funnel resources to founders early on in the incubation stage, ideation stage. And then in return, right, it's our top of funnel. It's the way that we engage, we identify top talent. And it's, it's obviously, actually out of the 10 companies that we have in our portfolio, all 10 of them came through the Wealth Information Funnel. So those are my two prized possessions.
Richard Carthon: That's awesome. Definitely on that, creating your own startup as well. So creating that and building up that momentum is something that's near and dear. So it makes a ton of sense. If you could buy anything in the world right now, digital, physical, service, experience, that is currently for sale and money wasn't an issue?
Christian Narvaez: That's a good question. I'm a traveler. I love to just explore. So I'd say if Elon allows me, I'll buy one of his rocket ships and start exploring outer space and go to Mars or something. I don't know, something cool like that.
Richard Carthon: That's awesome, man. Yeah. With all these different rides that basically have allowed people to be the first travelers out of space, like just from a retail standpoint, it's pretty awesome. But Hey, you can be the first person to like, Hey, if it's an option, you can be the first person on Mars. That's pretty cool.
Christian Narvaez: Maybe I'll park my rocket ship next to yours and Mars in the next decade.
Richard Carthon: I know, man, the way things are going, it's a possibility. Um, if you could pass on one of your personality traits to the next generation, what would it be?
Christian Narvaez: personality traits, I would say I'm a mega extrovert and an optimist. So I would say, and I think being an extrovert has allowed me to be over curious and learn from many people. And I think that's how it allowed me to normalize certain things in life, which have created opportunities. So I would say, yeah, I think positivity and always being like a glass half full type of individual has helped me just get through a ton. Yeah, I mean, optimism and, you know, just be uber curious.
Richard Carthon: Yeah, it's great. I think optimism is amazing. I think there's a lot of pessimism in the world, and I think social media drives a lot of that. So keeping the optimism alive is Uh, very important. So I think that's a great one on the flip side. If you could eliminate one of your personality traits, what would you, which one would you eliminate a personality trait?
Christian Narvaez: Um, that's a good one. I would say, I don't know if it's a personality trait, but I think also being too hard on myself or, or, or, or fighting that imposter syndrome. I think that comes in different levels and in many different situations. So I think it's something that one, it keeps me sharp, but two, it's something that I'm always fighting. Um, and it's a fight that takes time to develop and like sort of grow through. So I don't know. Uh, no, it's a good one.
Richard Carthon: It's a, it's a valid one. Um, and I don't think I've heard that one on the show before. So I liked that a lot. Um, and Uh, yeah, I mean, obviously you're doing awesome stuff and, and, and sometimes it's, uh, good to be reminded from external factors, but also sometimes you just got to tell yourself that. So it's, uh, um, that's a, that's a, that's a good one to share. So I appreciate that. Um, what did you do just before joining the podcast?
Christian Narvaez: Uh, I went for a run. I, I'm going out later today, so I, I couldn't, I usually do my runs at night. So I just went kick, got one out of the way midday and. So that's what I did, run, showered and got ready for this.
Richard Carthon: Nice. what are you going to be doing right after?
Christian Narvaez: Oh, I have an event. Uh, I'm on the board of a, of a non-property in New York and they're doing a social mixer today. So I'll be, I have to go show up and say some words.
Richard Carthon: Awesome, well I hope you enjoy it and I hope it's an awesome event. We always like to wrap up with a fun question, a bonus question, and since you brought up travel and it being one of the favorite things to do, what has been your favorite travel experience to this point that you would recommend for someone else to go check out? Across the world? Across the world. It doesn't have to be the world, it could be in the States, wherever you want.
