Balaji Srinivasan

Balaji S. Srinivasan is an American entrepreneur, angel investor, tech founder, and WSJ bestselling author of The Network State.

He was the CTO of Coinbase and a former general partner at the venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz. 

He has been an early investor in many successful tech companies and crypto protocols, including Alchemy, Ava Labs, Bitcoin, Cameo, Chainlink, Clubhouse, Dapper Labs, Deel, EPNS, Ethereum, Instadapp, Lambda School, Mighty, NEAR Protocol, OnDeck, Opensea, Replit, Republic, Roam Research, Solana, Soylent, Superhuman, Synthesis, XMTP, and Zora.

Dr. Srinivasan was the cofounder of Earn.com (acquired by Coinbase), Counsyl (acquired by Myriad), Teleport (acquired by Topia), and Coin Center. He holds a BS/MS/PhD in Electrical Engineering and an MS in Chemical Engineering from Stanford University.

In July 2022, Srinivasan self-published The Network State: How To Start a New Country. The book describes the concept of a "network state" in which digital communities crowd-fund resources to build autonomous cities and states.

Balaji Srinivasan is a well-known angel investor, tech founder, and writer. He was born and raised on Long Island in Plainview, New York. Srinivasan is a highly educated individual, having earned his BS, MS, and PhD degrees in Electrical Engineering from Stanford University. He also has an MS in Chemical Engineering from the same institution.

Srinivasan co-founded the genetic testing company Counsyl in 2007. Counsyl provided tests to prospective parents to screen for Mendelian diseases. The company was successful, and in 2018, it was acquired by Myriad Genetics for $375 million.

In 2013, Srinivasan joined Andreessen Horowitz, a venture capital firm, as a general partner. During his time there, he became an early investor in many successful tech companies and crypto protocols, including Alchemy, Ava Labs, Bitcoin, Chainlink, Clubhouse, Dapper Labs, Ethereum, and many others.

In 2013, Srinivasan co-founded 21e6, a Bitcoin mining startup that later became Earn.com. The company raised over $120 million from investors but ultimately failed as a Bitcoin mining business. Earn.com allowed senders to pay users in digital currency to reply to emails. The company was acquired by Coinbase in April 2018, and Srinivasan became Coinbase's first CTO. He left the company in 2019, and Coinbase shut down Coinbase Earn in December 2019.

Srinivasan also co-founded Teleport in April 2014, a job search engine. The company was later acquired by Topia in 2017.

Published Work

In July 2022, Srinivasan self-published The Network State: How To Start a New Country. The book explores the concept of a "network state," where digital communities can crowdfund resources to build autonomous cities and states. The book's ideas are inspired by the work of economist Albert O. Hirschman, who identified two basic paths to reform: voice (remake the system from within) and exit (leave and build something new).

Balaji Srinivasan's vision is centred around the idea of a "network state", which he outlines in his book of the same name. He believes that digital communities can use crowdfunding and decentralized technologies to build their own autonomous cities and states. This concept challenges the traditional idea of the nation-state and offers an alternative model for governance.

Srinivasan's vision also emphasizes the importance of decentralized technologies like blockchain and cryptocurrency. He sees these technologies as tools for empowering individuals and communities, and as a way to reduce the influence of centralized institutions like governments and banks.