Village Global Podcast

David Spinks, author of The Business of Belonging, discusses the evolution of community movements, making users feel part of the business, earning user trust, getting a community off the ground, enabling community engagement, dealing with waning excitement, and common traps to watch out for.

Cooper Turley (@Cooopahtroopa), head of crypto strategy at Audius, joins Erik on this episode. They discuss:- How he got into the space and how it has evolved over the last few years.- Why NFTs are taking off now.- The market map of the different players in the space at the moment.- How a personal token works.- Advice for people doing an NFT.- How NFTs will reshape the music industry.- His predictions for the future of NFTs.- How tokens will become equity.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

Megan O’Connor (@MeganMOConnor), Head of Strategic Partnerships at Chegg, joins Erik on this episode to discuss:- What she saw change in education when the pandemic hit.- Whether incumbent universities will adapt to a more value-oriented student.- How to unbundle a credential.- The idea of digital guilds.- What Megan would do if she was building a brand new university today.- The state of homeschooling.- The prospects of a Facebook University or Walmart University.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

Luke Burgis (@lukeburgis), author of Wanting: The Power of Mimetic Desire in Everyday Life joins Erik on this episode to discuss:- How he’s making the audience for Rene Girard’s work bigger.- Why innovation became high status while imitation was high status earlier in history.- What is most often misunderstood about mimetic desire.- The difference between internal and external mediators.- What all this has to do with entrepreneurship.- How leaders can manage mimesis in their company.- The difference between mimetic and objective value.- The founder’s mythology and mimetic theory.- Why Nietzsche was right about resentment.- Luke’s relationship with Tony Hsieh.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

Michael Balaoing, founder of Candlelion, joins Ben Casnocha on this episode to discuss:- The importance of the acronym WTF (what’s the feeling?) when you’re giving a presentation.- The four roles that you take on as a speaker: captain, pilot, guide, and game show host.- The five questions to ask when seeking feedback on a presentation.- How to keep the audience engaged throughout a talk, not just during the Q&A at the end.- How to bake stories into your presentations and remix your talks for different audiences.- The keys to virtual communication in the COVID era.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

Ryan Craig (@ryancraigap) and Daniel Pianko (@danielpianko) of Achieve Partners join Erik on this episode to discuss:- The multiple crises in higher education: of affordability, of completion, and of employability.- Why there doesn’t yet exist a Walmart University.- Why they think that big companies will be some of the great educational institutions of the 21st century.- Their thoughts on ISAs.- What they would change if they could change anything about higher ed.- How to fix the fact that half of people entering a degree program don’t complete it.- Why we should make higher education free.- How they foresee the unbundling of college happening.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

Liron Shapira, Co-founder of Relationship Hero, discusses creating a new industry in relationships, the idea of bloated MVPs for startups, and the future of dating apps. He also touches on unbundling venture capital, misconceptions about building MVPs, and how society's analytical nature impacts dating.

Sheel Mohnot (@pitdesi), and Greg Miaskiewicz (@miaskiewicz), join Erik on this episode. Sheel is a Network Leader at Village Global, and Greg is CEO and co-founder of Capbase.They discuss:- How Capbase can help streamline the workflows involved in getting a company off the ground.- How Greg navigated the idea maze and validated his hypothesis.- Why there should be more transparency in investing and startups.- The pros and cons of transparency within a company.- Ethical investing.- How to give feedback as an investor.- How the pandemic changes company formation.- The future of Capbase.*The deadline to get your application in for the spring vintage of the Village Global Accelerator is March 1st! It’s a personalized and tight-knit program with an amazing network of peers, advisors, and experts. Companies that have been through the accelerator have raised from some of the top venture funds in the world, like a16z, First Round Capital, Founders Fund, Lux Capital, True Ventures, Felicis and more.Learn more and apply at www.villageglobal.vc/accelerator!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

Erik is joined on this episode, recorded as part of a Big Ideas Clubhouse, by:- Lyn Alden (@LynAldenContact), founder of Lyn Alden Investment Strategy- Nic Carter (@nic__carter), partner at Castle Island Ventures- Brent Johnson of Santiago Capital- Luke Gromen (@LukeGromen), founder of Forest for the Trees- Katherine Boyle (@KTmBoyle), partner at General Catalyst- Dan Romero (@dwr), angel investorThey discuss:- Whether the US dollar being the global reserve currency has led to a hollowing-out of the American manufacturing base.- Whether the US should be looking to move on from being the global reserve currency.- Why the pandemic has pulled forward American loss of leverage in the world.- How Bitcoin relates to this and whether there will be a transition to it as the global reserve currency.- Thoughts on China and its behavior in global currency markets.*The deadline to get your application in for the spring vintage of the Village Global Accelerator is March 1st! It’s a personalized and tight-knit program with an amazing network of peers, advisors, and experts. Companies that have been through the accelerator have raised from some of the top venture funds in the world, like a16z, First Round Capital, Founders Fund, Lux Capital, True Ventures, Felicis and more.Learn more and apply at www.villageglobal.vc/accelerator!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

Elliot Shmukler (@eshmu), of Anomalo, joins Ben Casnocha on the podcast to discuss:- How growth marketing has evolved over the last decade or so since he was an early pioneer of the field at LinkedIn in 2008.- What people misunderstand about A/B testing, and the right way to go about it.- Why he doesn’t like the term “growth hacking.”- Why people should both be more humble and more ambitious with their growth marketing program.- Lessons from his time at LinkedIn, eBay, Wealthfront, and Instacart.- Finding a co-founder before finding the idea that became Anomalo.- The perils of bad data and how Anomalo is helping to fix that problem.*The deadline to get your application in for the spring vintage of the Village Global Accelerator is March 1st! It’s a personalized and tight-knit program with an amazing network of peers, advisors, and experts. Companies that have been through the accelerator have raised from some of the top venture funds in the world, like a16z, First Round Capital, Founders Fund, Lux Capital, True Ventures, Felicis and more.Learn more and apply at www.villageglobal.vc/accelerator!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