When your bank freezes, your app crashes, or Wise ghosts your transfer… life doesn’t stop.

Rick Martin is building Decaf for those moments.The purpose of Decaf is simple: getting money, fast and cheaply, to people and places banks can’t reach.

Rick is the co-founder of Decaf, a self-custodial wallet that turns stablecoins into real-world money flows, cash, cards, and bank transfers, across some of the hardest places on earth to move funds. This isn’t another “crypto card” gimmick.

It’s borderless money for NGOs, refugees, freelancers, and everyday people stuck with broken banks and collapsing currencies.

Guest

Rick Martin – Co-founder, Decaf (https://x.com/rickdanielm)

Decaf – https://www.decaf.so/en

Host

Keira – https://x.com/RealMissAI

DealFlow – https://x.com/dealflowpodcast

MH Ventures – https://www.mhventures.io/

Sam Battenally is trying to fix the two things everyone hates about trading:it’s slow, and it’s full of hidden costs.

Sam is the co-founder and CEO of RISE, a new blockchain built to feel like modern web apps: instant, smooth, and (on their new exchange RiseX) zero gas fees. He’s also just acquired perp DEX team BSX to help turn that vision into a pro-grade, on-chain trading platform.

In this episode of DealFlow Founder Stories, we break it down in plain English no crypto jargon required.

We talk about:

- What RISE actually is in web2 terms (think: ultra-fast backend for trading apps)

- RiseX, the new zero-gas trading app built on RISE

- How RISE plans to be the “one great app first, ecosystem later” chain

- Why Sam thinks future apps should feel like grandma-friendly fintech, not clunky wallets

- How he raised over $10M from VCs and the community

- What he learned shutting down his previous DeFi product – and why that pain led to RISE

- The trade-offs: speed vs decentralization, and why he’s okay with “geo-centralization”- Using AI at work (and why it probably boosted their productivity by 30%+)

- How he’s juggling being a new dad, constant travel, and building a massive infra company

If you’re curious about where trading, crypto, and “Wall Street on-chain” might actually go next, this convo will make it click without needing to be crypto-native.

Subscribe for more raw, founder-first conversations from DealFlow.

Guest:

Sam - https://x.com/sam_battenally

RISE - https://risechain.com/

Host:

Keira - https://x.com/RealMissAI

DealFlow - https://x.com/dealflowpodcast

MH Ventures - https://www.mhventures.io/

Most people think crypto is about coins, memes, and speculation.

Iggy thinks it’s about something much bigger: rewiring a $1.5 quadrillion financial system onto better rails… and letting anyone in for as little as $1.

Iggy is the Chief Investment Officer at Theo Network, a protocol that takes real-world assets like US T-bills, gold, and stocks and actually makes them usable on-chain.
Not “tokenization theatre.” Real liquidity. Real yield. Real access.

Before Theo, he:

• Ran billion-dollar prop books on Wall Street
• Raised hundreds of millions for hedge funds
• Co-led Polygon Ventures, seeing almost every serious crypto deal in the market

Now he’s betting the next decade on one mission: give on-chain capital access to the world’s best financial assets, starting with people who’ve never had a brokerage account.

In this episode of DealFlow Founder Stories, we unpack:

• Why today’s financial system still runs on tech from the 50s–60s (COBOL, Fedwire)
• The three phases of RWAs: scammy STOs, “tokenization theatre,” and why Theo is playing Phase 3
• How Theo’s first product – tokenized T-bills (THBL), is strictly better than stablecoins
• Why the market is already pricing Theo’s points + yield at double-digit returns
• How Theo hit $175M+ TVL and top-tier RWA trading velocity before going hard on marketing
• The playbook for turning RWA tokens into actual volume: perps, market making, and Hyperliquid alignment
• Why Korea and emerging markets (Thailand, Turkey, Argentina, etc.) are ground zero for on-chain finance
• How someone with $1–$100 could one day build a proper diversified portfolio entirely on-chain
• The brutal truth about fundraising: “heat-seeking missile” VCs vs real “truffle hunters” and how to get your first lead
• How to choose partnerships that move the needle vs “Barney deals” (I love you, you love me PR)
• Why founders should obsess over revenue, not vibes, as their North Star
• Iggy’s personal story: from signing papers with the KGB in Russia → loading trucks in Canada → physics, hedge funds, VC, and now Theo
• The one mindset shift that lets you make multi-million dollar decisions without losing sleep

If you’ve ever wondered how Wall Street actually comes on-chain beyond the buzzwords, beyond the press releases, this conversation will finally make it click (even if you’re not crypto-native).

Guest

Iggy – Chief Investment Officer, Theo Network (X: @IggyIOP)

Theo Network – https://theo.xyz/

Host
Keira – https://x.com/RealMissAI

DealFlow – https://x.com/dealflowpodcast

MH Ventures – https://www.mhventures.io/