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Team Blockus, at a16z CSS office in Santa Monica. Photo credit: JP Ren
It All Started at Airbnb
It was a sunny September morning in 2017 when Jess walked into Airbnb for her first day. Surrounded by new coworkers and buzzing energy, she quickly found herself immersed in an environment that sparked great ideas—and long-lasting partnerships.
On the Guest team, Jess—then a Data Scientist—launched over 20 product features for Airbnb’s search experience, including the famously debated transparent pricing on P2. Product debates were intense but always rooted in care for the user and the systems that supported them.
“We need to kill this feature because the metrics are neutral,” Jess would argue.
“But it improves performance and simplifies the architecture,” came the response.
These spirited conversations sharpened her product instincts and laid the foundation for what would later become a founder’s decisiveness.
That time at Airbnb also seeded deep friendships and a love for building at scale—relationships and lessons that would shape the founding of Blockus years later.
Miami & The Spark of Web3
In the spring of 2021, Jess moved to Miami—a city pulsing with new energy amid a crypto bull market. It was there, through friends in the Coinbase and Web3 circles, that she met Michael,.
Their first conversation took place at a house party in Midtown. Under the backdrop of NFTs going mainstream, they found themselves deep in discussion—not just about price floors, but about crypto’s cultural potential.
From Wynwood bars to late-night sushi, the two riffed on Web3 identity, broken publishing models in gaming, and how NFTs could empower creators and communities.
Those conversations planted the earliest seeds of what would become Blockus. Jess realized that Web3 wasn’t just about digital collectibles—it was about infrastructure, ownership, and unlocking new forms of expression.
Blockus Begins
In July 2022, Jess left her role at Roblox to pursue this conviction full-time. She began exploring how Web3 could reshape the gaming industry—particularly through better infrastructure for developers.
Within months, Blockus was born: a platform built to power the next generation of Web3 games. Its mission was clear—to give game studios the tools they need to own their economies, not rent them.
The vision resonated quickly. Jess’s background in data, product, and gaming helped Blockus secure early design partnerships and multiple LOIs from game studios—before the company had even raised a seed round.
Y Combinator Offer & a16z CSX Acceptance
As traction grew, so did investor interest. On the East Coast, angels like Ada Yeo, Marc Bhargava, and Cece Zhang offered early backing. On the West Coast, conversations with the a16z Crypto team began to accelerate.
A long-time fan of YCombinator, Jess applied in late 2022. Around the same time, a16z was quietly launching its Crypto Startup School (CSS) for the first time in person.
When YC extended an offer after the interview, Jess made a strategic move—she reached out to a16z’s Jeff Amico. Within 24 hours of their conversation, an official CSS offer came through, signed by Chris Dixon.
With a16z’s deep expertise in recruiting, infrastructure, and compliance, it was an easy decision. Jess accepted on the spot. Blockus became the first team officially accepted into the a16z Crypto Startup School.
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