Village Global Podcast

Sheel Mohnot (@pitdesi), fintech investor, and Jake Gibson (@iamjakestream), co-founder of NerdWallet and Better Tomorrow Ventures, join Erik on this episode.They discuss:- Why it’s still so hard to start a fintech company.- The history of retailers moving into financial services, a trend that Sears started back in the day.- How different categories within fintech have evolved over time and the challenges and opportunities inherent in each of them.- Why financial education hasn’t worked, why it is likely not to work in the future, and the implications for building personal financial managers.- Where the opportunities are in the insurance and re-insurance markets.- Which of the big incumbent tech companies will have made the most progress in the financial space in the next five to ten years.- Their requests for startups.- How the space will look different in the next five 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 villageglobal.vc or get in touch with us on Twitter @villageglobal.

Rick Zullo (@Rick_Zullo), General Partner at Equal Ventures, joins Erik on this episode.They discuss:- The different phases of technological revolutions- Will incumbents become stronger in the next platform shift- What Carlota Perez’s work means for the venture capital landscape- Which categories will create the most successful startups in the next decadeThanks 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.

Anu Hariharan (@anuhariharan), partner at Y Combinator, joins Erik on this episode.They discuss:- Common mistakes that CEOs make when growing their companies.- How to think about compensation plans in a growing startup.- How to think about managing your board, including why you should get to know your board members as people, as well as when to listen to them or not.- How founders should think about the possibility of a reckoning in the macro environment.- Her talk on the nine different types of business models and how investors should think about them.- Her unique take on network effects and the three laws that she learned from Marc Andreessen.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.

Will Houghteling (@willhoughteling), Founder & CEO at Strive, and Paul Freedman (@pmfreedm), Founder and CEO of Entangled Ventures, join Erik on this episode.They discuss:- Mental models for thinking about the higher education space- The future of bootcamps and schools like Lambda- What does the future of credentials look like- What’s the role of government in higher education- Where’s the whitespace in higher education- Requests for education startups- Navigating the idea maze for higher education startups- How will innovation in K-12 happenThanks 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.

Tyler Cowen (@tylercowen), economist and author, joins Jasmine Wang (@j_asminewang), technologist and philosopher, and Erik’s co-host for this episode.They discuss:- What Tyler has learned about identifying talent and why he thinks that IQ is overrated.- The forces shaping education today and how Tyler would change it if he could. - Whether leftism is “eating the world.”- What will replace cyberpunk and the role of aesthetics in intellectual life.- How to find the best people for government jobs.- Why globalization has not led to more innovation.- And finally, a rapid-fire round where Erik and Jasmine name a person and Tyler explains where they agree or disagree with each other.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.

Jonathan Hsu (@jonathanhsu), co-founder and general partner at Tribe Capital, joins Erik on this episode.They discuss:- His background in data science, how it has impacted (or not) venture, and how using data can help remove bias.- Why so much of talent evaluation by venture capitalists is instinct-driven instead of data-driven.- The common misconceptions that people have about product-market fit and how he thinks about it.- How to pick the right metric when setting strategy for your startup, including common mistakes that people make in early-stage companies when thinking about metrics.- How to evaluate pre-product-market-fit companies and where he stands on the lean startup vs. “fat startup” debate.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.

Beezer Clarkson (@beezer232) of Sapphire Ventures and Aydin Senkut (@asenkut) of Felicis Ventures join Erik on this episode.They discuss:- Their perspectives on the operator-angel and nano-fund trends.- How to think about scouts.- Moats in venture capital and whether they really exist.- Whether we need more venture capital or more venture capitalists.- How the LP and GP ecosystems will evolve over the next five to ten years.- How to figure out what the right fund size is for a firm.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.

Winter Mead (@wintmead), an LP formerly of Sapphire, and David Booth (@david__booth), co-founder and CEO of OnDeck, join Erik on this episode.They discuss:- Assessing fund managers from an LP perspective, and what it means to be “too diversified” in VC.- Enabling the next generation of GPs.- What it means to say that “venture capital is a human capital game.”- The impact of the current market on LPs’ willingness to invest.- Whether there will be an alternative to the ten year fund cycle.- The consequences of power shifting to founders from VCs.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 MacCaw (@maccaw), founder and CEO of Clearbit, joins Erik on this episode. He is a co-author of the book The Great CEO Within.They discuss:- The power of good management and the lack of a modern handbook for managers.- Why and how they treat interviewing and hiring as a science experiment.- What to know for a great reference check.- Managing conflict effectively.- Why you only really close a hire after the first ninety days of them working at your company.- How to think about compensation at a startup.- How to give feedback and his breakdown of which kinds of words to use or not.- How to think about building culture at a startup.- Common management and meeting mistakes.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.

Sriram Krishnan (@sriramk), investor and former product lead at Twitter, Facebook, and Snap, joins Erik on this episode.They discuss:- His experiences working at the three big social media companies and what he learned there.- Why each company is a reflection of the founder.- What people misunderstand or under appreciate about each of them.- Why he thinks that Facebook missed a golden opportunity when they decided not to build a web browser.- What he thinks each of Twitter, Facebook, and Snap should do next.- Some of his mental models for thinking about social media.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.