Brian Armstrong, the founder of Coinbase, faced skepticism from investors who viewed Bitcoin as a bubble and associated it with fraud, complicating his efforts to secure funding. Even in his Y Combinator application, he didn't fully believe in his own idea for Coinbase, which initially focused on peer-to-peer transfers rather than buying and holding Bitcoin.

Coinbase's original product was extremely simple: a website where users could buy Bitcoin with just a few clicks, solving a significant problem at the time.

Brex pivoted from a VR hardware headset idea to a credit card for startups, achieving product-market fit quickly and raising hundreds of millions in just two years.

Michael Saylor's strategy of acquiring Bitcoin for MicroStrategy has set a precedent for other companies, highlighting the importance of adapting to new financial realities.

Coinbase emerged in a time when buying Bitcoin was complicated and fraught with risks, making it difficult for potential users to engage with cryptocurrency.

Many founders and investors initially dismissed the ideas behind Airbnb, Coinbase, and Stripe as poor or overly ambitious, underestimating their potential.

Even if the probability of success with Bitcoin is low, its potential significance is large enough to warrant attention.

The ability to move instantaneously between stable coins and Bitcoin will be crucial for the future of microtransactions, potentially becoming a significant part of the economy by 2040.

Coinbase faced immense challenges in raising money during demo day, highlighting how investors initially viewed the idea as unviable.