Marco DeMeireles (@MarcoDeMeireles), partner at TCG, joins Erik on this episode. They discuss: - How the firm came to be and how they think about portfolio construction. - What owning the life stage means and why it makes for better businesses. - Some of the spaces they’re thinking about, including weddings, fertility, and funerals. - Marco’s thoughts on e-commerce enablement. - His other requests for startups. Thanks for listening — if you like what you hear, please review us on your favorite p...
Feb 04, 2020•1 hr 2 min
Michael Galpert (@msg) and Greg Isenberg (@gregisenberg) join Erik on this episode. They Discuss: - What’s changed about consumer social in the past year - The rise of vertical social networks - The success and future of TikTok - The role of startup acquisitions in making a successful social network - Will there be a new social network for every generation - Will future social networks incorporate a physical element - How will consumer social be different a year from now Thanks for listening — i...
Feb 02, 2020•44 min
Burak Yenigun (@BurakYngn), founder of Stylus Capital ( www.styluscapital.com ) joins Erik on this episode. They discuss: - The problem of founder scarcity and why it exists. - The most effective levers for increasing the number of founders. - Whether we are in a bubble or not. - What founders need to know when thinking about interest rates. - The advantages and disadvantages of risk-sharing arrangements for founders, and how they would work. Thanks for listening — if you like what you hear, ple...
Jan 31, 2020•44 min
Brent Beshore (@BrentBeshore), founder and CEO of Adventur.es, joins Erik on this episode. They discuss: - What makes Adventur.es “the inverse of traditional private equity,” including why they don’t add debt to a company’s balance sheet when they purchase a company and intend to keep the existing leadership around. - What Silicon Valley doesn’t get about private equity, how it’s different from venture, and how VC and PE might interact in the future. - Some of the industries that Brent thinks ar...
Jan 29, 2020•1 hr 20 min
David Booth (@david__booth), co-founder and CEO of On Deck, joins Erik on this episode. They talk about: - Why they started On Deck and the problem they were trying to solve. - Common misconceptions about successful founding teams and the type of relationship needed between co-founders. - The importance of community and how to build a positive one. - Cosign (cosign.co) and the idea of peer-to-peer credentialing. - Where it’s best to be building a company today. - How young people today can build...
Jan 27, 2020•42 min
Sam Lessin (@lessin) and Bobby Goodlatte (@rsg) join Erik on this episode. They Discuss: - The future of consumer social - How can consumer social startups compete with incumbents - How do you incentivize user growth on new platforms - Are Twitter and Instagram going away - What are the most interesting new ideas in consumer social - Which new consumer social networks will be successful - What technologies will enable the next wave of social networks - Will decentralized social networks ever hap...
Jan 25, 2020•49 min
Dan Runcie (@RuncieDan) of Trapital joins Erik to discuss business and strategy in hip-hop. 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.
Jan 23, 2020•35 min
Zack Kanter (@zackkanter), founder and CEO of Stedi.com, joins Erik on this episode. They discuss: - How Zack thinks about Twitter, why from outside it seems absurd, and why he calls it a “text-based role-playing game.” - How he navigated the idea maze in starting Stedi and the key insight he had that led him to start the company. - How the legibility problem from the book Seeing Like a State has changed how he approaches company-building. - Why he says that “code is not an asset, code is a liab...
Jan 20, 2020•1 hr 38 min
Nadia Eghbal (@nayafia) of Substack joins Erik on this episode. They discuss: - How the internet changes how we find meaning and why new religions haven’t emerged from the internet yet. - The future of newspapers and publishing, and what happens if people can go direct to the reporters they trust via tools like Substack and others. - Her interest in the economics of content creators on the internet. - Shamelessness as a strategy. - Status on the internet and whether it’s really zero sum. - Globa...
Jan 18, 2020•1 hr 58 min
Sarah Tavel (@sarahtavel), partner at Benchmark, and Ben Rubin (@benrbn), founder of Houseparty and Meerkat, join Erik on this episode. They discuss: - Where the white space is in social and the possibilities for vertical-specific social networks. - Why Facebook looks to young people today the way Yahoo! looked to Sarah’s generation. - What participatory social looks like and how to solve the problem of presence. - Their ideas for new social networks. - What Twitter could have been. - How social...
