Village Global Podcast

Rex Woodbury (@rex_woodbury) of Index Ventures joins Erik on this episode to discuss: - Where he’s looking to invest in the creator economy. - Why authenticity and vulnerability are replacing performative and status-driven social media. - The shift away from an ad-based model on the web. - Why we won’t see mega-celebrities like Oprah ever again. - What the financialization of culture means and how...

Katherine Boyle (@KTmBoyle), partner at General Catalyst, joins Erik on this episode recorded as part of an event for Villagers. Due to technical difficulties, Mustafa Khan, part of the team at Village Global, conducted the first part of the interview. They discuss: - Katherine’s focus on narrative when evaluating founders: “who’s the protagonist and what are they solving?” - The fact that Katheri...

Kyla Scanlon (@kylascan) and Tom White (@ TomJWhiteIV), who are running On Deck Investing, join Erik on this episode to discuss: - Why managing your own psychology is as important as your asset allocation. - How to think about your own “life portfolio” holistically, instead of just paying attention to your investment portfolio. - Why it’s “never been a better or worse time to be an investor” and h...

Julia Galef (@juliagalef), author of The Scout Mindset, joins Erik on this episode to discuss: - Why everyone, including entrepreneurs, should want to see reality more clearly. - The fact that the bottleneck to more rationality is not lack of knowledge, but lack of motivation to see the world as it really is. - Why the “soldier mindset” is the default mindset and why signalling keeps it that way....

Pete Flint (@peteflint), partner at NFX, joins Erik on this episode. It was recorded as part of an event for Villagers. They discuss: - How to gain ground in a downturn as a startup by doubling down on the things that are working. - Lessons from starting Trulia during the Great Recession, when no one was buying homes. - How and why to “turn all fixed costs to variable costs.” - Ideas for how to do...

Austin Rief (@austin_rief), co-founder of Morning Brew, and Nik Sharma (@mrsharma), investor, advisor, and operator at Sharma Brands, join Erik to discuss: - Their direct-to-consumer investment theses. - Interesting ways that media companies are starting to get into commerce, like the hockey podcast that created a bestselling flavored vodka. - Why it's a "game of audience in the direct-to-consumer...

Justin Kan (@justinkan), investor and entrepreneur, joins Erik on this episode. It was recorded as part of a special event for Villagers. They discuss: - The evolution of how Justin approached mental health. - His playbook for being happier. - Why he decided to pull the plug at Atrium with money in the bank. - Why you should “go slow to go fast later” when you’re running an early-stage company. -...

Emmanuel Straschnov (@estraschnov), founder and co-CEO of Bubble, and KP (@thisiskp_) of On Deck, join Erik on this episode to discuss: - The story of Bubble, which was founded in 2012. - How no-code is changing the creation process for startups and the fact that they've seen companies raise millions of dollars without a single engineer. - The phases of the evolution of no-code. - Why they hope th...

Eli Dourado (@elidourado) of the Center for Growth and Opportunity, joins Erik on this episode to discuss: - Why Eli wants to radically increase GDP per capita and the current bottlenecks to achieving that. - Why he thinks the 2020s will be the decade of atoms. - Why amazing scientific breakthroughs like CRISPR haven't translated into new products or treatments. - Why he's excited about geothermal...

Matteo Franceschetti (@m_franceschetti), founder and CEO at Eight Sleep, joins Erik on this episode to discuss: - The differences between deep, light, and REM sleep, and how to "compress sleep" so that it takes up less time. - The new wave of predictive health and how Eight Sleep fits into it. - His thoughts on the book Why We Sleep. - The importance of temperature and how it affects sleep. - Wher...

Alice Lloyd George (@alice__LG), VC at Rogue, joins Erik on this episode to discuss: - Why she loves studying Silicon Valley history and what she's learned from it. - What she's learned being part of the crypto community since 2013. - Why she's excited about the current crypto wave and her assessment of the impacts of NFTs. - Where she's excited in climate tech. - New opportunities arising in spac...

Shriya Nevatia (@shriyanevatia) and Anirudh Pai (@ani_pai) of On Deck Catalyst join Erik on this episode to discuss: - Why you should look for a mentor a few steps ahead of you rather than seeking out the most successful person you can think of. - Why young people need to remember that the people around them at their level can teach them a lot and will become the next unicorn founders — probably s...

David Spinks (@DavidSpinks), author of The Business of Belonging, joins Erik on this episode to discuss: - The evolution of the different movements in this space, from customer service to customer success to community. - How to make your users feel like they’re a part of the business. - His requests for startups in the space. - How to earn the trust of your users. - How to get a community off the...

