Village Global's Venture Stories

Erik is joined on this episode by Max Nussenbaum (@maxnuss), who runs the writing fellowship at On Deck, Kyla Scanlon (@scanlon_kyla), who runs the blog Data Data Data, and Jake Singer (@jakesing_), who runs the blog The Flywheel. They discuss:- The benefits that writing has brought to them.- How they got started writing.- Their advice on how you can get started.- How to create a flywheel in your own writing.- The highest leverage ways to improve your writing.- What the fellowship will look like and why it’s valuable to write with a community.Thanks for listening — if you like what you hear, please review us on your favorite podcast platform. Check us out on the web at www.villageglobal.vc or get in touch with us on Twitter @villageglobal.Want to get updates from us? Subscribe to get a peek inside the Village. We’ll send you reading recommendations, exclusive event invites, and commentary on the latest happenings in Silicon Valley. www.villageglobal.vc/signup

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 Chief of Staff and the value they can provide.- How working as a Chief of Staff can benefit you.- The On Deck Chief of Staff fellowship and why to be a part of it.Thanks for listening — if you like what you hear, please review us on your favorite podcast platform. Check us out on the web at www.villageglobal.vc or get in touch with us on Twitter @villageglobal.Want to get updates from us? Subscribe to get a peek inside the Village. We’ll send you reading recommendations, exclusive event invites, and commentary on the latest happenings in Silicon Valley. www.villageglobal.vc/signup

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 creation of Most Days.- The unique habits that he is cultivating himself with the help of the app.Thanks for listening — if you like what you hear, please review us on your favorite podcast platform. Check us out on the web at www.villageglobal.vc or get in touch with us on Twitter @villageglobal.Want to get updates from us? Subscribe to get a peek inside the Village. We’ll send you reading recommendations, exclusive event invites, and commentary on the latest happenings in Silicon Valley. www.villageglobal.vc/signup

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 around loops.- Advice for enterprise companies.- Advice on building a business development function within the org.- What the industry has learned about growth over the last several years.- How community fits within growth.Thanks for listening — if you like what you hear, please review us on your favorite podcast platform. Check us out on the web at www.villageglobal.vc or get in touch with us on Twitter @villageglobal.Want to get updates from us? Subscribe to get a peek inside the Village. We’ll send you reading recommendations, exclusive event invites, and commentary on the latest happenings in Silicon Valley. www.villageglobal.vc/signup

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 why they didn't come to pass.- What he expects the landscape to look like for media and attention in the next ten years.- How a post-COVID world will be different than the pre-COVID world.- The idea of a purpose economy.Thanks for listening — if you like what you hear, please review us on your favorite podcast platform. Check us out on the web at www.villageglobal.vc or get in touch with us on Twitter @villageglobal.Want to get updates from us? Subscribe to get a peek inside the Village. We’ll send you reading recommendations, exclusive event invites, and commentary on the latest happenings in Silicon Valley. www.villageglobal.vc/signup

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 crypto.- How the space will evolve in the next several years.Thanks for listening — if you like what you hear, please review us on your favorite podcast platform. Check us out on the web at www.villageglobal.vc or get in touch with us on Twitter @villageglobal.Want to get updates from us? Subscribe to get a peek inside the Village. We’ll send you reading recommendations, exclusive event invites, and commentary on the latest happenings in Silicon Valley. www.villageglobal.vc/signup

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 a founder a good fit for the fellowship, and what the fellowship will look like.Thanks for listening — if you like what you hear, please review us on your favorite podcast platform. Check us out on the web at www.villageglobal.vc or get in touch with us on Twitter @villageglobal.Want to get updates from us? Subscribe to get a peek inside the Village. We’ll send you reading recommendations, exclusive event invites, and commentary on the latest happenings in Silicon Valley. www.villageglobal.vc/signup

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 it.- Why he’s excited about gaming and why he says that “gaming is eating the world.”- What he would do if he was CEO of different social companies.Thanks for listening — if you like what you hear, please review us on your favorite podcast platform. Check us out on the web at www.villageglobal.vc or get in touch with us on Twitter @villageglobal.Want to get updates from us? Subscribe to get a peek inside the Village. We’ll send you reading recommendations, exclusive event invites, and commentary on the latest happenings in Silicon Valley. www.villageglobal.vc/signup

