Former Hack VC partner accuses workplace pressure: attempted suicide, refuses to settle in silence

Author: Hu Tao, ChainCatcher

A heavyweight workplace dispute has erupted in the crypto venture capital circle.

Former Hack VC partner and head Hsin-Ju published a lengthy public article on August 23, detailing the high-intensity work, health crises, resignation pressures, and subsequent legal disputes she faced during her tenure, and accused the management of threatening her with "industry blacklisting." She revealed that the ongoing pressure ultimately led to a suicide attempt and rejected a settlement offer that included a "non-disclosure" clause, preferring to forgo compensation rather than accept a gag order.

Hsin-Ju is a seasoned professional in the crypto industry, with about 9 years of experience. Her public resume shows that she served as the Head of Growth at Stellar in 2017, working with Mt.Gox founder Jed McCaleb; joined the early Solana team in 2018 as Head of Growth, later founded Dystopia Labs, organized over 17 Ethereum developer conferences, and was responsible for Fhenix's growth business. She began participating in Hack VC part-time in 2021, officially joined full-time in March 2025 as a partner and head, and left in September of the same year.

High-Intensity Work and "Industry Blacklisting" Accusations

According to Hsin-Ju, during her tenure in 2025, she was diagnosed with Graves' disease, hyperthyroidism, and severe insomnia, yet was still required to maintain an extremely high work intensity, working 13 to 14 hours a day, 6 days a week, with daily sleep sometimes only 0 to 4 hours. At that time, it was the Korean Blockchain Week, and she was responsible for Hack Summit and related events.

She claimed to have submitted her resignation multiple times but was not approved. Hsin-Ju accused Hack VC co-founder and managing partner Alex Pack, as well as partner Daniel Bulaevsky, of stating that if she left before the summit and related events concluded, they would use their industry connections to impact her future career development.

According to her description, Alex Pack emphasized that he had long-standing personal relationships with many managing partners of venture firms, thus possessing the ability to "blacklist" her.

Hsin-Ju stated that nearly a month of sustained high pressure ultimately led to her suicide attempt. She expressed that she only hoped to leave normally at that time and had no plans to sue the company, provided the company did not retaliate or publicly defame her.

She revealed that her annual salary at the time of her departure reached $300,000.

Health Insurance Dispute Escalates After Resignation

However, after her departure, the conflict between the two parties did not end.

Hsin-Ju stated that her COBRA continuation health insurance subsequently encountered issues, and the related disputes lasted nearly 4 months, with multiple communications failing to resolve the matter until she hired Sanford Heisler law firm to intervene.

She believes that, given her serious health crisis, the company still failed to properly handle the health insurance issue, further exacerbating the conflict between the two parties.

In the subsequent nearly year-long legal negotiations, Hsin-Ju accused the company's lawyers and some partners of making false statements about employees, specifically naming @0xRodney, @IsTheBaron, @roshunpatel, @Alex__Botte, and others. She also mentioned that common interest arrangements in the VC industry, such as carry and clawback, might lead some individuals to avoid the facts.

Refusal to Gag and Settlement, Preview of Evidence to be Released on August 26

The two parties had previously entered private mediation and were close to reaching a settlement, but Hsin-Ju stated that the related proposal included a "non-disclosure" condition. She ultimately rejected the settlement, fired her attorney, and decided to make the entire incident public.

She stated that she was not seeking compensation but hoped to disclose the events, while also indicating that personally confronting a VC firm managing about $600 million to $700 million in assets could pose significant legal and career risks.

Hack VC subsequently responded that they had noted the related content and expressed concern for Hsin-Ju's health, but emphasized that there were "significant differences" between the two parties regarding the incident, and refused to disclose further details on the grounds of respecting privacy, nor did they directly respond to specific accusations regarding workplace pressure, health insurance disputes, and industry threats.

Additionally, according to RootData, in the past year, besides Hsin-Ju, at least three other partner-level executives have left Hack VC, including Alex Botte, Roshun Patel, and Sean Brown. In terms of investments, Hack VC's investment rounds have also dropped to the lowest point since its establishment, publicly participating in only 4 projects this year.

Currently, the incident remains at a stage where both parties hold differing views, and Hsin-Ju's statements have not been supported by any strong evidence or public backing from other well-known industry figures. Hsin-Ju has previewed that she will publicly release related evidence on August 26 or earlier, which will be a key point in determining whether her core accusations can be validated.