Venture Stories

With Erik for this episode are:- Aaron Batalion (@abatalion), formerly partner at Lightspeed and founder of LivingSocial - Vinny Lingham (@VinnyLingham), CEO of Civic and GP at Multicoin Capital and Newtown Partners- David King (@dksf), angel investor and crypto curatorThey have a wide-ranging and lively discussion about a number of topics around the state of crypto in 2018 and make some bold predictions for the future. The three cover the geopolitics of cryptocurrency, talk about how digital currency interacts with governments around the world, and the impact of large platforms like Facebook on cryptocurrency.They debate the merits of various cryptocurrencies and predict which might be able to achieve scale first. They also talk about privacycoins, stablecoins, and the hurdles that each of those forms face. The trio also cover the recent wave of ICOs and speculate on how many of those companies will still be viable years from now.Thanks for listening — if you like what you hear, please review us on your fav

Erik is joined by Josh Stein, CEO of Harbor, Stephen McKeon (@sbmckeon), finance professor at the University of Oregon, and Parker Thompson (@pt), seed-stage investor, partner at AngelList and token skeptic. The guests give an overview of all things tokenized securities. Josh tells us why he’s so enthusiastic about the rise of the blockchain and recounts the origin story of Harbor. They talk about why it can be so complex to manage compliance with securities rules and regulations that vary around the world and how the blockchain can solve a big part of that problem.They discuss why liquidity is so important when it comes to any type of security and how the blockchain can turn illiquid assets into liquid ones. For example, in the future, you might be able to own part of a sports team or part of a famous Monet if the owner decides to tokenize those assets.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 i

Erik and guest co-host Tony Sheng (@tonysheng) of Decentraland interview managing partners of Multicoin Capital Tushar Jain (@TusharJain_) and Kyle Samani (@KyleSamani). They explain why many people are underestimating the potential impact of blockchain on the web and on the world in general. In their words, “tokenizing shares of Apple stock and putting it on the blockchain will be akin to PDF’ing a newspaper and putting it online in 1995 — and thinking this is how the internet will change news as an industry.”They discuss a number of other topics within the crypto universe and cover some of the more interesting recent developments in the crypto world. Tushar and Kyle also break down their recent blog post about the Web3 Stack and discuss the obstacles that crypto and the blockchain are facing and how they can be overcome.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 @villageg

Erik is joined by Tim Swift and Ariel Poler on this episode of the podcast. Tim Swift is founder and CEO of Roam Robotics and Ariel Poler (@ariel) is an angel investor.They discuss how the human body could be engineered for the better and discuss a number of ways to do that, including exoskeletons, brain-computer interfaces and nootropics. They fill us in on who the founders and companies are who are currently working on those difficult problems. Erik asks what those companies promise to do and what obstacles they are facing. Ethics is an important topic when it comes to bioengineering and the trio discuss some of the more important ethical considerations around these issues and how society’s view of what is ethical or not has evolved over time as new inventions have come about.They also discuss some of the unique challenges when it comes to building a business in an area where it might take ten years for one’s work to come to fruition. They talk about the type of investor who is interested in the space, plan

This special live episode was recorded at the Atrium offices in San Francisco on June 20 2018. Village Global co-founder Erik Torenberg hosted a fireside chat with Daniel Kan, co-founder and COO of Cruise Automation and Qasar Younis, former COO of YCombinator.They discussed all things fundraising, providing an inside look into the world of VC funding and exposing some of the subtler points of fundraising for seed and Series A rounds. They discuss topics like dealing with VCs, refining your pitch and the importance of metrics in a Series A round. They also talked about prepping for meetings with VCs, what motivates VCs, how to efficiently backchannel via your network and transitioning from a seed round to a Series A round.They finished with an enlightening Q&A session, taking questions from the live audience at Atrium.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/podcast or get in touch with us on Twitter @v

Simon de la Rouviere (@simondlr), crypto developer and thought leader, and Trent McConaghy (@trentmc0), founder of Ocean Protocol, join Erik for an enlightening discussion of crypto.They explain the vast societal transformation that will be brought by blockchain, sometimes in ways that are hard to imagine today. They tell us why we are just at the beginning of a new revolution and how it compares to the rise of the web in the 90s.They promise that “things are going to get weird.” For example, the future your kids inhabit might be one where they earn money as “meme traders” and where cars are not only self-driving but self-owning as well. They also explain why in the future “if it’s not on the blockchain, it didn’t happen” and why it might become very difficult for us to discern what reality in fact actually is.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/podcast or get in touch with us on Twitter @villagegloba

Robin Hanson, associate professor of economics at George Mason University, joins Erik for a primer on prediction markets. He explains how prediction markets work and why they are one of the best methods of forecasting the future that we have.
 Robin explains how useful prediction markets can be in a wide variety of fields, including some unexpected ones.Robin and Erik speculate on why prediction markets haven’t seen widespread adoption yet and what barriers still stand in their way. They also discuss how to mitigate some of the potential pitfalls of prediction markets and how decision-making based on prediction markets can benefit society in general.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/podcast or get in touch with us on Twitter @villageglobal.

