Village Global Podcast

In this episode Erik is joined by Ryan Sean Adams (@RyanSAdams) of Mythos Capital and Dan Zuller (@danzuller) of Vision Hill Advisors.They talk about their backgrounds, how they became interested in crypto, and how that has informed what they are doing now with their companies in the space. Ryan explains why he’s structured Mythos as a holding company rather than a hedge fund or venture fund. Dan talks about how to bridge traditional finance and crypto and takes us through the current “money stack” that is worth an estimated 80-90 trillion dollars. Ryan talks about what he calls “maximalist hubris” and why he believes both Ethereum and Bitcoin can co-exist and both have massive upside. He explains why he believes that Ethereum is about 30% finished, Bitcoin is about 80% finished, and why in judging their probabilities of success, one should look at the finished end state and discount from there based on the probability of executing.They also talk about Web3 and why digital scarcity is the key innovation contained within it. They explain why people tend to overestimate the extent to which Web3 will disrupt Web 2.0 and why Web3 will instead disrupt the industries and companies that weren’t disrupted by Web 2.0 in the first place.The three discuss why one should think about work or utility tokens as analogous to taxicab medallions, which are similar to money — but that no coffee shop in NYC would accept in exchange for a coffee.They also talk about what other protocols still have a chance to be the “winning money,” tokenized securities, and the potential drawbacks of stablecoins. 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.

Kevin Kwok (@kevinakwok) is an investor at Greylock and one of the most expansive and intriguing minds around. In this episode Kevin and Erik talk about... basically everything, from the org chart of the future to the history of religion.Along the way they discuss a number of topics, including:- Why the stock market exists and why after the crash of 2008 no one said that we should shut it down.- Why Amazon is starting to look like Berkshire Hathaway and whether it could be broken up and still run effectively.- The ideas of "loops and funnels" and "constraints and compounding" — and how Kevin thinks about those mental models.- The history of corporate structures and what they might look like in the future.- What might be possible with crypto that was previously impossible without crypto, and why people seem to be only trying to replicate already-existing tech using crypto. - Twitter, and why it's like being "on chain."- How to think about your career and how the Valley's unique work culture has contributed to its success.- The idea of personal ICOs.- Why most companies think about the impact of PR on consumers when in reality they should think about PR's impact on recruiting.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.

Kelsey Mellard (@KelseyMellard), co-founder of Sitka (trustsitka.com) and Kristin Spohn (@kbakes), partner at Social Capital, join Erik for this enlightening episode of Health Stories. In it they talk about a number of topics related to go-to-market for startups in the health industry. Kelsey explains what Sitka is trying to do in the musculoskeletal space, which is the #1 cause of disability in the US.They discuss the misaligned incentives in healthcare and the interplay of the various stakeholders that have an input into an individual's care. They explain why cost of care varies so much based on your ZIP code.Kristin and Kelsey talk about the types of startups they'd like to see in the healthcare space and where the opportunities are at this point in time. They also talk about some of the potential pitfalls and what founders can do to succeed.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.

On this episode of Venture Stories, Erik talks to David Vorick (@DavidVorick) of Sia.David explains why a fork of Sia became necessary, even though doing so was not ideal or their preferred option. He talks about what precipitated the fork and how they came to the decision. He recounts his outreach to ASIC manufacturers and why their actions were problematic. They move on to a more general discussion of the philosophy on when to fork or not and how to manage doing so.David also gives an overview of what it takes to manufacture chips, which incumbent chipmakers might be able to move into ASICs and why a manufacturer might produce $300M worth of wafers before even knowing whether they will be functional.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.

Aleksandr Bulkin (@coinfund_al), co-founder of CoinFund and creator of ADAPT (adaptk.it) joins Erik on this episode to discuss:- How Alex got involved in crypto and why the Ethereum white paper and Augur white paper contributed so much to his interest.- His time working at Goldman Sachs on human-computer interaction and how he transitioned from Goldman to the crypto world, as well his predictions on where Goldman will be disrupted and where it will stick around in a new crypto-oriented world.- How he got started on ADAPT, how it works, and what the promise of ADAPT is.- What an "initial witness offering" is and how it compares to other initial offerings in crypto.- Why he's skeptical of value capture via TCRs and governance in crypto.- The reason that he thinks a decentralized, paid Wikipedia will fail.- What "cost of attack" means and how it affects crypto projects.- The idea of UX security, and why it is equally as important as technical security.Articles mentioned in this episode:Quantifying Decentralization by Balaji Srinivasan: https://news.earn.com/quantifying-decentralization-e39db233c28eScalability of value in decentralized networks by Aleksandr Bulkin: https://blog.coinfund.io/scalability-of-value-in-decentralized-networks-795ed9c91eeeCan Tokens Save Lives? by Aleksandr Bulkin: https://blog.coinfund.io/can-tokens-save-lives-8c0f1cf5dfa9Thanks 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.

