Village Global Podcast

Jay Kennedy (@jameswkennedy), Chief of Staff at Floodgate, and Rishi Tripathy (@rishi_tripathy_), Chief of Staff at On Deck, join Erik on this episode. They discuss: - The Chief of Staff role and how it has evolved over time. - What it really means to be a Chief of Staff and how they each became one. - Why the role has become so popular these days. - Why it benefits a CEO or founder to have a Chie...

Brent Franson (@brentfranson), founder and CEO of Most Days (mostdays.com), joins Ben Casnocha on this episode to discuss: - How the company is creating a “Peloton for mental health.” - The most popular routines that people can cultivate using the app. - His history as an entrepreneur and lessons learned, including why “not all dollars are created equal.” - The life experience that informed the cr...

Brian Balfour (@bbalfour), of Reforge, and Long Journey Ventures, and Pascal Levy-Garboua (@2pasc) of Long Journey Ventures, join Erik on this episode. They discuss: - Common mistakes that early-stage companies make in their go-to-market strategy and how to avoid them. - Advice on partnership strategies and go-to-market. - Frameworks for who to hire and why. - Misconceptions that founders have aro...

Joe Marchese, media exec and multiple time co-founder of CKBG, Human Ventures, true[X], and Attention Capital, joins Erik on this episode to discuss: - How he got to where he is and the thread that runs through his career. - What tech and startup people don’t appreciate about TV advertising. - What he’s trying to do with Attention Capital. - What people predicted in the space several years ago and...

Avichal Garg (@avichal), Managing Partner at Electric Capital, joins Erik on this episode. They discuss: - How he came to be running Electric Capital. - Their perspective and thesis. - What’s newly possible with computers able to own money. - Why price fluctuations happen with Bitcoin. - What Bitcoin is correlated with. - Debates within crypto. - Thoughts on China. - How regulation interacts with...

Candice Ammori joins Erik on this episode. Candice is heading the Climate Tech Fellowship at On Deck. They discuss: - The issue of climate change and how she came to be working on solving it. - What climate tech means exactly. - Some of the most interesting companies in the space and what they are working on. - What founding teams have typically looked like for companies in the space. - What makes...

Turner Novak (@TurnerNovak), general partner (and Chief Meme Officer) at Gelt VC, joins Erik on this episode to discuss: - How he’s thinking about consumer social as an investor in 2020. - Where he’s interested in consumer social and his requests for startups. - New methods of monetizing in consumer social. - What he learned from studying Pinduoduo and where he’s looking for a “for X” version of i...

Jason Feifer (@heyfeifer), editor-in-chief of Entrepreneur magazine and host of three podcasts, including Pessimists Archive, joins Erik on this episode to discuss: - Why fears repeat over time throughout history. - The message he’s trying to get through to the world through his work. - The historical opposition to chess, bicycles, and waltzing. - His thoughts on The Social Dilemma. - How he expec...

Dr. Anton Howes (@antonhowes), author of Arts & Minds, joins Erik on this episode to discuss: - How to create conditions where innovation is easier and better. - Why he wrote the book and the key question he was trying to answer. - What Silicon Valley could learn from studying the history of Britain. - Misconceptions that people have about economic growth in the past and future. - Why people misun...

Brandon Hill (@IamBrandonHill), CEO of Vori, Max Mullen (@Max), co-founder of Instacart, and Mike Duboe (@mduboe), GP at Greylock, join Erik on this episode to discuss: - What led Brandon to start Vori. - Why Max and Mike were excited to invest in the company. - How the grocery space currently operates and the antiquated technology currently in use. - How the space has evolved over time and the hi...

Chamath Palihapitiya (@chamath), CEO of Social Capital, and Reid Hoffman (@reidhoffman), partner at Greylock, joined Village Global co-founder and partner Ben Casnocha at a special Village Global event. Angel Island brought together 100+ angel investors for talks from world-class investors, discussions, and opportunities to make new connections. In this session they discussed: - What is broken abo...

Ty Walrod (@tywalrod), two-time founder and program director of On Deck Scale, joins Erik on this episode. They discuss: - The On Deck Scale program, how it works, and how it can help founders scale. - Common reasons that founders get tripped up when hiring. - Advice for delegating and decision-making in a fast-growing company. - Thoughts on growth, go-to-market, and product-market fit. - Advice f...

