Village Global's Venture Stories

Erik is joined on this episode by:- David Perrell (@david_perell), of North Star Podcast- Jeff Umbro (@jeffumbro), of Podglomerate- Sachit Gupta (@sachitgupta), of Conscious CreatorsThey discuss:- Why you should start a podcast.- How to get a podcast off the ground.- Why having one gives you access to people you wouldn’t otherwise have access to.- Monetization models and the merits of each of them.- How to ask better questions and the art of good conversation.- How to grow your podcast over time.Thanks for listening — if you like what you hear, please review us on your favorite podcast platform. Check us out on the web at villageglobal.vc or get in touch with us on Twitter @villageglobal.

Erik is joined on this episode by:- David Perrell (@david_perell), of North Star Podcast- Jeff Umbro (@jeffumbro), of Podglomerate- Sachit Gupta (@sachitgupta), of Conscious CreatorsThey discuss:- Why you should start a podcast.- How to get a podcast off the ground.- Why having one gives you access to people you wouldn’t otherwise have access to.- Monetization models and the merits of each of them.- How to ask better questions and the art of good conversation.- How to grow your podcast over time.Thanks for listening — if you like what you hear, please review us on your favorite podcast platform. Check us out on the web at villageglobal.vc or get in touch with us on Twitter @villageglobal.

Ben Reinhardt (@Ben_Reinhardt), independent researcher and host of Idea Machines Podcast, joins Erik to discuss:- Why we don’t have more cool science fiction-like technology in the world.- Why there hasn’t been as much innovation or progress as humanity had hoped for.- How venture should evolve to increase innovation.- The challenges posed by system decay.- The way out of overregulation.- How to fix government grants.- How China balances innovation and regulation and how that compares to the US.- The challenges relating to intellectual property.- Where he agrees or disagrees with other thinkers in the space.Thanks for listening — if you like what you hear, please review us on your favorite podcast platform. Check us out on the web at villageglobal.vc or get in touch with us on Twitter @villageglobal.

Ben Reinhardt (@Ben_Reinhardt), independent researcher and host of Idea Machines Podcast, joins Erik to discuss:- Why we don’t have more cool science fiction-like technology in the world.- Why there hasn’t been as much innovation or progress as humanity had hoped for.- How venture should evolve to increase innovation.- The challenges posed by system decay.- The way out of overregulation.- How to fix government grants.- How China balances innovation and regulation and how that compares to the US.- The challenges relating to intellectual property.- Where he agrees or disagrees with other thinkers in the space.Thanks for listening — if you like what you hear, please review us on your favorite podcast platform. Check us out on the web at villageglobal.vc or get in touch with us on Twitter @villageglobal.

Aston Motes (@__aston__), first employee at Dropbox and executive director at /dev/color, joins Erik on this episode. It was recorded as part of an On Deck Fellowship event.They discuss:- The story of how he became the first employee at Dropbox.- What he learned at the company and how he approached helping to set the culture there.- How to sell talent on joining your company.- His frameworks for thinking about startup ideas.- The possibilities for “bank shot” ideas.- How to think about finding a co-founder.- What he looks for in founding teams as an investor.- Insights on the music industry.- How to know when it’s time to shut down your startup.Thanks for listening — if you like what you hear, please review us on your favorite podcast platform. Check us out on the web at villageglobal.vc or get in touch with us on Twitter @villageglobal.

Aston Motes (@__aston__), first employee at Dropbox and executive director at /dev/color, joins Erik on this episode. It was recorded as part of an On Deck Fellowship event.They discuss:- The story of how he became the first employee at Dropbox.- What he learned at the company and how he approached helping to set the culture there.- How to sell talent on joining your company.- His frameworks for thinking about startup ideas.- The possibilities for “bank shot” ideas.- How to think about finding a co-founder.- What he looks for in founding teams as an investor.- Insights on the music industry.- How to know when it’s time to shut down your startup.Thanks for listening — if you like what you hear, please review us on your favorite podcast platform. Check us out on the web at villageglobal.vc or get in touch with us on Twitter @villageglobal.

Andy Johns (@ibringtraffic), investor at Unusual Ventures, joins Erik on this episode.They discuss:- His thoughts on transportation at short distances and the business model problem that these companies face.- Where his thinking is at with respect to opportunities in consumer social today.- His thoughts on low-code and no-code.- Why he’s interested in fintech and what a financial social network might look like.- Other areas in fintech that are interesting.Thanks for listening — if you like what you hear, please review us on your favorite podcast platform. Check us out on the web at villageglobal.vc or get in touch with us on Twitter @villageglobal.

