Village Global Podcast

Taylor Pearson (@TaylorPearsonMe), joins Erik on this episode. He is an author, entrepreneur, and investor.On this episode they talk about:- The basics of the thesis that markets are eating the world and how Taylor became interested in the idea.- The implications of markets becoming more prevalent in every aspect of life.- How smart contracts and the blockchain enable markets to eat the world.- How closely related the idea that software is eating the world is to the idea that markets are.- Some of the arguments against the idea and Taylor’s responses to them.- The key questions for the future.- What an investment firm with this thesis would invest in or what their requests for startups would be.Remember to apply for the winter vintage of our Network Catalyst accelerator! It is a personalized program that features masterclasses from some of the best in Silicon Valley and a dedicated network leader focused on making the introductions you need to turbocharge your company. You can participate in-person in San Francisco or virtually from anywhere around the world. Find out more and apply at villageglobal.vc/networkcatalyst.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, is hosted by co-founder and partner, Erik Torenberg and is produced by Brett Bolkowy.

Samo Burja (@SamoBurja), founder of Bismarck Analysis, joins Erik for this episode. You can find him on Medium at medium.com/@samo.burja. They talk about:- Whether capitalism and democracy are incompatible and what the future holds for democracy.- Why economists need to look inside companies to learn from their cultures, not just at the relations between companies.- Why the grey hoody is as much a worker’s uniform as the suit of the 1950s was.- The coming merger of east and west coast media companies.- China, the trade war, and the effects of the country expanding its influence in Europe and the Middle East.- Why the big story of the 21st century that everyone is missing is that the Indian Ocean will become the hub of the world economy.- Why he’s skeptical about the extent to which crypto will decentralize society.- What people misunderstand about Henry Kissinger’s approach to geopolitics.Remember to apply for the winter vintage of our Network Catalyst accelerator! It is a personalized program that features masterclasses from some of the best in Silicon Valley and a dedicated network leader focused on making the introductions you need to turbocharge your company. You can participate in-person in San Francisco or virtually from anywhere around the world. Find out more and apply at villageglobal.vc/networkcatalyst.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, is hosted by co-founder and partner, Erik Torenberg and is produced by Brett Bolkowy.

Erik is joined by Tiago Forte (@fortelabs), creator of Building a Second Brain, founder of Forte Labs, and writer at Praxis.They talk about:- Why productivity is not an end in and of itself.- Why content creation (not just consumption) is integral to your career.- How to better deal with the 11 hours of media a day that the average person consumes.- Why the “average human life is now too complex to be managed by the average human brain.”- Why hyperfocus and intense productivity are symptoms of trauma, and how to deal with that trauma.- The theory of constraints and why it’s so powerful.- Religion and meaning-making for the secular world.- The future of libraries and why Tiago calls them “digital nomad embassies.”Remember to apply for the winter vintage of our Network Catalyst accelerator! It is a personalized program that features masterclasses from some of the best in Silicon Valley and a dedicated network leader focused on making the introductions you need to turbocharge your company. You can participate in-person in San Francisco or virtually from anywhere around the world. Find out more and apply at villageglobal.vc/networkcatalyst.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, is hosted by co-founder and partner, Erik Torenberg and is produced by Brett Bolkowy.

This is a special live episode that was recorded at Village HQ in San Francisco on June 14 2018. It originally aired on July 4 2018. The event was put on in partnership with Xoogler, a network of former Googlers who have come together to help each other with their startup ambitions.Village Global co-founder Erik Torenberg (@eriktorenberg) chatted with Jo Varshney (@jo_getter), founder and CEO of VeriSIM Life and Kiran Bellubbi (@smalldozes), founder of Keyo, about their experience with the Village Network Catalyst program.Jo and Kiran explain what it was like to be a founder in Network Catalyst, including how the team at Village helped them with their business model, leveraged Village's unique structure as a network to their advantage, and guided them through the fundraising process.Remember: applications for the winter 2019 vintage of our Network Catalyst accelerator are due September 20 2019 — make sure to apply before then. Check out more info below.Village Global’s Network Catalyst accelerator is a personalized program that features masterclasses from some of the best in Silicon Valley and a dedicated network leader focused on making the introductions you need to turbocharge your company. You can participate in-person in San Francisco or virtually from anywhere around the world. Find out more and apply before September 20 at villageglobal.vc/networkcatalyst.

