Village Global's Venture Stories

Erik is joined on this episode by Mike Maples (@m2jr) of Floodgate. The discuss:- The difference between fake growth and real growth, and how to know which one your company is experiencing.- Why fake growth has taken hold in so many companies in the Valley, and its broader systemic causes.- The difference between value hacking and growth hacking.- Why once you’ve entered the growth stage, it’s next to impossible to go back to the value hacking stage.- His thoughts on the Thiel vs. Rabois philosophies of markets.- His tips for growing SaaS companies.- How to think about incumbents.- Why a pivot is not the same thing as a mulligan.- The reasons for the fact that, in Mike's opinion, there is too much money in VC.- Why companies are staying private longer.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.

We're re-releasing some of the best episodes from the podcast this summer.This episode was recorded in front of a live audience in San Francisco, featuring Tyler Cowen (@tylercowen), professor of economics at George Mason University and Eric Schmidt (@ericschmidt), former executive chairman and CEO at Google/Alphabet.Cowen talks to Schmidt about a wide range of topics, from Schmidt’s college years, to his time as an intern at Bell Labs, to working for Scott McNealy at Sun Microsystems, to the early days of Google, to today.Cowen asks about Schmidt’s formative intellectual experiences as a young person and we hear the story of Schmidt studying as an architect prior to entering into a computer science program. After graduation, Schmidt interned at both Xerox PARC and Bell Labs. He recounts stories of his time at the research labs and discusses to what extent the lab model does or doesn’t work today. Cowen points out that Schmidt is one of the few people around whose career spans several significant eras in the history of computing.They move on to talking about the early days at Google, where it turns out that Schmidt was hired to run the company after a skiing trip with Larry and Sergey, whose first concern in hiring “adult supervision” was to find someone they enjoyed hanging out with. Schmidt says that he initially assumed that search wasn't very important and that Google’s ads didn’t work. He reveals that during his first year he was so terrified that their "ruse would unravel" that he made anyone who wanted to spend money come to him personally on Fridays at 10am to justify the expense.Cowen asks about Schmidt’s insights on hiring and managing talent. Schmidt explains that in the beginning Larry and Sergey primarily hired their classmates and friends, but over time Google’s hiring became highly structured. He tells the story of interviewing a single candidate 16 times and explains the logic of why initially they were so focused on school and GPA, rather than industry experience.Cowen and Schmidt also talk about in which areas even Schmidt himself has been surprised at the extent of technological progress and where he'd like to see more innovation. They discuss social media and why Schmidt says that it amplifies human weaknesses rather than strengths. The two of them also talk about transforming cities, including Alphabet’s Sidewalk Labs project in Toronto and the Bay Area's housing crisis.They also have a round of rapid-fire “overrated vs. underrated,” covering subjects like Antarctica, Picasso, effective altruism, Yellowstone and North Korea. Cowen also asks about the Eric Schmidt "production function" and how Schmidt is able to be so productive.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.

We're re-releasing some of the best episodes from the podcast this summer.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

We're re-releasing some of the best episodes from the podcast this summer.Sarah Tavel (@sarahtavel), partner at Benchmark, and Nabeel Hyatt (@nabeel), partner at Spark Capital, joined Erik on this episode.They discussed:- Why they love investing in marketplaces and the evolution of marketplaces over the last decade.- Why the wave of Uber For X startups didn’t take off.- How they evaluate marketplaces, and why founders get confused about “which race they’re running” when creating a marketplace startup.- Where they’re excited about seeing more marketplaces and which spaces they advise founders to avoid.- The impact of SoftBank and their analysis of the current crop of public marketplace companies.- Common mistakes they see founders making in marketplace startups.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.

