In this episode, Sunny Ray talks with Ash (Ashlin Ahmed), the 2024 Harvard computer science and economics graduate who founded Axel, a consumer app that lets people earn yield on stablecoins through decentralized lending instead of parking money in banks. Ash traces his path from competitive debate and a twin sibling rivalry in Lexington, through a hackathon project called Lockbox that became Axel, to acceptance into a16z's Crypto Startup School accelerator. He explains how over collateralized DeFi lending protects principal while giving everyday users access to yields and asset classes historically reserved for banks and the wealthy, including plans to add gold, land, and small business loans. Ash also discusses building a diverse team recruited through personal networks, cold outreach, and social media, an earlier pivot away from an AI trading assistant called Gecko, and a $2.5 million preseed round led by CMT Digital with a16z involvement. He closes with advice on moving fast, ignoring judgment, and iterating quickly as a founder.
A 24 year old Harvard grad explains how his DeFi app Axel lets everyday people earn the yield banks usually pocket.
Can you give a quick overview of what Axel does?
Axel helps people earn more on their dollar by leveraging blockchains and decentralized lending markets instead of letting banks take deposits, lend them out, and pocket the interest. Today we focus on stablecoins and lending markets, but we want to expand into gold, Bitcoin, land, and small business loans, basically any previously gatekept asset class, through an intuitive mobile app.
What was the Ahmed household like growing up, and how did your twin brother shape you?
My twin brother and I always had a fun competitive dynamic since we were kids. We were big policy debaters together, and senior year we even partnered up on a team. I never wrote code or was great at math, but competing and trying to win at whatever I did was the thing I loved most growing up.
What drew you to combining computer science and economics at Harvard?
Economics is fascinating for thinking about systems and incentives, but at a place like Harvard it felt too theoretical. Once I discovered coding freshman year and got into crypto through campus research work, I realized this blend let me apply economic thinking to real systems, like building rebalancers that combine greedy algorithms with yield strategies across risk and TVL levels.
Where did the idea for the company originate, and what were you building at that first hackathon?
It started at a Harvard hackathon sponsored by a group called EA. My friends and I had hackathon winnings in stablecoins that were a pain to manage using a Gnosis Safe, so we built Lockbox, a permission layer letting you delegate limited spending without needing everyone to sign off. That project is still our legal company name, Lockbox Technologies.
How did the a16z Crypto Startup School opportunity come about?
A friend connected with a16z folks visiting the Boston area for a coffee chat, and we mentioned our hackathon project. They said we were too early for investment but invited us into their new Crypto Startup School accelerator. We got a call in early 2024 confirming we were in the first batch, which felt like a huge validation.
How would you explain what Axel does to someone completely new, like your mom or an 11 year old?
I start by asking what people think happens to money in a bank account. Banks make under collateralized loans and pocket the interest. Axel lets you lend directly instead, but our loans are over collateralized, so if someone borrows 100 dollars they must put up 120 dollars of Bitcoin or Ethereum, protecting your principal with autoliquidation if collateral value drops.
How did you build such a diverse team?
Ari, a US Army captain I knew from Harvard Business School's blockchain club, was our first hire. Others came from a cold LinkedIn post, a co-working space connection in New York, and even people who saw our tweets from Singapore after working at OKX or TikTok. It's a hodgepodge group, mostly based in New York now.
What happened with Gecko AI, and where do you see Axel in one and five years?
Gecko was our attempt at an AI wealth assistant for onchain tasks, but we learned people only cared about yield, so we handed it to another team. In a year I want Axel offering asset classes like gold, land, and business loans in one app. In five years, I want Axel to run people's wealth the way Chase runs their banking today.
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