Venture Stories

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