Ramit Sethi (@ramit), founder and CEO of I Will Teach You To Be Rich, joined Ben Casnocha to discuss:- Ramit’s philosophy of personal finance. He says he focuses on $30,000 questions as opposed to $3 questions because there’s no limit on how much you can earn, but there is a limit on how much you can save.- How “invisible scripts” rule how you think about money. Ramit talks about how to figure out and interrogate what those invisible scripts are so you can move past them.- How to figure out what your “rich life” looks like. He suggests writing down in great detail and texture exactly what you aspire to when it comes to your financial goals. For example, when you go on vacation, what kind of hotel are you staying in? Are you flying in business or economy class?- The fact that people often have a prime twenty years between ages 40 to 60 to spend their money and why you shouldn’t defer your goals until late in life.- Why he decided to start a podcast about love and money and the challenges inherent in dealing with differing approaches to personal finance in relationships: https://www.iwillteachyoutoberich.com/podcast/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

Max Greenwald (@MaxPGreenwald), founder and CEO of Warmly, joins Erik to discuss:- Max’s journey navigating the idea maze to start the company.- The problems with virtual meetings and why they lead to fatigue.- How to ask questions of prospective customers without leading them into providing the answers you want to hear.- Why he says that all interviews, first-time meetings, and team meetings are better done virtually than in-person.- The future of work post-pandemic.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

We’re re-releasing some of the best episodes of the podcast this summer.In this episode Alex Danco (@alex_danco) of Social Capital joined Erik to talk about Silicon Valley, economics, innovation, crypto, software and more.Alex explains the influence of Peter Thiel and Rene Girard on his thinking. He explains what he means when he says the key to understanding the world is asking, "what is everyone is compelled to lie about?"He gives a history of how innovation has traditionally proceeded in the world and explains how Silicon Valley — via software specifically — has changed the mechanism of innovation. He talks about how this has resulted in disproportionate gains accruing to the huge tech companies. Alex also talks about the economics of the Valley and why gains in productivity from technology have not resulted in increased leisure for the Valley's inhabitants. He also talks about crypto, career strategy, cost disease, scooters, and much more.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.

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.- Where he’s looking to invest in fintech.- Startups he would like to exist that don’t yet.- Why he has changed his mind on investing in founders working in a space he doesn’t like.Companies Santiago has invested in:ProTalento - https://protalento.org/english-version/Kolors - https://kolors.com.mx/Rubik - https://www.getrubik.com/*The deadline to get your application in for the fall vintage of the Village Global Accelerator is August 10th! It’s a personalized and tight-knit program with an amazing network of peers, advisors, and experts. Companies that have been through the accelerator have raised from some of the top venture funds in the world, like a16z, First Round Capital, Founders Fund, Lux Capital, True Ventures, Felicis and more.Learn more and apply at www.villageglobal.vc/accelerator!

Erik was joined on this episode by Mike Maples (@m2jr) of Floodgate. We're re-releasing some of the best episodes of the podcast from over the years.They discuss:- How the best founders approach entrepreneurship.- The power of “change events” for startup creation.- How important is it for your idea to be non-consensus.- What makes a great founding team.- How you know when you have an insight that’s worth pursuing.- What VC could look like a decade from now- The relationship between VCs and their LPs.- Mental models for what makes a successful investor.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.Venture Stories is brought to you by Village Global, and is hosted by co-founder and partner, Erik Torenberg.

We're re-releasing some of the best episodes from the last few years.James Currier (@JamesCurrier) of NFX joined Erik on this episode. They discuss:- Why LinkedIn hasn’t been disrupted yet- Where are today’s opportunities in consumer social- Market networks and how they’ve evolved over time- What’s wrong with education and whether homeschooling can be a solution- Commoditization of higher education- How to evaluate startup ideas- How venture will evolve over the next decadeThanks 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.Venture Stories is brought to you by Village Global, and is hosted by co-founder and partner, Erik Torenberg.

