Village Global Podcast

Andrew Wilkinson (@awilkinson) co-founder of Tiny, joins Erik and co-host David Booth (@david__booth), CEO of OnDeck, on this episode.They discuss:- His story of building businesses in high school and how he ended up as the head of a family of 25 different companies with over 400 employees.- How they think about acquiring or investing in businesses and what they are looking for.- Where they get their capital.- How they think about founder liquidity and why they often invest in founders who want to leave the business.- Where they’re looking to invest and what’s most interesting to them.- Why they don’t want to be a venture studio.- How they make sure they have alignment with their CEOs.- Why private equity is suited to remote work.Applications for the summer vintage of our Network Catalyst accelerator are now open! The early decision deadline is May 15th and final deadline is June 5th. Learn more and apply today at www.villageglobal.vc/network-catalyst.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.

Immad Akhund (@immad), founder and CEO of Mercury, and Jude Gomila (@judegomila), founder and CEO of Golden, join Erik on this episode.They discuss:- What’s top of mind for them with respect to COVID-19 and the response.- Decentralized versus centralized approaches to the problem.- Which underlying problems in American society this has brought to the surface.- Which trends are going to accelerate because of the pandemic.- Common mistakes that founders make when fundraising.- Why it’s important to have balancing forces for certain attributes of the culture at your company.- Thoughts on futarchy.- What they disagree on.Applications for the summer vintage of our Network Catalyst accelerator are now open! The early decision deadline is May 15th and final deadline is June 5th. Learn more and apply today at www.villageglobal.vc/network-catalyst.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.

Sahil Lavingia (@shl), founder and CEO of Gumroad, joins Erik on this episode.They discuss:- The story of starting Gumroad, raising money, and getting featured in the media.- Going from a twenty person company to a five person company to a single-person company.- The advice he would give to a younger version of himself if he was starting over again.- The creator economy and which types of content do well.- How to think about raising capital.- Time as a status symbol, the merits of cities, and what it means to “play poker with an open hand.”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.

Gigi Levy-Weiss (@gigilevy) of NFX joins Erik on this episode.They discuss:- The history and evolution of gaming and why he’s excited about the space.- His requests for startups in gaming and what gaming will look like in ten years.- His thoughts on e-sports and why he’s excited about VR.- Crypto, blockchain, and how those technologies interface with gaming.- Why biotech will be transformative and how data and machine learning are enabling new discoveries.- Common fundraising mistakes that founders make.- What people misunderstand about product-market fit.- Startup leadership and what makes a great leader and culture.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 Chen (@andychen), partner at Coatue, and Jose Guardado (https://www.linkedin.com/in/joseguardado/), founder of a new company, join Erik on this episode.They discuss:- How hiring has evolved over the last decade.- Why startups are focusing on recruiting earlier, and hiring people dedicated to the task as some of their earliest employees.- How to find a co-founder who will work well with you, and how to deal with disagreements between co-founders.- The most common mistakes made when hiring.- How to figure out how equity should be distributed between founders and early hires.- How to source the best candidates at early-stage companies.- Their best advice for doing reference checks.- Startups in the talent and recruiting space and potential opportunities for founders.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 episode was recorded in front of a live audience in January 2020 at Ayn Rand Con. Erik interviewed Jason Crawford and Yaron Brook. Jason (@jasoncrawford) writes about the history of technology and industry at Roots of Progress.Yaron (@yaronbrook) is host of The Yaron Brook Show.They discuss:- What can destroy — or save — Silicon Valley.- What Rand would say about Silicon Valley if she could see it today.- How to reconcile egalitarianism and meritocracy.- How to make her ideas more mainstream.- Objectivism, libertarianism, and individualism.- Progress as a human achievement and how to appreciate it.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.

Rahul Vohra (@rahulvohra), founder and CEO of Superhuman, and Todd Goldberg (@toddg777), angel investor, join Erik on this episode. They’ve raised a $7M angel fund together called the Todd and Rahul Angel Fund.They discuss:- The nano fund trend, first-time fund operators, and their thinking on fund size.- How they thought about their next ideas when getting ready to start their companies.- The spaces they’re most excited about.- What it means to build “prosumer software” and what Rahul learned from building Superhuman.- The common mistakes founders make when thinking about product-market fit.- How to think about raising — and spending — money.- How to create product experiences that result in flow.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.

Nick Mehta (@nrmehta), CEO at Gainsight, joins Erik on this episode.They discuss:- SaaS sub-sectors that Nick is excited about- Is Customer Success a skillset, function, a software stack?- What are the most common misconceptions about customer success?- When should a startup start thinking about the customer success function?- How do you scale the customer success function?- What’s the profile of a successful customer success manager?- How has customer success evolved over the past decade and where is it going?- Nick’s thoughts on the sales enablement spaceThanks 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.

Angela Tran (@angelatytran), GP at Version One, joins Erik on this episode.They discuss:- How digital health is helping to empower consumers.- The unbundling of healthcare.- Her requests for startups in healthcare.- The questions she asks when evaluating marketplace companies.- Why she looks for marketplace companies that are creating new behaviours for consumers, rather than just unbundling them from their previous providers.- Her thoughts on fitness, consumer social, and the Toronto Raptors.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.

Alex Bangash (@alexbangash), founder of Trusted Insight, joins Erik on this episode.They discuss:- Why and how he wants to disrupt venture.- How VC is changing and why later stage investing is becoming more private equity-like.- Why he says common stock is the biggest driver of disruption in the industry now, and why it’s also the most misunderstood.- The myth of being a great picker in venture.- If and where data can provide an unfair advantage.- Why he likes the platform model.- What he thinks of the nano fund model.- Trends on the LP side of things, including investing directly in companies.- How crypto and crowdfunding might disrupt venture in the future.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.