Keith Rabois (@rabois), partner at Founders Fund, joins Erik on this episode. It was recorded as part of an On Deck event. They discuss: - How he would compare the state of angel investing when he was getting started years ago to angel investing today. - His learnings about building a better filter for whether to take a meeting or not, and what he looks for in a person’s LinkedIn profile. - Portfo...

Alex Robinson (@arobinsontweets), co-founder and CEO of Juniper Square (@juniper_square), joins Erik on this episode to discuss: - The experience that led him to create Juniper Square and the vision for the company. - How he navigated the idea maze. - How investment management will change in the future. - The vision for unbundling investment management. - How COVID changed the market and why he th...

Anthony Nardini of the On Deck Team joins Erik to discuss: - The OD50 Fellowship, what it will be like, and who should go through it. - Why people don’t leave their existing jobs. - The advice he gives for people trying to pivot into tech. - The dimensions of job suitability. - How to know when it’s the right time to leave a job. - Whether to start your own thing or find a new job. - His advice fo...

Nikhil Krishnan (@nikillinit), founder of Out of Pocket, joins Erik on this episode to discuss: - How employer-based healthcare came to be and how it might change. - Comparisons of the US healthcare system to other countries. - His investing thesis in the space and areas he’s bullish on. - The dynamics of hospitals. - Thoughts on randomized controlled trials. - The excitement around digital therap...

Lenny Rachitsky (@lennysan), creator of Lenny’s Newsletter and a former PM at Airbnb, joins Erik on this episode to discuss: - The best bottom-up SaaS metrics to track and why these companies are so sought-after right now. - What separates great bottom-up strategies from the rest. - How to think about when to hire your first PM. - How to increase retention. - How to think about strategy. - How to...

Jacob Peters (@J__Cub), co-founder of Commsor, joins Erik on this episode to discuss: - What makes a great community. - The difference between a community and a network. - How to get a community off the ground. - Phases of communities and how to scale them. - How companies can build community. - How to think about monetization of a community. - His investing thesis around communities and his reque...

Nan Ransohoff (@nanransohoff) and Ryan Orbuch (@orbuch), who are leading the climate initiative at Stripe, join Erik to discuss: - Stripe’s climate change initiative and how it came to be. - Why they are focusing on carbon removal. - The technologies that they are looking at. - What they’ve learned about negative emissions. - Their requests for action in the space. - How investors should be lookin...

Erika Batista (@erikabatista) and Gonz Sanchez (@gonsanchezs), of On Deck join Erik on this episode to discuss: - How the European startup scene has changed and evolved over time. - Fragmentation in tech in Europe. - Barriers to more people starting companies and how they are being removed. - Cultural differences between Europe and other geographies. - What they see as the secret sauce of San Fran...

Karthik Puvvada (@thisiskp_), director of On Deck’s No-Code Fellowship, joins Erik to discuss: - How he got into no-code and how the space has evolved. - Why he has been building in public and how it has helped him. - What is holding back the no-code movement from having wider adoption. - Why no-code is moving past the concerns about reliability and scaling that it has had in the past. - How inves...

Nadia Eghbal (@nayafia) of Substack joins Erik on this episode to discuss: - The background of her book, Working in Public, and the “why now” for it. - What she’s learned about open source that can be applied to other areas. - Shifts that she’d like to see in the internet. - The evolution of thinking around democracy in the world. - Governance in companies and countries. - Narratives in tech and t...

Shrav Mehta (@shravvmehtaa), founder and CEO of Secureframe, joins Erik on this episode to discuss: - How he navigated the idea maze to start Secureframe. - The problem the company is solving. - Thoughts on recruiting as a space. - How thinking on privacy has changed over the years. - Where he’s excited in education. - How he learns about new spaces. - Why marketing is getting more technical. - Ho...

Dani Grant (@thedanigrant), co-founder at Jam, joins Erik on this episode to discuss: - How she came to start Jam, the product, and the problem that it’s solving. - How she navigated the idea maze. - Why now is the right time for a product like Jam. - Different waves of collaboration tools. - The future of the company. - Where there is whitespace in collaboration tools and where she’d be investing...

Dan Barto of IMG Academy joins Erik on this episode to discuss: - How the game of basketball has evolved over the last few decades. - What the next changes in the game should be, and will be. - How coaching has changed over time. - How team strategy and composition will evolve. - Players building brands and businesses on their own outside of the NBA. - Whether the players could start their own lea...