Joining Erik for this interview are Joey Krug (@joeykrug) of Augur and Tony Sheng (@tonysheng) of Decentraland. Erik and Tony interview Joey about the process of building Augur, his new startup that launched on July 9 2018. Joey explains what he envisions for Augur, why it’s “the future of forecasting” and how the process of building it has unfolded over the past two years. He talks about the wide array of possible uses for prediction markets and why he thinks markets in general are the biggest opportunity in crypto. Joey also explains some common misconceptions about crypto and why he thinks we are not yet in a bubble.He explains how open source blockchain technology is like NASA giving out the code to control the space shuttle and allowing anyone to write commands for it, and why security and privacy are so important in cryptocurrency. They also have a round of underrated vs. overhyped.Thanks for listening — if you like what you hear, please review us on your favorite podcast platform. Check us out on the w

This is a special live episode that was recorded at Village HQ in San Francisco on June 14 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 the Network Catalyst program, 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.

Joining Erik on this episode are Maia Bittner (@maiab), co-founder of Pinch, and Sheel Mohnot (@pitdesi), FinTech partner at 500 Startups. They go over the variety of sectors being disrupted by FinTech companies these days, including insurance, credit reporting, personal financial management, capital markets, financial planning, international finance and even banking in the developing world.Erik asks what kinds of opportunities Sheel and Maia see for founders and entrepreneurs as well as the pitfalls faced by different types of companies in the space. Sheel explains how he subdivides his fund and explains the difference between an “enabler” and a “disruptor.”They talk about why FinTech startups often have an advantage in distribution as opposed to product, contrasting with the competitive advantage a startup typically has. Of course, they also cover crypto and the opportunities in FinTech that blockchain and tokenization provide — as well as where the crypto hype might be overblown.

Erik is joined by Nicole Quinn (@Nik_Quinn), Investing Partner at Lightspeed and Lee Edwards (@terronk), former CTO of Teespring and active angel investor. They explain why they’re bullish on consumer packaged goods startups and which industries they see startups disrupting in the future. They also discuss why they think there will be so much growth in the space, especially in e-commerce.They debate the relative importance of having a technically sophisticated founder in a CPG startup and whether a new CPG startup needs to have a strong brand from Day 1. They also talk about the new forms of marketing that CPG startups are taking advantage of.Erik asks what kind of advice they would give to new CPG founders and what kinds of pitfalls new founders need to avoid.Thanks for listening — if you like what you hear, please review us on your favourite podcast platform. Check us out on the web at villageglobal.vc/podcast or get in touch with us on Twitter @villageglobal.

Erik is joined by Eric Klein, partner at Lemnos VC, and Sankarshan Murthy (@sancartion), CEO and co-founder of Bumblebee Homes. They talk about trends in urbanization, housing and storage in America and why changing attitudes towards consumption present a huge opportunity for investors and founders alike.Sankarshan explains how what his team is working on at Bumblebee Homes will change how and where people choose to live. Eric talks about why he invested in Bumblebee, the other companies he’s invested in so far, and other investment opportunities he's looking for.They explain why now is a good time to start a hardware startup and how changes in the market have enabled anyone to build a prototype in their garage with off-the-shelf components and free software publicly available on GitHub. 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/podcast or get in touch with us on Twitter @villageglobal.

Tammy Sun (@tammysun), CEO and co-founder of Carrot Fertility and Afton Vechery (@aaffttoonn), CEO and co-founder of Modern Fertility talk with Erik about this rapidly emerging space.They explain how they got started in the fertility space, give us a rundown of the corporate landscape as it stands at the moment and explain why the market is changing so quickly. They also give us some insight into why it's difficult to build a business in this space and what kinds of opportunities they would be looking for if they were investors or prospective founders.Erik also asks what the future might hold for their companies, how they aim to change how women think about their health, and what kinds of implications a new perspective on fertility might have for society in general.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/podcast or get in touch with us on Twitter @villageglobal.

