Village Global Podcast

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

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

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

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 (@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

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

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

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 (@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

Andrew Yu (@andrewcyu), who is running the On Deck Product Management program, joins Erik on this episode to discuss:- His non-traditional route to becoming a product manager. (Fun fact: He recently worked on the Biden campaign and inauguration).- What the ODPM program will look like, including the “intentional networking” they have planned.- What “productizing yourself” as a product manager looks like.- How the field has evolved over time.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