Julian Zegelman

Julian Zegelman is a corporate attorney, serial entrepreneur, and venture investor. He earned a B.Sc. in Biochemistry from the University of California, San Diego, and a J.D. from the University of Minnesota. He is a multi-year recipient of the SuperLawyers® honor in California, an award given to roughly the top 2.5% of the state bar. He built his early career in corporate and securities law, founding the boutique firm Velton Zegelman PC (established 2011), which advised startups, venture funds, and angel investors and, from around 2017, became active as counsel on high-profile token sales and ICOs across jurisdictions from Delaware to Singapore. Earlier, he co-founded and served as General Counsel of Rolith, Inc., a nanotechnology company acquired in 2016.

Zegelman became a prominent figure in the 2017–2018 crypto boom as a Founding Partner of the TMT Crypto Fund (TMT Blockchain Fund), a ~$60M blockchain-focused venture fund. Alongside co-founders German Kaplun, Artyom Inyutin, and Igor Shoifot, the fund backed a number of notable blockchain projects. He also served as a General Partner at TMT Investments Fund II, an approximately $100M early-stage VC fund, and worked extensively as an ICO advisor and conference speaker on blockchain, securities law, and the "freedom of money."

After the ICO cycle, Zegelman pivoted toward late-stage and growth investing. He was Founding Partner at Jaguar Capital Advisors, a boutique investment bank focused on providing liquidity to shareholders of late-stage private companies. In 2020 he co-founded Step Ahead Capital, a Los Angeles-based growth-stage venture firm (co-founded with Rostislav Shorgin), where he serves as General Partner / Capital Markets Advisor. Step Ahead makes primary and secondary investments in growth-stage technology companies typically 2–3 years from an IPO or acquisition.

Notably, Zegelman has publicly distanced himself from the riskier end of the crypto market. In a Cointelegraph interview he characterized investing in ICOs as "a risk on dynamite," reflecting a more cautious, compliance-minded posture than many of his 2017-era peers.

• Two distinct lanes: early-stage/angel and crypto bets (via TMT Crypto Fund and personal angel investing) versus growth-stage, pre-IPO equity and secondaries (via Step Ahead Capital).
• Step Ahead Capital target: growth-stage companies roughly 2–3 years before an anticipated IPO or acquisition, with target investments of $15–25M, buying at what the firm views as attractive valuations through both primary and secondary transactions.
• Sectors: financial services/fintech, digital-asset and crypto infrastructure, AI/ML and big data, SaaS and no-code tools, IoT, space technology, and robotics/drones.
• Crypto stance: experienced but cautious — as a former securities lawyer and ICO advisor, he emphasizes regulatory compliance and has warned publicly that speculative ICO investing is "a risk on dynamite."
• What makes him say yes: proven traction and a credible path to liquidity (IPO/acquisition) for growth deals; strong legal/regulatory footing and reputable teams for crypto deals.