Village Global Podcast

Latest Episodes:

Investing in B2B Marketplaces with Kent Bennett and Dhruv Jain Jul 05, 2020

Show notes

Dhruv Jain (@groovyydhruvy) and Kent Bennett (@kentbennett) of Bessemer join Erik on this episode.
They discuss:
- Why B2B marketplaces version 1.0 didn’t work and how version 2.0 can succeed.
- How to make a vertical marketplace work.
- Shifts happening in industries that are using older technologies to transact.
- Specific sub-sectors they are looking to invest in and which they find most interesting.
- How they analyze different verticals and the key dimensions they look at.
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.

Finding The Right Idea, Co-Founder, and Early Employees with Sean Linehan Jul 02, 2020

Show notes

Sean Linehan (@seanlinehan), co-founder and CEO of Placement, joins Erik on this episode. It was recorded as part of an OnDeck Fellowship event.
They discuss:
- How he navigated the idea maze after leaving Flexport before founding Placement.
- How to know when the time is right for your idea.
- Early experimentation with an idea and why you need customers, employees, and investors to all be excited about it.
- How to find the right co-founder.
- His advice on hiring at the earliest stages.
- His philosophy on compensation for early hires, including how to think about equity.
- How to think about competition, product-market fit, and moats.
- How the labor market is changing.
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.

Evaluating Markets and Picking Startup Ideas with Charles Hudson Jun 30, 2020

Show notes

Charles Hudson, founder of Precursor, joins Erik on this episode. It was recorded live as part of an OnDeck Fellowship event.
They discuss:
- How he decides what to invest in.
- Why he says that he is often “looking for good ideas that initially look like bad ideas.”
- Why he has “an allergy to top-down market assessments.”
- How entrepreneurs should think about margins.
- Advice for founders working in frontier tech.
- Whether he invests based on the entrepreneur or on the idea.
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.

Investing in Fighting Climate Change with Dani Grant and Landon Brand Jun 28, 2020

Show notes

Landon Brand of Wren (@project_wren) and Dani Grant (@thedanigrant) of USV, join Erik on this episode.
They discuss:
- Dani’s deep dive on the climate crisis and which solutions might be able to help.
- Requests for startups in the space and where they would be investing if they were running a fund focused on climate change.
- Why cleantech is worth investing in now after the bust in the late 2000s.
- Opportunities for investment in different types of power producers.
- How Wren can become a billion dollar company.
- How carbon-consciousness is spreading throughout businesses and society.
- The role of government and the key disagreements about the direction to take to address climate change.
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.

Cleantech, Globalization, and Climate Change with Ramez Naam Jun 25, 2020

Show notes

Ramez Naam (@ramez), author of the Nexus series, joins Erik on this episode.
They discuss:
- The arc of his career and what drove him to work on what he did.
- Why clean energy didn’t realize its potential in the 2000s and why now is a good time to invest in clean energy.
- His market map of opportunities in clean energy and the impact on the space that Moore’s Law is having.
- The influence of Kevin Kelly and Robert Wright on his thinking.
- The future of globalization.
- How to reconcile egalitarianism and meritocracy.
- The state of climate change.
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 Could Be Our Future: A Manifesto for a More Generous World with Yancey Strickler Jun 23, 2020

Show notes

Yancey Strickler (@ystrickler), co-founder of Kickstarter and author of This Could Be Our Future: A Manifesto for a More Generous World, joins Erik on this episode.
The discuss:
- His experience working on Kickstarter and what he realized about the power of the profit motive in an early-stage company.
- His vision of the world if the ideas from his book become widespread.
- The possibilities for co-op arrangements online and how to organize to ensure that people creating value for a network are the ones capturing that value.
- Why he’s a believer in tech and why he hopes that the power of tech can be used to deliver critical goods rather than to serve ads.
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.

The State of Consumer in 2020 with Jeff Morris Jr. and Henry McNamara Jun 21, 2020

Show notes

Jeff Morris Jr., founder of Chapter One, and Henry McNamara (@henrylmcnamara) of Great Oaks VC join Erik on this episode.
They discuss:
- The reasons for the change in the D2C market and why companies that were part of “D2C 1.0” would have a hard time scaling today.
- Which spaces they’re excited about and where they’ve been investing.
- Trends and possibilities in consumer social.
- Industries where they see opportunities, including in CBD and consumer fintech.
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.

Lessons From Building a Direct-To-Consumer Insurance Startup with Mike Rudoy and Luke Cohler Jun 18, 2020

Show notes

Mike Rudoy (@mrudoy) and Luke Cohler (@ljcohler) of Jetty join Erik on this episode.
They discuss:
- The story of founding Jetty and how they got to where they are today.
- The problems around rent affordability in the US and how they’re solving those issues.
- The evolution of insurance over the last two decades and what enabled the changes.
- Where they would be investing if they were running a fund focused on the space.
- How they think about the market and the most appropriate business model differently from other companies.
- How insurance will have changed in 5-10 years from now.
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.

Growth Strategies For Early-Stage Companies with Fareed Mosavat and Jeff Chang Jun 16, 2020

Show notes

Fareed Mosavat (@far33d), EIR at Reforge and former director of product at Slack, and Jeff Chang (@jeffchang30), growth engineering lead at Pinterest and angel investor, join Erik on this episode.
They discuss:
- What’s changed in growth over the last several years.
- How to think about product-market fit and when to start investing in growth.
- Which metrics to pay attention to and which to ignore.
- How to think about payback periods, LTV, and CAC.
- How founders should think about acquisition channels.
- Common misconceptions that founders have about growth.
- How to think about SEO and referrals.
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.

A Clinic on All Things Sales with Peter Kazanjy Jun 11, 2020

Show notes

Peter Kazanjy (@Kazanjy), co-founder of Atrium and author of Founding Sales, joins Erik on this episode.
They discuss:
- The difference between selling to SMBs versus large organizations.
- How founders should think about sales as their company grows and evolves.
- Common mistakes that people make when growing their sales organization.
- What differentiates companies who scale sales successfully versus those who don’t.
- How to think about pricing models.
- How to measure the effectiveness of your sales team.
- How to think about compensation for salespeople.
- The best resources he recommends for learning about sales.
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.

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