Village Global Podcast

Brian Balfour and Pascal Levy-Garboua discuss common mistakes in go-to-market strategy, advice on partnership and hiring strategies, misconceptions about loops, enterprise company advice, building a business development function, industry insights, and the role of communities in growth.

Joe Marchese, media exec and multiple time co-founder of CKBG, Human Ventures, true[X], and Attention Capital, joins Erik on this episode to discuss:- How he got to where he is and the thread that runs through his career.- What tech and startup people don’t appreciate about TV advertising.- What he’s trying to do with Attention Capital.- What people predicted in the space several years ago and why they didn't come to pass.- What he expects the landscape to look like for media and attention in the next ten years.- How a post-COVID world will be different than the pre-COVID world.- The idea of a purpose economy.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

Avichal Garg (@avichal), Managing Partner at Electric Capital, joins Erik on this episode. They discuss:- How he came to be running Electric Capital.- Their perspective and thesis.- What’s newly possible with computers able to own money.- Why price fluctuations happen with Bitcoin.- What Bitcoin is correlated with.- Debates within crypto.- Thoughts on China.- How regulation interacts with crypto.- How the space will evolve in the next several years.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

Candice Ammori joins Erik on this episode. Candice is heading the Climate Tech Fellowship at On Deck. They discuss:- The issue of climate change and how she came to be working on solving it.- What climate tech means exactly.- Some of the most interesting companies in the space and what they are working on.- What founding teams have typically looked like for companies in the space.- What makes a founder a good fit for the fellowship, and what the fellowship will look like.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

Turner Novak (@TurnerNovak), general partner (and Chief Meme Officer) at Gelt VC, joins Erik on this episode to discuss:- How he’s thinking about consumer social as an investor in 2020.- Where he’s interested in consumer social and his requests for startups.- New methods of monetizing in consumer social.- What he learned from studying Pinduoduo and where he’s looking for a “for X” version of it.- Why he’s excited about gaming and why he says that “gaming is eating the world.”- What he would do if he was CEO of different social companies.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

Jason Feifer (@heyfeifer), editor-in-chief of Entrepreneur magazine and host of three podcasts, including Pessimists Archive, joins Erik on this episode to discuss:- Why fears repeat over time throughout history.- The message he’s trying to get through to the world through his work.- The historical opposition to chess, bicycles, and waltzing.- His thoughts on The Social Dilemma.- How he expects social media to evolve.- New forms of communication throughout history and why they were feared initially.- Why he says that “you are evidence that change is not inherently bad.”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

Dr. Anton Howes (@antonhowes), author of Arts & Minds, joins Erik on this episode to discuss:- How to create conditions where innovation is easier and better.- Why he wrote the book and the key question he was trying to answer.- What Silicon Valley could learn from studying the history of Britain.- Misconceptions that people have about economic growth in the past and future.- Why people misunderstand what growth is.- How statecraft relates to economic growth.- Questions that people in the field are trying to answer and where he agrees or disagrees with prominent thinkers.- Thoughts on progress studies.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

Brandon Hill (@IamBrandonHill), CEO of Vori, Max Mullen (@Max), co-founder of Instacart, and Mike Duboe (@mduboe), GP at Greylock, join Erik on this episode to discuss:- What led Brandon to start Vori.- Why Max and Mike were excited to invest in the company.- How the grocery space currently operates and the antiquated technology currently in use.- How the space has evolved over time and the history of the supermarket.- How it will change and evolve in the future.- Why on-demand startups didn’t work out the way people thought they would.- Doing things that don’t scale.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

Chamath Palihapitiya (@chamath), CEO of Social Capital, and Reid Hoffman (@reidhoffman), partner at Greylock, joined Village Global co-founder and partner Ben Casnocha at a special Village Global event. Angel Island brought together 100+ angel investors for talks from world-class investors, discussions, and opportunities to make new connections.In this session they discussed:- What is broken about venture and how to fix it.- Why Reid is backing new experiments in venture.- Their thoughts on the solo GP phenomenon.- How to think about risk when evaluating an investment.- Whether they're long or short Silicon Valley.- Why SPACs are here to stay.- How to think about diversification in an angel portfolio.- The state of pricing across different rounds.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

Ty Walrod (@tywalrod), two-time founder and program director of On Deck Scale, joins Erik on this episode. They discuss:- The On Deck Scale program, how it works, and how it can help founders scale.- Common reasons that founders get tripped up when hiring.- Advice for delegating and decision-making in a fast-growing company.- Thoughts on growth, go-to-market, and product-market fit.- Advice for fundraising and why a founder should “believe the no, but not the why.”- Why co-founder relationships end up breaking down.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