Kevin Kwok (@kevinakwok) joined Erik in 2018 to discuss a wide range of topics. We’re re-releasing some of the best episodes of the podcast this summer. They talked about:- Why the stock market exists and why after the crash of 2008 no one said that we should shut it down.- The ideas of "loops and funnels" and "constraints and compounding" — and how Kevin thinks about those mental models.- The history of corporate structures and what they might look like in the future.- What might be possible with crypto that was previously impossible without crypto, and why people seem to be only trying to replicate already-existing tech using crypto. - Twitter, and why it's like being "on chain."- How to think about your career and how the Valley's unique work culture has contributed to its success.- The idea of personal ICOs.- Why most companies think about the impact of PR on consumers when in reality they should think about PR's impact on recruiting.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.

This special live episode was recorded in 2018. We’re re-releasing some of the greatest hits this summer. Erik interviewed Naval Ravikant (@naval) and Balaji Srinivasan (@balajis). They start with an overview of the history of organizing societies and the role of centralized decision-makers from kings to democracies and why decentralization — where no one in particular is in charge but everybody follows the rules — has so much potential. They talk about how this could be disruptive to a wide swath of society today, including areas like money, electricity, social networks, storage, and more. They explain why decentralization will "fulfill the original promise of the internet."Erik asks how each of them got into the space after having had success in other areas. It’s pointed out that it’s very rare that something comes along that is “technologically interesting, socially revolutionary, and that can also make you very rich.” They move on to a discussion of the history of money, the three key functions that money provides (store of value, unit of account and medium of exchange) and how good a job current cryptocurrencies are doing at fulfilling those three functions. They move on to what they see in the future for crypto and how it will change society at large. They paint a picture of a world where there might be virtual “instant jobs” available on-demand in a feed akin to the feeds in current social networks and where the “99%” will be investors, as opposed to the present where only 1% of individuals are investors. There might also exist in the future “instant companies” that can be created as easily as someone can create an account on a social network today and that programmable smart contracts might spread opportunity far and wide without the need for armies of lawyers and judges.They explain what it means when they say that blockchain will create “an open financial system” and what they mean when they say it will be to the current financial system what Linux was to Windows. They also talk about what kinds of facts would change their mind about blockchain, the role of identity and anonymity in a crypto world, and the concept of a “personal burn rate.”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.

Daniel Gross (@danielgross), founder of Pioneer, joined Erik in 2018 for a wide-ranging conversation. We're re-releasing some of the greatest hits this summer. Erik and Daniel discuss a wide variety of topics, including why saying something is “insanely great” isn’t necessarily a compliment for a founder, how to play “the video game that is life,” why the best way to get the physique you want is to move (cities), and how Twitter has reshaped the human psyche.They also cover a number of other topics, including how Daniel thinks about friendships, the parallels between Pioneer and religion, how Daniel would change the education system, and why people will compete against each other but cooperate against an AI. They close with a game where Erik names a number of prominent individuals and Daniel talks about what he’s learned from that person.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

We're re-releasing some of the greatest hits from the podcast over the years. This episode was recorded in front of a live audience in San Francisco in October 2018.Keith breaks down some of the successes that mentees of his have had over the past few years. Many of them came from non-technical backgrounds and non-elite schools. He talks about their career trajectory and the inflection points that led to their advancement.Erik explains the four dimensions of career building and where he thinks people early in their careers are over-optimizing.Keith shares what Peter Thiel told him about hiring while the two were on a run around the Stanford campus shortly after Keith joined PayPal. He talks about how he challenges the people working for him, and why as an employee you always want to feel like you’re pushing the boundaries of what you’re capable of.They also talk about what makes a good startup idea and the three factors that Keith uses to evaluate business ideas.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

Nathan Cheng (@realNathanCheng), program director for On Deck Longevity, joins Erik on this episode to discuss:- The key breakthroughs in aging research in the past.- Why we're still waiting for the first success story in humans, and why he predicts the first drug will be approved in the next ten years.- Why the space has plenty of capital but not enough founders.- The challenges and roadblocks in the space.- Common misconceptions about longevity.- Who should think about applying to the program.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