Jan 16, 2020•1 hr 14 min
Phin Barnes (@phineasb) and Brett Berson (@brettberson), partners at First Round Capital, join Erik on this episode. They discuss: - Why when First Round was started VC was mainly an “anti-network business.” - How the needs of founders and companies have evolved since First Round was started. - The four phases of a company and when to think about raising funds. - How to think about price as an investor. - What, in their opinion, are the predictors of founder success. - Some of the projects and i...
Jan 14, 2020•1 hr 16 min
Hiten Shah (@hnshah), Co-Founder of FYI, joins Erik on this episode. They discuss: - Frameworks for picking startup ideas - Navigating the Idea Maze - How has the enterprise market changed in the past decade - Investment outlook for “future of work” - How has growth hacking and go-to-market evolved over the past decade - How to select your customers - Deciding on pricing - When do you start charging - How to think about retention - Can Linkedin be disrupted Thanks for listening — if you like wha...
Jan 13, 2020•1 hr 13 min
Justin Mares (@jwmares), founder of Kettle & Fire and Perfect Keto, joins Erik on this episode. They discuss: - The state of CPG, the history of the market, and the problems with the incentive structure today. - What has led to the decline in the health of the average American and where Silicon Valley goes wrong with its approach to food. - Where he would be investing if he was running a fund focused on health and wellness. - How to find non-traditional talent. - Why he is short San Francisc...
Jan 10, 2020•1 hr 26 min
Santiago Suarez (@SantiaSua) of Addi joins Erik on this episode. They Discuss: - Is lending a cyclical business - Lending as a form of customer acquisition - What can fintech lending companies learn from Affirm and Square - How lending in LatAm differs from North America - How to develop competitive advantages as a lending business in LatAm - Lessons to learn from scaling very fast - How to hire early employees - How to decide your company’s culture - How can lending startups compete with banks ...
Jan 07, 2020•58 min
Erik is joined on this episode by Mike Maples (@m2jr) of Floodgate. They Discuss: - Have all of the low hanging fruit of startup ideas been picked - How do the best founders approach entrepreneurship - Mike’s thoughts on the various conventional wisdoms of building startups - The power of “change events” for startup creation - How important is market timing - How important is it for your idea to be non-consensus - What makes a great founding team - Can you predict product market fit - Why do co-...
Jan 06, 2020•1 hr 17 min
James Currier (@JamesCurrier) of NFX join Erik on this episode. They Discuss: - Why hasn’t Linkedin been disrupted yet - What does crypto do for generating network effects - Where are today’s opportunities in consumer social - Market networks and how they’ve evolved over time - What’s wrong with education and can homeschooling be a solution - Commoditization of higher education - How to evaluate startup ideas - How will venture evolve over the next decade - What should founders better appreciate...
Jan 04, 2020•57 min
Neal Hansch (@nhansch) and Liz Keen (@Liz_Keen) of Silicon Foundry join Erik on this episode. They Discuss: - How Silicon Foundry is building bridges between communities - How corporations have interfaced with Silicon Valley over time - The purpose and rise of Corporate Venture Capital - How have accelerators evolved and what opportunities have they created for corporations - The role venture studios play in corporate innovation - When should startup founders start talking to Corp Dev teams - Wh...
Jan 03, 2020•44 min
Charlie Noyes (@_charlienoyes) of Paradigm joins Erik on this episode. They Discuss: - How has the crypto landscape changed in the last year - The future of Decentralized Finance - Is Bitcoin likely to be more valuable a decade from now - The future of Ether - Will ICOs make a comeback - How tied is the rise of crypto to global disorder - Will prediction & idea markets ever happen - Charlie’s request for startups - Crypto narratives in 2020 Thanks for listening — if you like what you hear, p...
Jan 01, 2020•45 min
Ike Lasater (@IkeLasater) joins Erik on this episode to discuss nonviolent communication. 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.
Dec 27, 2019•1 hr 37 min
Turner Novak (@TurnerNovak) of Gelt Venture Capital joins Erik on this episode. They Discuss: - Can the Vision Fund find product market fit through mega LPs - The relationship between LPs and VCs and how it’s going to change over time - How will venture as an asset class change over the next decade - The future of WeWork - Is Uber's valuation reasonable - Who are the winners of micro mobility - What’s exciting about consumer social - Should we be bullish on Snapchat and Bitmoji Thanks for listen...