Cooper Turley (@Cooopahtroopa), head of crypto strategy at Audius, joins Erik on this episode. They discuss: - How he got into the space and how it has evolved over the last few years. - Why NFTs are taking off now. - The market map of the different players in the space at the moment. - How a personal token works. - Advice for people doing an NFT. - How NFTs will reshape the music industry. - His...

Megan O’Connor (@MeganMOConnor), Head of Strategic Partnerships at Chegg, joins Erik on this episode to discuss: - What she saw change in education when the pandemic hit. - Whether incumbent universities will adapt to a more value-oriented student. - How to unbundle a credential. - The idea of digital guilds. - What Megan would do if she was building a brand new university today. - The state of ho...

Luke Burgis (@lukeburgis), author of Wanting: The Power of Mimetic Desire in Everyday Life joins Erik on this episode to discuss: - How he’s making the audience for Rene Girard’s work bigger. - Why innovation became high status while imitation was high status earlier in history. - What is most often misunderstood about mimetic desire. - The difference between internal and external mediators. - Wha...

Michael Balaoing, founder of Candlelion, joins Ben Casnocha on this episode to discuss: - The importance of the acronym WTF (what’s the feeling?) when you’re giving a presentation. - The four roles that you take on as a speaker: captain, pilot, guide, and game show host. - The five questions to ask when seeking feedback on a presentation. - How to keep the audience engaged throughout a talk, not j...

Ryan Craig (@ryancraigap) and Daniel Pianko (@danielpianko) of Achieve Partners join Erik on this episode to discuss: - The multiple crises in higher education: of affordability, of completion, and of employability. - Why there doesn’t yet exist a Walmart University. - Why they think that big companies will be some of the great educational institutions of the 21st century. - Their thoughts on ISAs...

Liron Shapira (@liron), co-founder of Relationship Hero, joins Erik on this episode to discuss: - How they are creating a new industry and new a field of study in relationships. - Why people are becoming more goal-oriented and analytical in general in society and how this applies to dating and relationships. - His thoughts on unbundling venture capital. - The bloated MVP thesis and the idea of a “...

Sheel Mohnot (@pitdesi), and Greg Miaskiewicz (@miaskiewicz), join Erik on this episode. Sheel is a Network Leader at Village Global, and Greg is CEO and co-founder of Capbase. They discuss: - How Capbase can help streamline the workflows involved in getting a company off the ground. - How Greg navigated the idea maze and validated his hypothesis. - Why there should be more transparency in investi...

Erik is joined on this episode, recorded as part of a Big Ideas Clubhouse, by: - Lyn Alden (@LynAldenContact), founder of Lyn Alden Investment Strategy - Nic Carter (@nic__carter), partner at Castle Island Ventures - Brent Johnson of Santiago Capital - Luke Gromen (@LukeGromen), founder of Forest for the Trees - Katherine Boyle (@KTmBoyle), partner at General Catalyst - Dan Romero (@dwr), angel in...

Elliot Shmukler (@eshmu), of Anomalo, joins Ben Casnocha on the podcast to discuss: - How growth marketing has evolved over the last decade or so since he was an early pioneer of the field at LinkedIn in 2008. - What people misunderstand about A/B testing, and the right way to go about it. - Why he doesn’t like the term “growth hacking.” - Why people should both be more humble and more ambitious w...

Sar Haribhakti (@sarthakgh), program lead for On Deck Fintech, joins Erik on this episode to discuss: - How fintech has evolved over time, from PayPal to Stripe to now. - How fintech is different from other areas in tech. - The most frontier themes in fintech today. - Why the lines between what is fintech and what isn’t are blurring. - How On Deck has been expanding opportunity for people. - Sar’s...

Santiago Suarez (@SantiaSua), co-founder and CEO of ADDI, joins Village Global co-founder and partner Anne Dwane on this episode. They discuss: - What he wish he knew when he started ADDI. - Why hustle alone has never made a company successful, and why he says it’s necessary but not sufficient. - His experience going through the Village Global Accelerator, and now mentoring founders in the program...

Anna Gat (@TheAnnaGat), founder of Interintellect, and Anne-Laure Le Cunff (@anthilemoon), founder of Ness Labs, join Erik on this episode to discuss: - What it’s like putting on virtual events in the COVID era. - The difference between public and private language. - How to scale a community while keeping it human, including the best tools to use. - The importance of documentation in community-bui...