Off the Chain began in 2016 as a family office with a seasoned team that had decades’ worth of asset management experience. They were early adopters of blockchain and traveled the world both educating and building their network in the space.
As the framework matured, the firm opened beyond family to qualified purchasers and carried the same investment discipline into the intersection of blockchain and AI.
We are driven by a conviction to leave future generations a more stable economic foundation than the one we inherited. Our job is to do well, so our investors do good in the world.
Executive Team
The principals.
Investors & Advisors
The company we keep.
Olaf Carlson-Wee
Founder & CIO, Polychain Capital
Matthew Roszak
Chairman & Co-Founder, Bloq
Perianne Boring
Founder & Chair, The Digital Chamber
David Bailey
CEO, Nakamoto
Tim Keefe
CIO, Dover Asset Management; former Chief Equity Officer, John Hancock Funds
Thomas Hillman
Managing Partner, Lewis & Clark Partners
Rob Kauffman
Co-Founder, Fortress Investment Group
Sherwin Dowlat
CEO, Veil
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Principal
Over the past 35 years, Brian has been a successful venture capitalist, entrepreneur, and owner of several prosperous businesses. Early in his career, he was a Senior Vice President at A.G. Edwards & Sons where he worked for fourteen years as an institutional equity broker. Between 2004 and 2014, Brian was the President and owner of Estes Financial, Ltd. He was ranked in the top 1/10th of 1% of managers in the Morningstar Large Cap Blend Index and averaged 24.7% per year versus 7.7% for the S&P500 Index during this 10-year period.*
Brian received his bachelor’s degree in Economics from the University of Illinois while on scholarship for NCAA wheelchair basketball. He earned his MBA with high honors from Washington University in St. Louis and has also studied at Cambridge University and the London School of Economics. Brian has been an instrument-rated pilot for 36 years.
* From 12/31/2004 to 12/31/2014. Ranking and performance calculation performed by Greenhill Investment Reporting. GreenHill Universe Comparisons use fund data provided by Morningstar. Selected GreenHill Universe: Morningstar Large Cap Blend. The number of equity funds ranges from 653 to 1246. Please contact us for more information regarding this ranking. Past performance is not indicative of future results.
Brian has over 14 years experience in professional asset management, entrepreneurship, venture capital, blockchain consulting, and is a published author of four books around digital assets and advanced technology. Brian entered the digital assets space in 2012 and was an early adopter and advocate of bitcoin and the evolving market. Throughout Brian’s venture career, he raised and managed three private venture funds focused on technology and consumer products startups. He also managed an energy-tech corporate venture fund for the Fortune 500 company Ameren and created the first of its kind energy-technology accelerator program. In addition, he created the first of its kind corporate venture program for the federal government’s National Geospatial Intelligence Agency where he helped source and fund startups working on innovative technologies around satellite imagery and geospatial intelligence.
Brian has funded and helped scale over 100 startups with major successes that exited for over a billion in value. He is a speaker and has been featured as a keynote at conferences across the world covering topics around digital assets, investing, and technology. Brian earned a Juris Doctorate from Washington University in St. Louis and a Bachelors in English and Sociology from the University of Missouri.
Over the past 39 years, Tom has been an accomplished venture capitalist, entrepreneur, and owner of several successful businesses. Early in his career, he was a consultant with KPMG and served in the firm’s M&A Group. Tom was a Senior Vice President with Advantage Capital Partners, a founder and Managing Director with Shepherd Ventures, and a Managing Director with Illinois Ventures. He has founded and served as CEO of companies in the food, software, and publishing industries. Tom has served on the board of, or been an advisor to, several private companies and has been an active angel investor. Past investments have resulted in many public offerings and acquisitions, including sales of his companies to Microsoft, Google, and Twitter, among many others.
Tom earned a bachelor’s degree in Economics and an MBA from the University of Illinois. He is a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) and holds the designation of Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA). He is a member of the CFA Institute and past Chairman and President of the CFA Society San Diego. Tom has been an advisor and/or board member for dozens of privately-held companies and has completed hundreds of venture capital investments.
