Key Takeaways
- • Katie Haun launched Haun Ventures with $1.5 billion in capital in spring 2022, immediately before crypto markets collapsed, with Bitcoin falling from $69,000 and high-profile projects including Terra imploding.
- • Haun assembled an 11-person team and held a critical April investor meeting at her Menlo Park office with approximately 70 limited partners and portfolio founders to reassure backers that the fund's strategy remained on track despite industry turmoil.
- • The fund's leadership, including dealmaker Sam Rosenblum, deployed the Gartner Hype Cycle framework to communicate that market troughs represent periods when foundational building occurs—positioning the crypto downturn as a normal cyclical event rather than a systemic failure.
- • Haun's career trajectory from Supreme Court clerk to Justice Department prosecutor to venture capital prominence faced its first material reputational risk as the November 2022 FTX collapse and broader industry failures threatened her carefully cultivated reputation as a crypto advocate.
- • The timing of the fund's launch coincided with multiple industry headwinds: a severe bear market, rising interest rates impacting venture capital broadly, and cascading high-profile project failures that created an unusually steep trough in the crypto investment cycle.
Summary
Katie Haun launched Haun Ventures with $1.5 billion in committed capital during spring 2022, a moment that proved inauspicious for a debut crypto-focused fund. Within months, the cryptocurrency market experienced a dramatic reversal, with Bitcoin collapsing from a peak of $69,000 and major projects including Terra undergoing spectacular failures. By November 2022, the collapse of FTX—then an industry leader—on fraud allegations intensified the downturn, creating what Haun herself would later characterize as crypto's "year from hell."
The fund's nascent team of 11 professionals faced immediate pressure to retain confidence among their limited partner base. In April 2023, Haun convened approximately 70 limited partners and portfolio company founders at her sublet office in Menlo Park for a high-stakes presentation. The meeting followed a team hike around the Stanford Dish in Palo Alto—a ritual Haun used to prepare her crew for the challenging communication task ahead. Star dealmaker Sam Rosenblum presented the Gartner Hype Cycle framework to reassure investors that cyclical troughs represent periods when genuine infrastructure and products are built, not indicators of fundamental industry failure.
The timing of the fund's launch proved exceptionally challenging. Launching a new venture fund in spring 2022 coincided with multiple headwinds: the transition from an exuberant bull market to a severe bear market, rising interest rates that pressured venture capital returns broadly, and the cascading failures of major crypto projects that created an exceptionally steep market trough. For Haun, whose career had progressed from a Supreme Court clerkship through an influential Justice Department role to prominence in venture capital, the fund's baptism by fire represented the first serious threat to her carefully cultivated reputation and professional trajectory in the crypto space.
Despite the challenging environment, Haun maintained investor engagement and articulated a long-term thesis predicated on market cyclicality and the potential for value creation during periods of reduced froth and speculative excess.
The fund's nascent team of 11 professionals faced immediate pressure to retain confidence among their limited partner base. In April 2023, Haun convened approximately 70 limited partners and portfolio company founders at her sublet office in Menlo Park for a high-stakes presentation. The meeting followed a team hike around the Stanford Dish in Palo Alto—a ritual Haun used to prepare her crew for the challenging communication task ahead. Star dealmaker Sam Rosenblum presented the Gartner Hype Cycle framework to reassure investors that cyclical troughs represent periods when genuine infrastructure and products are built, not indicators of fundamental industry failure.
The timing of the fund's launch proved exceptionally challenging. Launching a new venture fund in spring 2022 coincided with multiple headwinds: the transition from an exuberant bull market to a severe bear market, rising interest rates that pressured venture capital returns broadly, and the cascading failures of major crypto projects that created an exceptionally steep market trough. For Haun, whose career had progressed from a Supreme Court clerkship through an influential Justice Department role to prominence in venture capital, the fund's baptism by fire represented the first serious threat to her carefully cultivated reputation and professional trajectory in the crypto space.
Despite the challenging environment, Haun maintained investor engagement and articulated a long-term thesis predicated on market cyclicality and the potential for value creation during periods of reduced froth and speculative excess.
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