Paige Finn DohertyFounding Partner, Behind Genius · Founding Partner at Behind Genius Ventures

The story behind GP at Hustle Fund Elizabeth Yin's crazy twitter handle @dunkhippo33

2 Oct 2022 · 1 min

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In this brief interview segment, Elizabeth Yin, General Partner at Hustle Fund, explains the origin of her unconventional Twitter handle @DunkHippo33. She recounts that a marketer friend once advised her to adopt a more professional handle using her name, but she deliberately chose the opposite, keeping the quirky hippo and roller‑coaster reference. The exchange highlights her tendency to act against conventional expectations, a theme she notes aligns with Hustle Fund’s broader contrarian approach to building companies.

So could you start us off with the origins behind your Twitter handle @DunkHippo33 and when your love for hippos and roller coasters first started?
There's no great story here, but I will tell you that years ago I also had a Twitter handle that had my name in it. It could have been Elizabethian or it could have been Elizian. And a friend of mine who's a marketer told me, you know, you really need to abandon this crazy hippo Twitter handle and use something more professional like your name. And so I did the opposite.
I love that. I feel like that's definitely been a big theme that I've seen as you all have built Hustle Fund is just doing things against the grain that really resonate with you as people. So it's cool to see DunkHippo33 is a perfect encapsulation of that.