Village Global Podcast

Jeff Morris Jr., founder of Chapter One, and Henry McNamara (@henrylmcnamara) of Great Oaks VC join Erik on this episode. They discuss: - The reasons for the change in the D2C market and why companies that were part of “D2C 1.0” would have a hard time scaling today. - Which spaces they’re excited about and where they’ve been investing. - Trends and possibilities in consumer social. - Industries wh...

Mike Rudoy (@mrudoy) and Luke Cohler (@ljcohler) of Jetty join Erik on this episode. They discuss: - The story of founding Jetty and how they got to where they are today. - The problems around rent affordability in the US and how they’re solving those issues. - The evolution of insurance over the last two decades and what enabled the changes. - Where they would be investing if they were running a...

Fareed Mosavat (@far33d), EIR at Reforge and former director of product at Slack, and Jeff Chang (@jeffchang30), growth engineering lead at Pinterest and angel investor, join Erik on this episode. They discuss: - What’s changed in growth over the last several years. - How to think about product-market fit and when to start investing in growth. - Which metrics to pay attention to and which to ignor...

Peter Kazanjy (@Kazanjy), co-founder of Atrium and author of Founding Sales, joins Erik on this episode. They discuss: - The difference between selling to SMBs versus large organizations. - How founders should think about sales as their company grows and evolves. - Common mistakes that people make when growing their sales organization. - What differentiates companies who scale sales successfully v...

Chris Best (@cjgbest), co-founder and CEO of Substack, joins Erik on this episode. They discuss: - How the idea for Substack came about and the early days of the company. - How the internet has impacted media and journalism. - How the world changes if Substack is successful. - How they are enabling journalists to “go independent.” - The implications of the subscription model. - What’s been most po...

Annie Kadavy (@akad), of Redpoint, and Meera Clark (@itsmeeraclark), of Obvious Ventures, join Erik on this episode. They discuss: - The trends behind increasing loneliness and the decline of religion. - Where they’re looking to invest. - Why they’re interested in the mental health space. - Why we should have more new social apps by now. - Investing possibilities in online dating. - How all of thi...

Mike Duboe (@mduboe) of Greylock, Dan Hockenmaier (@danhockenmaier) of Basis One, and Dave Weinstein, also of Basis One, join Erik on this episode. They discuss: - The impacts of the pandemic on businesses and what will be lasting versus temporary. - What makes food marketplaces an exciting investment in these times. - Why there will be a shift away from using data and experimentation in growth te...

Jesse Walden (@jessewldn), formerly of a16z and founder of Variant Fund, joins Erik on this episode. They discuss: - How he got into crypto. - What has changed in the space since Bitcoin came out. - What it means to be an “innovation maximalist.” - Why he’s excited about co-ops. - How crypto impacts ISAs and the possibilities for equity to be used where debt currently is. - What he means when he t...

Chris Hutchins (@hutchins) of Wealthfront joins Erik to talk about: - How he became a “huge personal finance nerd.” He tells the story of ordering Domino’s in college and selling it by the slice to earn extra money. - The history of creating Grove and why Wealthfront was a great fit for them. - How software is democratizing access to wealth management. - Passive versus active investing in the time...

Mike Maples (@m2jr), co-founder and partner at Floodgate, joins Erik to talk about: - Insight hacking as a scientific way to generate insights, including specific steps to take and how to “backcast.” - The types of inflections that create potentially huge companies. - How to systematically find those inflections. - Lessons from founders who have successfully created companies built on inflections....

This episode with Balaji Srinivasan (@balajis) was recorded as part of an OnDeck fellowship session. They discuss: - The concept of ikigai and how it can help you plan your next career move. - How to think about when to leave or join a company, and when to start something of your own. - How Balaji generates and validates ideas. - Finding a co-founder and the most important issues to work out befor...

Dan McMurtrie (@SuperMugatu) of Tyro Partners joins Erik on this episode. They discuss: - His writing on the crisis, how he has analyzed it, and why his view has changed from bearish to bullish. - The “bottom-up” recovery that’s taking place and all the ways that it might falter. - What specifically he’s watching for that might change his opinion on the market. - The impact on politics and society...

