From Goldman to Coinbase: Why I Quit VC to Build Crypto Myself

What we talked about.

In this episode, Sunny Ray talks with Preethi Kasireddy about her winding path from engineering school at USC to Wall Street, venture capital, and crypto. Preethi describes interning at Goldman Sachs as an industrial engineering major, then cold emailing her way into a role on the deal team at Andreessen Horowitz, where she worked alongside Marc Andreessen and Chris Dixon and was first introduced to the Bitcoin whitepaper. She recounts leaving VC to teach herself to code, joining Coinbase as one of its earliest engineers, and eventually founding TruStory, a startup that used crypto incentives to improve online discourse. Preethi reflects on why Bitcoin's ideas finally clicked for her, how writing became her sharpest professional tool, and the parallels she sees between clear writing and clear code. She also discusses mentorship at elite firms, being one of the earliest female engineers at Coinbase, and her current project building a comprehensive crypto education course from the history of banking through the Bitcoin whitepaper.

Preethi Kasireddy traces her journey from Goldman Sachs to a16z to Coinbase and building her own crypto startup.

The questions, and the answers.

Where does your story begin, career-wise?

I went to USC and studied industrial engineering because I loved math and science. I minored in business and fell into the finance crowd, which had way more energy than the engineering world. That led me to investment banking, and eventually I got an internship at Goldman Sachs, one of the first from my program to do that.

How did you end up moving from Goldman into venture capital?

After Goldman I knew I loved tech but not banking. I cold emailed a few VCs, and two responded, one from DFJ and one from Andreessen Horowitz. A coffee meeting with the a16z partner eventually turned into an offer to join their deal team, which was a huge stepping stone into tech and crypto for me.

What was your early relationship with Bitcoin like?

Balaji encouraged me to read the Bitcoin whitepaper when he joined a16z, and honestly it didn't make sense to me at first. We invested in Coinbase around that time, and I watched from the sidelines still not fully getting why people were obsessed with it. It took years of reading before it really clicked.

Why did you leave a16z to teach yourself to code?

I felt like not knowing how to code would hold me back, especially since I wanted to eventually start my own company and not have to rely entirely on a technical co-founder. So I left after two years to learn engineering on my own before figuring out my next step.

How did you end up choosing Coinbase after learning to code?

I got offers from a few tech companies and asked Chris Dixon which one to pick. We both felt crypto was where the future was heading, so I joined Coinbase as a software engineer, probably the second female engineer there, when the company had fewer than one hundred employees.

What made you decide to leave Coinbase and start your own company?

I left in 2017 right before the big hype cycle and spent months learning Ethereum and smart contract development. Eventually I started TruStory, using crypto incentives to encourage more productive online debate. We ran it for two years but shut it down because too much underlying infrastructure still needed to be built.

How did your writing career develop alongside your engineering career?

I didn't realize I was good at writing until my investment memos at a16z got strong reactions. When I started learning to code later, I wrote about it to catch up and get discovered by other engineers. That writing eventually got attention from top engineers in the Valley, including Brendan Eich.

Did you see being one of the few women engineers at Coinbase as a challenge?

I didn't really experience it as a challenge. People often ask what it's like being a woman in tech, and I don't love that question because I don't feel like I was held back for being female. If anything, I felt supported and helped along the way.