Village Global Podcast

Latest Episodes:

Consumer Social, Marketplaces, and Becoming a Better Investor with James Currier May 11, 2021

Show notes

James Currier (@JamesCurrier), partner at NFX, joins Erik on this episode. It was recorded as part of an On Deck Angels event. They discuss:
- Why founders are more authentic at the accelerator stage than at the seed stage.
- Why San Francisco will remain the centre of tech in the future, just as New York and LA have remained the centre of banking and movie-making, respectively.
- James’s thesis that founders in consumer social need to be a really special type of person — someone great at the analytical side of things as well as at language and psychology.
- Why there will always be plenty more marketplaces to be created, but why he’s skeptical about B2B marketplaces and fitness marketplaces.
- How they think about investments and make decisions at NFX.
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.
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How Tech Can Transform Education with John Katzman May 09, 2021

Show notes

John Katzman (@johnkatzman), CEO of Noodle, joins Erik on this episode to discuss:
- John’s theory that tech has had less of an impact on education than people thought it would because it’s been grafted on rather than causing a rethinking of how education is delivered.
- Why the “fundamentalist capitalists” were wrong about markets solving the problems with education.
- His thoughts on income share agreements.
- Why any degree should always involve active learning throughout a person’s life.
- The fact that he thinks post-COVID no less than 50% of the grad school experience will remain online and will progress towards being completely virtual.
- His requests for innovation 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 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

Lessons Learned as an Investor and The Future of PropTech with Pete Flint May 04, 2021

Show notes

Pete Flint (@peteflint), partner at NFX, joins Erik on this episode. It was recorded as part of an On Deck Angels event. They discuss:
- Pete’s journey from Trulia to investor.
- Why over time he became less focused on the idea and strategy of a team and more on the team itself and its ability to execute.
- Why it’s a mistake to have a portfolio of growth channels, and why instead a company should be world-class at one channel.
- His information diet.
- The two phases of PropTech and the problems worth solving today.
- Why when it comes to content, frequency beats quality.
- The new wave of marketplaces and why creating a UX that’s 5-10X is a great way to attract supply.
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 Space in 2021 with Delian Asparouhov and Chris Power May 02, 2021

Show notes

Delian Asparouhov (@zebulgar) of Varda and Founders Fund, and Chris Power (@2112Power), founder and CEO of Hadrian, join Erik on this episode to discuss:
- What they're working on and how they're bringing tech to industrial manufacturing.
- How Chris navigated the idea maze with Hadrian, a company with aims to build space and defense components 2X faster.
- The three types of space companies: satellite operators, launch operators, and supply chain companies.
- Where they would be investing in space today.
- Their requests for startups, including a "Dell for satellites."
- The challenges of low-frequency iteration cycles.
- The aim to create software that provides "an API for the supply chain."
- Why it's important to build full-stack solutions in low NPS industries.
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 EdTech with Mercedes Bent and Anne Dwane Apr 29, 2021

Show notes

Mercedes Bent (@mercebent), partner at Lightspeed, joins Erik and co-host Anne Dwane to discuss:
- What Mercedes and the EdTech space in general learned from General Assembly, a company ahead of its time.
- Her market map of EdTech and why she says it should perhaps be called LearnTech rather than EdTech.
- The future of community and social-driven learning, including why peer-to-peer learning is so effective.
- Her thoughts on corporations as credentializers and why she hasn’t been optimistic in the past about credentialling moving away from universities.
- Mercedes, Anne, and Erik’s requests for startups in the space, including a TikTok-like community for career development, a ubiquitous child care company, and a talent marketplace that builds its own supply.
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

Andrew Wilkinson’s Lessons Learned From Building Tiny Apr 27, 2021

Show notes

Andrew Wilkinson (@awilkinson) co-founder of Tiny, was interviewed by Andrew Barry of On Deck at a special event. They discussed:
- His start as a designer and how great product and design became the common thread that runs through the businesses he tries to buy.
- How to think about building a moat around you when you’re an individual versus a brand.
- What he means when he says he “tries to buy businesses that are like New Zealand — in the middle of nowhere, quietly successful, and away from nuclear war.”
- How he analyzes businesses and the diligence that he does on them.
- How to think about customer acquisition when you don’t have a big budget.
- His advice for first-time founders.
- Why he’s excited about the podcasting 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 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

Restoring The Promise of Higher Education with Richard Vedder Apr 25, 2021

Show notes

Richard Vedder, author of Restoring The Promise: Higher Education in America, joins Erik to discuss:
- The origins of the myth that higher education is the key to career success.
- The unintended consequences of student loans, including the fact that colleges raised tuition dramatically in response to the increase in borrowing.
- The key pieces of government regulation that impacted higher education and why the GI Bill led to an explosion in the number of universities.
- Where he agrees and disagrees with Bryan Caplan and Peter Thiel.
- The history and evolution of colleges in the US.
- The fact that the earnings gap between college and non-college educated workers is not due to what a student has learned but rather that they have demonstrated the determination to get in to college in the first place.
- Why colleges have been so resilient.
- What he would do if he was starting a new university from scratch today.
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 To Grow as a Customer Success Professional with Kelly Hook Apr 20, 2021

Show notes

Kelly Hook (@KellyHook), program director of the On Deck Customer Success program, joins Erik on this episode to discuss:
- How she got into customer success.
- How the field of customer success got its start, just 25 years ago.
- Common misconceptions about the field.
- Why you need to have empathy, a collaborative spirit, and data analysis skills to be successful.
- What the On Deck Customer Success program will look like and who it is for.
- How customer success professionals can grow in their careers and how the field is evolving.
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

Super Founders: What Data Reveals About Billion-Dollar Startups with Ali Tamaseb Apr 18, 2021

Show notes

Ali Tamaseb (@alitamaseb), investor at DCVC and author of Super Founders: What Data Reveals About Billion-Dollar Startups joins Erik to discuss:
- His learnings from gathering data on unicorns and comparing them to a random selection of startups that didn’t succeed.
- Why the age of a founder doesn’t correlate to success.
- Why successful founders aren’t necessarily solving personal problems and are often going through a deliberate ideation process.
- How data could make someone a better investor.
- Why competition is actually good for startups.
- Why successful founders are often opportunistic.
- Why there is resistance to these conclusions.
- Why being a solo founder doesn’t make you less likely to succeed.
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

Scott Belsky’s Angel Investing Lessons and Requests For Startups Apr 15, 2021

Show notes

Scott Belsky (@scottbelsky), angel investor and Chief Product Officer at Adobe, joined Erik for an On Deck Angels event to discuss:
- How he came to make his first investments in Uber and Pinterest.
- How his thinking on investing has evolved and the principles he’s picked up over time.
- Why being an operator-investor is the greatest opportunity in the space today, and why founders are drawn to operator angels.
- Why he gravitates to the pre-momentum stage — Scott says he likes to focus on the potential of a team rather than the present.
- His requests for startups, including for a social network based on receipts, a newsfeed that lets you follow a story, and a way to give developers more credit for their work across the web, and more.
- He also talks about which areas he's bearish on, including productivity tools and video for work.
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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