Smart Humans with Slava Rubin

Vincent CEO Eric Cantor and Sacra co-founder Jan-Erik Asplund talked about OpenAI, the American AI giant.

Slava Rubin and Marcelo Ballvé, Pre-IPO analyst at Sacra, analyzed Stripe, the global payments platform last valued at $95 billion.

Zac Townsend is the co-founder and CEO of Meanwhile, the world’s first Bitcoin life insurance company. Meanwhile’s mission is to democratize access to financial protection and security. Formerly, Townsend was a leader in the financial services practice of McKinsey & Company and served as the inaugural Chief Data Officer of California. Townsend was also the founder of a banking API business called Standard Treasury which was sold to Silicon Valley Bank.

In this episode of Smart Humans, Slava Rubin and Vincent's Adam Katz recap the year in alts, and talk about what to what to expect in 2025 in real estate, pre-IPO venture, art, collectibles, and crypto.Adam Katz is a co-founder and Head of Research and Content at Vincent. He is a seasoned real estate investor and syndicator and a longtime investor in alternative assets. He is a graduate of Columbia Law School and has an undergraduate finance degree from Washington University in St. Louis.

Meb Faber is the founder and CEO of Cambria Investment Management. He is the manager of Cambria’s ETFs and separate accounts. He hosts The Meb Faber Show podcast and has authored numerous leather-bound books. He is a frequent speaker and writer on investment strategies and has been featured in Barron’s, The New York Times, and The New Yorker. Meb graduated from the University of Virginia with a double major in Engineering Science and Biology. 

Derrick Barker is the co-founder and CEO of Nectar, a fintech company focused on innovative financing solutions for Commercial and multi family real estate investors. His journey in real estate began during his time at Harvard, where he started acquiring properties from his dorm room. Following graduation, Derrick joined Goldman Sachs as a bond trader but continued to expand his real estate portfolio, primarily focused on affordable housing in Atlanta, his hometown.After three years at Goldman and building a portfolio of 500 units, Derrick returned to Atlanta to focus full-time on real estate, eventually growing his assets to over 4,700 units, valued at $500 million. His work included revitalizing distressed neighborhoods by renovating affordable housing complexes, creating thousands of units and enhancing community stability.In 2021, Derrick co-founded Nectar with his wife, Brittany Mosely, also a real estate investor, to help other developers who own stabilized properties to access liquidity in the form of flexible capital without having to completely refinance their senior debt. Through small balance mezzanine debt and preferred equity solutions, Nectar supports multifamily projects across the U.S., enabling developers to expand quickly while delivering stable, risk-adjusted returns for investors.

Raj Gokal is the co-founder of Solana and president of Solana Labs. He also serves on the board of the Solana Foundation. He was previously focused on startups in behavioral health. He was Director of Product at Omada Health; EIR at Rock Health; Co-Founder of Sano, building consumer glucose sensors; and an investor at General Catalyst Partners. He started his career in hedge funds at companies like Meridian Capital Partners. Raj studied Finance at the Wharton School of UPenn.

Travis Jamison is a successful multi-time founder turned private market investor. He is the co-founder and managing partner of CapitalPad, a platform that enables accredited investors to invest in small business M&A deals, an asset class that has historically been out of reach for most investors.

Slava was co-founder and CEO at indiegogo in addition to being co-founder at Vincent, co-founder at Nillion and co-founder and Managing Partner of Humbition, an early stage venture fund. He is currently a member of the board for NYSE traded (WSO) Watsco Inc.

Andrew Luong is a personal finance and technology enthusiast and serves as the co-founder & CEO of Doorvest.  Founded in 2020, Doorvest is an online way for everyone, everywhere to buy, own and sell investment homes.  Doorvest currently manages over 400 homes and $100m in assets and is on a mission is to advance financial security for all.