Village Global Podcast

Latest Episodes:

Village Global Accelerator: Inside Scoop with Santiago Suarez, CEO Addi.com Jul 30, 2021

Show notes

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!

Greatest Hits: Mike Maples on Building Successful Startups and Venture Funds Jul 26, 2021

Show notes

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.

Greatest Hits: James Currier on Network Effects, Education, and Evaluating Startup Ideas Jul 22, 2021

Show notes

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 decade
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.

Greatest Hits: What Kevin Kwok Thinks About Basically Everything Jul 19, 2021

Show notes

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.

Greatest Hits: Naval Ravikant and Balaji Srinivasan on Crypto Jul 15, 2021

Show notes

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.

Greatest Hits: What Daniel Gross Thinks About Basically Everything Jul 12, 2021

Show notes

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

Greatest Hits: Keith Rabois on Career Strategy, Identifying Talent, and Evaluating Markets Jul 07, 2021

Show notes

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

The State and Future of Longevity with Nathan Cheng Jun 29, 2021

Show notes

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

How Open Innovation Can Transform R&D with Kevin Leland and Phil Taylor Jun 10, 2021

Show notes

Kevin Leland (@kmleland), founder and CEO of Halo, and Phil Taylor, Bayer’s Open Innovation Lead, join Erik to discuss:
- Why the current RFP process resembles recruiting in the 1990s pre-LinkedIn and Monster, and how Halo can change that.
- What open innovation is and some of its success stories.
- How to connect companies and scientists to drive innovation.
- How to create an innovation ecosystem.
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

Education, The Great Stagnation, and Innovation with Noah Smith Jun 08, 2021

Show notes

Noah Smith (@noahpinion), Bloomberg Opinion writer and author of the Noahpinion Substack, joins Erik to discuss:
- Why colleges should try to emulate the Cal State and CUNY systems, which Noah says provide the best value for dollars in education.
- Why the US should want to copy the Japanese and Korean healthcare systems, and the power that a national health insurance program has to drive cost down.
- Why the oil shock precipitated the great stagnation, and the evolution (and non-evolution) of energy sources over the years.
- What climate economics got wrong and why the revolution in green energy is will not only be about reducing carbon emissions but rather the abundance of cheap energy.
- What people get wrong about inflation and monetary policy and how the fed really works.
- What the US should do to increase innovation, and Noah’s take on whether science and commercialization of discoveries is slowing down or not.
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

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