Kendrick Nguyen (@kendrickesq), CEO of Republic and Andy Bromberg (@andy_bromberg), CEO and co-founder of CoinList join Erik to talk about the changing landscape of investing in crypto.They explain how their companies will allow more people to invest in cryptocurrencies, will change how startups are funded, and will impact the broader securities markets. They discuss some of the challenges of securities regulation and how conventional investing will change with the rise of cryptocurrencies.They also make some bold predictions about how the form of cryptocurrencies will change in the future and how individuals, companies, and governments might be involved.Thanks for listening — if you like what you hear, please review us on your favourite podcast platform. Check us out on the web at villageglobal.vc/podcast or get in touch with us on Twitter @villageglobal.

Erik talks to Carolyn Witte (@carolynwitte), co-founder and CEO of asktia.com and Hans Gangeskar (@hansois), co-founder and CEO of Nurx.Carolyn and Hans explain how their companies are creating a new way for women to find healthcare. They recount how a new way of getting care has changed how women feel about their health.The two founders explain why their business models are different from one another, even though they are in similar verticals. They also talk about what their future roadmap might look like and where the opportunities are for founders and investors alike in this space.Thanks for listening — if you like what you hear, please review us on your favourite podcast platform. Check us out on the web at villageglobal.vc/podcast or get in touch with us on Twitter @villageglobal.

Erik talks to Polly Rodriguez (@polly_claire), co-founder of Unbound, Andrea Barrica (@abarrica), founder of O.school, and Gina Gutierrez (@Gina__Gutierrez), founder of Dipsea Stories, about the state of sexual wellness startups.Just a heads-up — due to the topic of the discussion, there is some adult language in this episode.These founders are on a mission to serve the half of the population that is currently not well served when it comes to sexual wellness. They explain the quirks of the unique market they’ve chosen to tackle, including little availability of data about the market and the hesitance of investors or partners to work with any company even marginally involved in sexuality. They discuss how the youth of today are growing up in a very different environment when it comes to sexuality and why more and more have to turn to the private sector for sex-ed when the school system fails them. The three explain how they reach their customers despite the limitations placed on them by traditional marketing c

Host Erik Torenberg talks to Jo Varshney, founder of VeriSIM Life, a Village portfolio company, and Eric Stefanich, director and senior scientist at Genentech.They explain how VeriSIM is changing drug discovery and development and why more and more drugs are being developed "in silico." They also discuss how startups can work in harmony with big companies and how big pharma has become much more forward-thinking than it is usually given credit for. Erik asks what opportunities they would be looking at if they were a VC in the space right now and how software-as-a-service (SaaS) in pharmaceuticals has evolved. They also discuss dealing with different types of investors when you're starting a biotech company. Thanks for listening — if you like what you hear, please review us on your favourite podcast platform. Check us out on the web at villageglobal.vc/podcast or get in touch with us on Twitter @villageglobal.

Erik talks to Adam Bry (@adampbry), co-founder and CEO of Skydio, a company that designs and manufactures autonomous drones. Adam gives us a rundown on where the company is at right now, how it got there and what we should be expecting in the drone space in the future. Erik asks where Adam would be investing if he was running a venture firm focused on the space and what potential roadblocks to the rise of the drones could be. Adam explains what some of the other companies in the space are working on and how an ordinary consumer’s life might change once autonomous drones become more prevalent. Thanks for listening — if you like what you hear, please review us on your favourite podcast platform. Check us out on the web at villageglobal.vc/podcast or get in touch with us on Twitter @villageglobal.

Erik is joined by Will Houghteling (@willhoughteling), founder of Strive, a competency-based marketplace, and Kara Nortman (@karanortman), the first investor in Strive and partner at Upfront Ventures. Will explains why he started Strive and how the educational needs of the middle 50% of American post-secondary students aren’t being met at the moment. Kara and Will discuss the merits of new forms of career-oriented education that have emerged in the past decade, like bootcamps, income-sharing agreements and employer-paid training. They also take a look at what other companies in the space are doing. Finally, they talk about why Will says "the future of work is emotional labor" and discuss the changes to meaning and identity coming with the advent of AI and universal basic income. And of course, "it's not a tech podcast without blockchain!"Thanks for listening — if you like what you hear, please review us on your favourite podcast platform. Check us out on the web at villageglobal.vc/podcast or get in touch wit

Erik talks to Shilpi Kumar (@_shilpikumar), who helps Village Global find hardware investments and Seth Winterroth (@sethwinterroth), partner at Eclipse Venture Capital. They explain how hardware has been changing over the past several years and where they think it's going. They also explain why hardware devices like Amazon Echo and Google Home are being sold at a loss and what might be enabled when machines are able to speak to each other more efficiently. They also talk about some of the coolest companies they've seen recently and how automation will change different industries.We apologize for the quality of audio in this interview.If you like what you hear, please review us on your favourite podcast platform. Thanks!Check us out on the web at villageglobal.vc/podcast or on Twitter @villageglobal.