Lee Edwards (@terronk) of Root Ventures joins Erik on this episode. They discuss: - The story of how he became interested in the topic. - His requests for startups in the space. - The ISA model. - Which companies he’s interested in in the space. - Debt financing and possible alternatives. - Whether it’s possible to build a practical and portfolio-based education in liberal arts. - Why people remai...

Fred Destin (@fdestin), founder of Stride. VC, joins Erik on this episode. They discuss: - What the ideal fund size is in Fred's opinion. - His thoughts on diversification in venture. - What his prediction for a possible bounce-back is and why he thinks this is more like '01-'03 than '08-'09. - Why founders need to reset their mindset in the COVID-19 era. - Whether there are too many entrepreneurs...

Byrne Hobart (@ByrneHobart), creator of The Diff (diff.substack.com), joins Erik on this episode. They discuss: - How have the past few months changed our understanding of institutions and our trust in them - Is the current environment a win for modern monetary theorists? - Is the current environment a win or loss for bitcoin maximalists that see the Fed as a huge liability? - What should the Fed...

Arnold Kling (@klingblog), economist and author, joins Erik on this episode. They discuss: - What experts disagree on with respect to COVID-19. - How Arnold would deal with the pandemic if he was in charge. - What he would do about lockdowns. - Where he agrees and disagrees with the government’s fiscal and monetary response to the crisis. - The difficulty with models predicting cases. - The effect...

Scott Sumner, research associate on monetary policy at the Mercatus Center, joins Erik on this episode. They discuss: - What the US has done well and what it has not done well when it comes to fiscal and monetary policy. - Why there has been a reversal of thinking on inflation between now and decades ago, and his thinking about dealing with inflation. - Other tools that are available to influence...

Ann-Miura Ko (@annimaniac), joins Erik on this episode. It was recorded as part of an On Deck Fellowship event. They discuss: - Her perspectives on what it was like to start a company in the last several downturns and why this one is different from the others. - Why they are telling their portfolio companies that they need to be “outlasting, not outspending” their competitors. - What a “minimal vi...

John Danner (@jwdanner) of Dunce Capital and Michael Staton (@mpstaton) of Learn Capital join Erik on this episode. They discuss: - How EdTech has evolved and the ways that perspectives have changed on the space. - Their theses about the future of the space and the key challenges that it faces. - Why the pandemic might be the catalyst for an increase in homeschooling. - The problems with the curre...

Austen Allred (@austen), CEO of Lambda School, and Rishi Mandal (@rmandal), founder of Future, join Erik on this episode. They discuss: - How Austen took education that typically happened in person and transformed it into digital form at Lambda School. - How Rishi is taking fitness training that happened in person and transforming it into digital form with Future. - What Austen calls the “skeuomor...

Gabe Bassin (@gabebassin) and Taylor Pearson (@TaylorPearsonMe) join Erik on this episode. They discuss: - The ins and outs of what each of the fed and treasury are doing at this time. - The impacts of the pandemic on credit markets and pension systems. - The disruptions to the demand side and the effects of possible supply-side disruptions. - How the pandemic exacerbates inequality. - The impact...

Conor White-Sullivan (@Conaw), founder of Roam Research, joins Erik on this episode. They discuss: - What they're working on at Roam and what will be different about the world if they achieves their dreams with the company. - The different ways of representing the structure of thought and how tools impact thoughts themselves. - How Roam relates to and is different from Twitter, GitHub, Notion, Quo...

Samir Kaji (@SamirKaji), managing director at First Republic Bank, joins Erik on this episode. They discuss: - The state of the financial world before COVID and the cracks that Samir saw in the system last year. - Why this shock is like a “train going 150 miles per hour hitting a brick wall.” - What venture funds should do in this environment. - Whether there’s hope for a recovery in the near futu...

Jesse Genet (@jessegenet) and Stephan Ango (@kepano), co-founders of Lumi, join Erik on this episode. They discuss: - How Lumi works, and how the company changes how a DTC brand does business. - How community influences the success of DTC brands. - Which areas within DTC are VC-fundable. - Where they would be investing if they were running a fund focused on the space. - What will happen with some...

Andreas Klinger (@andreasklinger), head of remote at AngelList and creator of Remote First Capital, joins Erik on this episode. This was recorded as part of an OnDeck session. They discuss: - The impact of COVID-19 on remote work and why he says it’s really a “double-edged sword” when it comes to the spread of remote working in the future. - Whether remote can work for early-stage companies. - Whi...