Christian Narvaez: I would say the earlier this year I went to Iflatam in Honduras and off of the coast of Honduras, a beautiful little island called Roatan. And actually, I didn't know this. So they have the second largest coral reef behind the Australian coral reef. And I was able to go scuba diving. And I felt like I was in Finding Nemo and swimming with all these. The water was super crystal clear. The weather was perfect. And the cool thing is that they also have a Bitcoin center in that island. And I was able to not only go and sort of hang out in paradise, but it was cool because I got to connect with a couple of people in Crypto and Web3 in paradise. It's called Roatan Island in Honduras.
Richard Carthon: That is awesome. You gave me some alpha. One of my dreams has always been, so I recently got my PADI certification to do scuba diving, did that last year. And I'm taking my dream vacation, which is to go to the Great Barrier Reef. And I'm doing this later this year. And now, if this is the second best reef in the world, it's now on my list. So thank you so much for putting me on that.
Christian Narvaez: And there's a flight from Miami to Roatán, which is straight. Oh, even more awful.
Richard Carthon: Even better. That is awesome. Well, thank you for sharing that. And good to know that there's a Bitcoin community there. So I'll have to go check that out. And I'm sure someone else listening to this now is probably going to want to go check that out as well. But Christian, thank you so much for sharing all that with us. It's always great to know you a little bit more. We'd like to wrap up with a segment called Shout Out. So obviously, there's a lot that goes into making your firm and everything that goes on happen that doesn't necessarily get all the glory and praise. So this is your moment to give any shout outs to anyone you want behind the scenes for what you have going on. A quick word from our sponsors who's ready to navigate the cutting edge of tomorrow's legal landscape. Because at Zuber Lawler, they're not just attorneys, they're visionaries. With expertise in emerging technologies like AI, blockchain, and the metaverse, they're paving the way for you to seize the future. For mergers and acquisitions to IP, their selective team delivers strategic solutions tailored to the ever-changing world of technology. Join us at Zuber Lawler, where the future meets the law at ZuberLawler.com. Back to the episode.
Christian Narvaez: Man, I would say there's way too many people that, so it takes an army to, you know, to build things. And I would just say thank you to all the partners, to all the mentors, all the advisors, you know, and just the community that sort of gives, sends us, and is always coming in a positive way. So I don't think one person does it. I think it's just a lot of people across all those spaces that I just shared.
Richard Carthon: Absolutely. Well, thank you for sharing that. And I'm sure everyone who's listening is going to be grateful to hear that. For everyone who is listening and they want to learn more, we're places that people can learn more information and also get to connect with you.
Christian Narvaez: Yeah, my LinkedIn, Christian Narvaez, you can just Google Rayo Capital. Our website, rayo.capital, we're also putting stuff, our newsletter. So we do a lot of, we provide a lot of resources for founders, for developers in our Web3 familia newsletter. So I would say if you're a founder, sign up. And if you're an LP, a GP, and you want to stay in touch with what we're doing, sign up to a Rayo Capital newsletter.
Richard Carthon: Amazing. Well, we've reached the outer limits at the edge of entity for today. So thanks for exploring with us. We've got space for more adventures on the starship. So invite your friends and recruit some cool strangers. That's going to make this journey also much better. How, if you're listening, go to Spotify, iTunes, or Myko right now, rate us and say something awesome. Or if you're watching YouTube, join over 130,000 other followers by hitting the subscribe button and passing this episode on to a friend or two. You can also catch us on Myco, that's myco.io, where you can watch and earn for your time and attention. Lastly, be sure to tune in to the next time to get more great Web 3 content. Thanks again for sharing this time with us today.
Outro: The views and opinions expressed on Edge of NFT reflect solely those views and opinions of the show hosts and its guests. Please make sure to do your own research. Our show is not financial advice. You understand that you are using any and all information available on or through this podcast at your own risk. Whenever making financial decisions, we recommend doing your own research and talking to your accountant for financial advice. From time to time we may feature sponsored content on the show for which we receive value and we may share links for which we receive a commission if you make a purchase through one of those links. Refer to our website www.edgeofnft.com for our full disclaimer, terms and conditions, and privacy policy.
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