Village Global Podcast

Dani Grant (@thedanigrant) of USV joins Erik on this episode to talk about education. Dani has been doing a deep dive into education and shares a wealth of insights on how the current system works, its flaws, and the people working on new forms of education for all ages.They talk about:- Why the school system is broken and why it’s often thought of as “government-sponsored daycare.”- How homeschools actually work, and how it is different than what you might think.- Why religion was a precursor to organized education, and what insights it may have today for the future of education.- The “free learning” movement.- Her requests for startups in the space.- How to address problems of inequality in new forms of education.- How Dani (and Erik) might think about educating future children.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 on this episode by Karn Saroya (@karnsaroya), CEO of Cover, and Sheel Mohnot (@pitdesi), investor in FinTech.They talk about…* How Karn navigated the idea maze in starting Cover.* The quirks of the insurance market and the real business model of big insurers.* How insurance is comparable to prediction markets.* Their requests for startups in the space, where the opportunities are, and what to stay away from.* Why there has been a trend towards specialty insurance.* How companies are using new sources of data to make underwriting decisions.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, and the show is produced by Brett Bolkowy.

Erik is joined on this episode by Mike Slagh (@MikeSlagh), co-founder and CEO of Shift, and Rahim Fazal (@rahimthedream), co-founder and CEO of SV Academy.They talk about:* How they “navigated the idea maze” to come to what they are doing today.* How they are helping people with non-traditional backgrounds break into Silicon Valley.* Why what they do is valuable both to the employer and the employee changing careers.* How they came to their business models.* How they help fix the “massive mismatch between supply and demand” in the job market.* Their thoughts on ISAs.* Other potential ideas in the space.And much more.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. Grace Chen is our audio engineer and the show is produced by Brett Bolkowy.

Erik is joined on this special live episode by Sarah Tavel (@sarahtavel), general partner at Benchmark. Sarah gave a fireside chat as part of Village Global’s Network Catalyst accelerator program in May 2019. They talk about:* The state of education and what Sarah is looking for in the space.* Why founders need to focus on “getting one thing really right, no matter how big or small.”* What Sarah sees in the crypto space and why she invested in Chainalysis.* The promise of vertical marketplaces.* Why Benchmark say “we are not in the business of predicting the future but rather of seeing the present clearly.”* How she evaluates markets and some of the verticals that she’s looking at investing in.* Company-building tips, including why as a company grows the CEO needs to “transition from CEO of the product to CEO of the system that builds a system.”And much more.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 on this episode by Michael Mayer (@micjm), co-founder of Bottomless. They talk about: * Pseudonymous accounts on Twitter.* Whether Twitter should be more ephemeral.* The dynamics of Twitter and why people seek entertainment instead of facts.* How to curate your Twitter feed.* Why Michael says it’s the responsibility of high-profile people to be on Twitter and speak their mind freely.* Whether college is valuable.* Capitalism as a moral framework.* Starting a company with a significant otherAnd much more.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.