Dec 24, 2019•42 min
Phil Bonello (@PhilJBonello) joins Erik on this episode. They Discuss: - Building an investment thesis around The Sovereign Individual - The future of nation states - Crypto’s role in self-sovereignty - What will lead to user adoption of crypto - Why is censorship on the rise - How has the logic of violence evolved over time - The future of cities - How does education need to respond to the Information age - The future of fiat currencies - The defensibility of bitcoin - Valuation models for cryp...
Dec 23, 2019•54 min
Jonathan Haidt (@JonHaidt), a social psychologist at NYU-Stern, joins Erik on this episode. They Discuss: - What are the problems with social media and are they temporary or lasting issues - How social media has affected Gen Z - What led to the rise of polarization - What needs to happen to solve the issues of social media - When do you design for humanity’s evolutionary flaws - Has politics replaced religion as a source of identity - Activism versus truth seeking - Is Democracy doomed Thanks fo...
Dec 22, 2019•1 hr 2 min
Patri Friedman (@patrissimo) of Pronomos Capital joins Erik on this episode. They Discuss: - Why now for charter cities - The role of Incrementalism versus disruption in creating charter cities - Request for startups - Which geographies will be the most important for the charter city movement - How will geopolitics affect the growth of charter cities - What’s going to be the spark that allows charter cities to take off - The role of venture capital in funding charter cities - How will national i...
Dec 19, 2019•1 hr 44 min
Ash Fontana (@ashfontana), General Partner at Zetta, and Leo Polovets (@lpolovets), General Partner at Susa Ventures, join Erik on this episode. They Discuss: - What does the future of venture capital look like? - Which firms are leading venture capital and who will be the top venture firms 10 years from now? - Being a generalist investor versus a specialist - Portfolio structure and the role of follow-on funding as part of a firm's strategy - Is it important to have one portfolio company that c...
Dec 17, 2019•50 min
Olaf Sakkers (@osakkers), Partner at Maniv Mobility, and Prescott Watson (@prescottwatson), Principal at Maniv Mobility, join Erik on this episode. They discuss: - How mobility has changed in the past 5 years - Investable companies in mobility - The role of private infrastructure versus public infrastructure - Buying versus leasing assets in mobility - When and where do incumbents beat startups - The incumbents that will still be around 10 years from now - The winners and losers of the mobility ...
Dec 15, 2019•55 min
Nan Li (@nanli), Managing Director at Obvious Ventures, and Zavain Dar (@zavaindar), Partner at Lux Capital, join Erik on this episode. They discuss: -How Deep Tech has evolved over time -The state of Computational Biology today -What the future of Biology looks like -What Big Pharma is focused on and the market opportunity for biotech startups -What’s their request for startups in computational biology Thanks for listening — if you like what you hear, please review us on your favorite podcast p...
Dec 12, 2019•55 min
Malay Gandhi (@malayhgandhi) of Evidation Health and Nikhil Krishnan (@nikillinit) of TrialSpark join Erik to talk all things digital health in 2019. 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.
Dec 10, 2019•1 hr 42 min
Venture capitalists Greg Rosen (@Grosen) at Bedrock and John Melas Kyriazi (@jmelaskyriazi) at Spark join Erik to discuss: - Deep tech as the answer to the drought of pure play consumer companies. - Leveraging regulatory arbitrages for deep tech companies to get to market faster. - Intersection of consumer and biotech. - Enabling infrastructure for biotech. - Emergence of food/agtech. - New computing platforms. Thanks for listening — if you like what you hear, please review us on your favorite p...
Dec 08, 2019•44 min
Sarah Tavel (@sarahtavel), partner at Benchmark, and Nabeel Hyatt (@nabeel), partner at Spark Capital, join Erik on this episode. They discuss: - 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 sp...
Dec 05, 2019•1 hr 2 min
Eric Vishria (@ericvishria) and Chetan Puttagunta (@chetanp), general partners at Benchmark, join Erik on this episode. They discuss: - The unique partnership structure at Benchmark and how it has led to the continued success of the firm. - Why they are purposefully not trying to scale the firm, unlike other venture firms. - Their investments in open source, why the space is unique, and where the white space is. - What will change in the future in open source and web infrastructure. - Biotech as...
Dec 03, 2019•59 min