Glen Weyl (@glenweyl) and Riva Melissa-Tez (@rivatez) join Erik for this episode. They discuss Glen’s book, Radical Markets, and a number of topics related to it, including:- The similarities between Rio de Janeiro and San Francisco when it comes to wealth distribution- Why Glen has received blame and praise on different issues from both sides of the political spectrum- Why the book appeals primarily not to the right or the left, but to the open-minded- The reason that Glen calls himself a social technologist- How Glen came to meet Vitalik Buterin and how they ended up writing a paper together, which Glen calls “the single thing I’m most proud of intellectually”- Skeptical perspectives on blockchain and cryptocurrency, and why Glen calls them “a society of absolute private property governed by plutocracy”- “The problem of funding public goods without having to pre-suppose that it’s all going to be done by some particular democratic government somewhere.”- Why Glen thinks the news media is the best opportunity for decentralized funding- The idea that “economics is a disguise for the interests of a narrow part of society.”- Glen’s relationship with Jaron Lanier and his admiration of Jaron as a thinker- Glen and Riva’s requests for startups- Evolving the idea of human capital 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.

Nick Reber of Oscar Health and Kareem Zaki (@KareemZaki_) of Thrive Capital join Erik in this fascinating episode exploring the ins and outs of the health insurance industry. They talk about the misaligned incentives in healthcare and why it maybe shouldn’t be the case that “most people trust their doctor and hate their insurance company.” Nick and Kareem break down why it’s difficult for new entrants to get a foothold in the market and talk about the barriers to competition created by legislation that dates back to World War II. They discuss why there is such a difference between the healthcare plans that people get through their employers versus the ones people opt for when they are selecting a plan on their own. They predict a transition ahead in the health insurance industry that is analogous to the shift from defined benefit to defined contribution pension plans.They also talk about why insurance "is one of the worst ways to pay for anything" and their requests for startups in the space.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.

Myles Snider (@myles_snider), CEO of Aurora EOS and advisor to Multicoin Capital, joins Erik and co-host Tony Sheng to discuss his new role as head of a block producer for EOS.Co-host Tony Sheng (@tonysheng) leads product at Decentraland. He also publishes analyses on the business and strategy of crypto at www.tonysheng.com and is one of Village’s Network Leaders.Myles explains how he ended up in that position after working at Multicoin Capital. He gives us an overview of EOS and talks about how it compares and contrasts to Ethereum. He also gives a history of the protocol. Myles explains what it means to be “decentralized enough” and why he doesn’t think of EOS as either a cryptocurrency or sound money. They talk about the role of block producers and how the governance structure of EOS is set up, including how financial incentives might lead more people to become involved in governance. Myles explains why he decided to become a block producer as opposed to a number of other things he might have done within the ecosystem. He also talks about why he sees himself as a “usability maximalist.” Why Decentralization Matters by Myles Snider: https://medium.com/multicoin-capital/why-decentralization-matters-a-response-6b4b9a31367fThanks 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.

It's double the Sriram Krishnan for the price of one! Sriram Krishnan (@sriramk) of Twitter and Sriram Krishnan (@sriramkri) of HeadSpin join Erik to talk about dating apps, streaming music, the online advertising business, as well as the hilarious stories about people mixing up the two of them. They start off by recounting some of the times their identical names have gotten one or the other in trouble for something the other Sriram Krishnan did, as well as the hilarious story of them both showing up to the same meeting where the host only expected one.The crew talks about Tinder and whether someone else might come along to dethrone the app that's created a whole new way to date. They also talk about the digitization of everything and what else in the relationships space might end up online as well.They move on to Spotify and streaming music in general, breaking down why Spotify emerged from the other side of the world to take on and beat (for now) huge companies like Apple and Amazon, including all of the music labels.Next, they talk about India and the unique dynamics inside the country for entrepreneurs and consumers. In many ways consumer tech is more advanced in India than in the USA and entrepreneurs are often looking up to the Chinese companies and founders rather than American ones.They discuss advertising online with Sriram giving a crash course on how advertising online has evolved from the beginning to now. They also discuss how Facebook was able to lock down the mobile ad market and the path forward for Snap when it comes to ads.At the end there is some bonus discussion of Lebron and some other basketball-related predictions.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. Colin Campbell is our audio engineer and the show is produced by Brett Bolkowy.

In this episode, Erik is joined by two very smart minds in the health space. He talks to Rachel Craig (@RPCraig), founder and CEO of MotionHall, which a Village Global portfolio company that is building a global platform for biopharma dealmaking, and Ed Saltzman, President and founder of Defined Health, which is a business development strategy consultancy in the life sciences space. Erik asks why now is such an exciting time to be involved in the life sciences field and how it has evolved over time to this point. Rachel and Ed explain to us why they’re excited and why they also have concerns and describe where they would be investing if they were running a venture capital fund.They talk about the continuing crossover of life sciences and technology tools, especially in software, and how the two worlds (one almost entirely regulated, the other entirely un-regulated) can better understand each other. They also talk about what their “requests for products” are and give their advice for founders in the space, including this nugget from Rachel — “run towards hard things and love complexity.”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.Venture Stories is brought to you by Village Global, is hosted by co-founder and partner, Erik Torenberg and is produced by Brett Bolkowy.