Erik interviews Elliot Olds (@elliot_olds) on this episode. He is a thinker on AI, crypto, economics and prediction markets.(Remember — applications for the winter vintage of our network catalyst accelerator are due September 20 — make sure to apply before then. Check out more info below.)They talk about:- The merits of prediction markets, and why they can be thought of as a “meta solution” akin to a generalized AI- The technical and political hurdles that prediction markets face- The most prominent arguments against prediction markets and the responses to them - The idea that markets are eating the world and its implications- Whether it would be wise to outsource your personal decisions to the crowd- Governance in crypto- What it would take to make prediction markets mainstream 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, is hosted by co-founder and partner, Erik Torenberg.________Village Global’s Network Catalyst accelerator is a personalized program that features masterclasses from some of the best in Silicon Valley and a dedicated network leader focused on making the introductions you need to turbocharge your company. You can participate in-person in San Francisco or virtually from anywhere around the world. Find out more and apply before September 20 at villageglobal.vc/networkcatalyst.

Dr. Cameron Sepah discusses founder psychology, abnormality for greatness, sleep and nutrition tips, dopamine fasts, meditation myths, Acceptance & Commitment Therapy vs. Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy

Erik is joined on this episode by Richard Craib (@richardcraib), founder of Numerai and Erasure, and Riva-Melissa Tez (@rivatez), part of strategy at Intel. They discuss:- What Richard is working on at Numerai, a hedge fund that gives away its (anonymized) data for free.- The Erasure protocol and the value of information marketplaces.- Whether prediction markets for stocks can work.- Whether the Numerai model could work with other types of data, for example, in healthcare.- Whether the quality of startups in San Francisco is going down or up.- The future of universities.- The lack of diversity of political views in San Francisco.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.______Village Global’s Network Catalyst accelerator is a personalized program that features masterclasses from some of the best in Silicon Valley and a dedicated network leader focused on making the introductions you need to turbocharge your company. You can participate in-person in San Francisco or virtually from anywhere around the world. Find out more and apply at villageglobal.vc/networkcatalyst.

Remember: applications for the winter vintage of our network catalyst accelerator are due September 20 — make sure to apply before then. Check out more info below.Venkat Rao (@vgr), joins Erik on this episode. He writes at Ribbonfarm, Breaking Smart, and The Art of Gig.They talk about:- Why the ambient humour level fluctuates in a society and the “seriousness bubble” in Silicon Valley before 2016.- Mediocrity and its merits.- Hannah Arendt, humans as social creatures, and why “to be whole is to be a part.”- What he thinks libertarians get wrong, and why they “are wrong in an interesting way.”- How Silicon Valley has been evolving and how it can change to broaden the base of prosperity.- Why he stays away from utopian thinking.- The idea of shared reality tunnels and how they are similar to the evolution of television over the years.- Where humans will derive meaning in the future.- Why climate change will be the next big cultural battlefield.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, is hosted by co-founder and partner, Erik Torenberg and is produced by Brett Bolkowy.______Village Global’s Network Catalyst accelerator is a personalized program that features masterclasses from some of the best in Silicon Valley and a dedicated network leader focused on making the introductions you need to turbocharge your company. You can participate in-person in San Francisco or virtually from anywhere around the world. Find out more and apply before September 20 at villageglobal.vc/networkcatalyst.

Erik is joined by David Gornoski on this episode. He is an entrepreneur, speaker, and writer.They talk about:- How David came to be interested in René Girard’s work.- The explanation for why human desires are usually borrowed from each other.- Mimesis and society’s role models.- How Christianity has influenced society.- The human fascination with conflict and drama.- What religion can teach us.- How Girardian philosophy applies to criminal justice, foreign policy, and government.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, is hosted by co-founder and partner, Erik Torenberg and is produced by Brett Bolkowy.

Robert Cottrell (@robertcottrell), editor of The Browser, joins Erik on this episode.They talk about:- The two main errors that publications made in the shift to online after the advent of the web.- Why paywalls are not an effective model.- The bond that readers have with individual writers rather than publications, and how business models could change to accommodate that.- Why long form writing is the most under-appreciated form of art today.- Lessons to learn from his prolific reading habits.- The potential for curation by algorithm and what he’s working on in this area.- How to combat fake news.- The promise that effective machine translation holds for non-English publications.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, is hosted by co-founder and partner, Erik Torenberg and is produced by Brett Bolkowy.