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 expects social media to evolve.- New forms of communication throughout history and why they were feared initially.- Why he says that “you are evidence that change is not inherently bad.”Thanks for listening — if you like what you hear, please review us on your favorite podcast platform. Check us out on the web at www.villageglobal.vc or get in touch with us on Twitter @villageglobal.Want to get updates from us? Subscribe to get a peek inside the Village. We’ll send you reading recommendations, exclusive event invites, and commentary on the latest happenings in Silicon Valley. www.villageglobal.vc/signup

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 misunderstand what growth is.- How statecraft relates to economic growth.- Questions that people in the field are trying to answer and where he agrees or disagrees with prominent thinkers.- Thoughts on progress studies.Thanks for listening — if you like what you hear, please review us on your favorite podcast platform. Check us out on the web at www.villageglobal.vc or get in touch with us on Twitter @villageglobal.Want to get updates from us? Subscribe to get a peek inside the Village. We’ll send you reading recommendations, exclusive event invites, and commentary on the latest happenings in Silicon Valley. www.villageglobal.vc/signup

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 history of the supermarket.- How it will change and evolve in the future.- Why on-demand startups didn’t work out the way people thought they would.- Doing things that don’t scale.Thanks for listening — if you like what you hear, please review us on your favorite podcast platform. Check us out on the web at www.villageglobal.vc or get in touch with us on Twitter @villageglobal.Want to get updates from us? Subscribe to get a peek inside the Village. We’ll send you reading recommendations, exclusive event invites, and commentary on the latest happenings in Silicon Valley. www.villageglobal.vc/signup

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 about venture and how to fix it.- Why Reid is backing new experiments in venture.- Their thoughts on the solo GP phenomenon.- How to think about risk when evaluating an investment.- Whether they're long or short Silicon Valley.- Why SPACs are here to stay.- How to think about diversification in an angel portfolio.- The state of pricing across different rounds.Thanks for listening — if you like what you hear, please review us on your favorite podcast platform. Check us out on the web at www.villageglobal.vc or get in touch with us on Twitter @villageglobal.Want to get updates from us? Subscribe to get a peek inside the Village. We’ll send you reading recommendations, exclusive event invites, and commentary on the latest happenings in Silicon Valley. www.villageglobal.vc/signup

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 for fundraising and why a founder should “believe the no, but not the why.”- Why co-founder relationships end up breaking down.Thanks for listening — if you like what you hear, please review us on your favorite podcast platform. Check us out on the web at www.villageglobal.vc or get in touch with us on Twitter @villageglobal.Want to get updates from us? Subscribe to get a peek inside the Village. We’ll send you reading recommendations, exclusive event invites, and commentary on the latest happenings in Silicon Valley. www.villageglobal.vc/signup

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.- Portfolio allocation and how much to allocate to angel investing.- What differentiates people who are an executive and angel versus those who are full-time VCs.- Whether he plans to invest in crypto.- Thoughts on pricing and the differences in pricing considerations between angels and VCs.- How he uses Twitter.- Trends he sees and ideas he’s exploring.Thanks for listening — if you like what you hear, please review us on your favorite podcast platform. Check us out on the web at www.villageglobal.vc or get in touch with us on Twitter @villageglobal.Want to get updates from us? Subscribe to get a peek inside the Village. We’ll send you reading recommendations, exclusive event invites, and commentary on the latest happenings in Silicon Valley. www.villageglobal.vc/signup

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 thinks the move to remote work is overstated.- What’s next for the company.- Where he would be investing if he was running a fund and his requests for startups.- The company-building principle they implemented that transformed the company.Thanks for listening — if you like what you hear, please review us on your favorite podcast platform. Check us out on the web at www.villageglobal.vc or get in touch with us on Twitter @villageglobal.Want to get updates from us? Subscribe to get a peek inside the Village. We’ll send you reading recommendations, exclusive event invites, and commentary on the latest happenings in Silicon Valley. www.villageglobal.vc/signup