Andy Johns (@ibringtraffic), investor at Unusual Ventures, joins Erik on this episode.They discuss:- His thoughts on transportation at short distances and the business model problem that these companies face.- Where his thinking is at with respect to opportunities in consumer social today.- His thoughts on low-code and no-code.- Why he’s interested in fintech and what a financial social network might look like.- Other areas in fintech that are interesting.Thanks for listening — if you like what you hear, please review us on your favorite podcast platform. Check us out on the web at villageglobal.vc or get in touch with us on Twitter @villageglobal.

Julian Lehr (@lehrjulian) of Stripe joins Erik on this episode. He is the author of the blog post Signalling as a Service.- The background of the post and why he wrote it.- Signalling as a framework and his breakdown of the component parts.- Why there is very little luxury software.- How this intersects with Eugene Wei’s idea of status as a service.- How monetization and signal amplification works in digital products.- His requests for startups in the area.- The next topics that he’s thinking about in the space.- His thoughts on reputation and financial capital.Thanks for listening — if you like what you hear, please review us on your favorite podcast platform. Check us out on the web at villageglobal.vc or get in touch with us on Twitter @villageglobal.

Julian Lehr (@lehrjulian) of Stripe joins Erik on this episode. He is the author of the blog post Signalling as a Service.- The background of the post and why he wrote it.- Signalling as a framework and his breakdown of the component parts.- Why there is very little luxury software.- How this intersects with Eugene Wei’s idea of status as a service.- How monetization and signal amplification works in digital products.- His requests for startups in the area.- The next topics that he’s thinking about in the space.- His thoughts on reputation and financial capital.Thanks for listening — if you like what you hear, please review us on your favorite podcast platform. Check us out on the web at villageglobal.vc or get in touch with us on Twitter @villageglobal.

Alexa von Tobel (@alexavontobel) and Mark Batsiyan (@mbatny) of Inspired Capital join Erik on this episode.They discuss:- What fintech 2.0 will look like and their experiences growing a company during the fintech 1.0 era.- The idea of the self-driving wallet and removing friction for consumers.- Their investment thesis and the trends they are seeing in fintech.- How incumbents will react to changes and why they will be just as acquisitive.- The impact of COVID on fintech.- How Gen Z thinks about finances.Thanks for listening — if you like what you hear, please review us on your favorite podcast platform. Check us out on the web at villageglobal.vc or get in touch with us on Twitter @villageglobal.

Alexa von Tobel (@alexavontobel) and Mark Batsiyan (@mbatny) of Inspired Capital join Erik on this episode.They discuss:- What fintech 2.0 will look like and their experiences growing a company during the fintech 1.0 era.- The idea of the self-driving wallet and removing friction for consumers.- Their investment thesis and the trends they are seeing in fintech.- How incumbents will react to changes and why they will be just as acquisitive.- The impact of COVID on fintech.- How Gen Z thinks about finances.Thanks for listening — if you like what you hear, please review us on your favorite podcast platform. Check us out on the web at villageglobal.vc or get in touch with us on Twitter @villageglobal.

Marcos Veremis, managing director at Evanston Capital Management, and David Fauchier (@dfauchier), CIO at Cambrial Capital, join Erik to discuss:- How they became interested in crypto.- How institutions have approached the space.- How the space has evolved.- Bitcoin as a store of value in the current market environment.- The impact of COVID on crypto.- Crypto investment strategies.- Why generalist VCs have so far not been able to make good investments in the space.Thanks for listening — if you like what you hear, please review us on your favorite podcast platform. Check us out on the web at villageglobal.vc or get in touch with us on Twitter @villageglobal.

Marcos Veremis, managing director at Evanston Capital Management, and David Fauchier (@dfauchier), CIO at Cambrial Capital, join Erik to discuss:- How they became interested in crypto.- How institutions have approached the space.- How the space has evolved.- Bitcoin as a store of value in the current market environment.- The impact of COVID on crypto.- Crypto investment strategies.- Why generalist VCs have so far not been able to make good investments in the space.Thanks for listening — if you like what you hear, please review us on your favorite podcast platform. Check us out on the web at villageglobal.vc or get in touch with us on Twitter @villageglobal.

Erik is joined by Anirudh Pai (@ani_pai), co-founder of the Conservative Curious podcast and creator of the Dreams of Electric Sheep newsletter.They discuss:- Why people don’t crave scientific advancement.- What the postmodern solution to the desire to be part of religion might look like.- What “the iPhone moment for cities” might look like.- His thoughts on stagnation.- His analysis of Thiel’s idea that “every bubble is a commentary on capitalism.”- The state of biotech and the future of the FDA post-COVID.- Why COVID will be an accelerant for crypto.- His thoughts on the space industry.- Why he thinks that moreso than “it’s time to build,” it’s time to tinker.Thanks for listening — if you like what you hear, please review us on your favorite podcast platform. Check us out on the web at villageglobal.vc or get in touch with us on Twitter @villageglobal.