Michael Balaoing, founder of Candlelion, joins Village Global co-founder and partner Ben Casnocha on this episode to discuss: - The importance of the acronym WTF (what’s the feeling?) when you’re giving a presentation. - The four roles that you take on as a speaker: captain, pilot, guide, and game show host. - The five questions to ask when seeking…

Brad Feld (@bfeld), VC at Foundry Group and co-author with Dave Jilk of The Entrepreneur’s Weekly Nietzsche, joined Village Global co-founder and partner Ben Casnocha to discuss: - Common misconceptions about Nietzsche and why being misunderstood makes him an especially interesting philosopher. - What Nietzsche can teach entrepreneurs deciding whet…

Thejo Kote (@thejo) talks to Village partner Ben Casnocha. Thejo is a two-time founder and CEO. His current company, Airbase, is a spend management platform serving companies with 100 and 5,000 employees like Coda, 15Five, Front, Marqueta, CaptivateIQ, Abnormal, and more. Airbase has raised over $200 million, has tens of millions in ARR, and is con…

Michelle Zatlyn (@zatlyn), co-founder, president, and COO of Cloudflare, joined Village Global co-founder and partner Ben Casnocha for a masterclass with our founders in late 2020. They discussed: - The origin story of Cloudflare, including how the co-founders met, and how Michelle realized that she too could start a company. - Her advice on fundra…

We're excited to launch a new EIR program for data science founders in partnership with Rackhouse Ventures, founded by Kevin Novak. Learn more about the program: https://www.villageglobal.vc/rackhouse-village-global-eir-program Kevin Novak (@novakkm), an early Uber employee, was instrumental in developing their data science program and was the crea…

This encore episode is a recording of a special masterclass roundtable session for our founders with John Donahoe. John is CEO of Nike and was previously CEO of ServiceNow and eBay. He is known as one of the most inspirational leaders in Silicon Valley and is a highly sought-after mentor to CEOs including Brian Chesky at Airbnb, Drew Houston at Dro…

Chris Lunt is a technology executive with more than 25 years of experience building web services and data platforms. He is in his seventh year as the CTO for the NIH's All of Us Research Program. He joined the NIH from GetInsured, where he worked to improve health insurance shopping and enrollment systems. Previously Chris ran VC-backed internet st…

Michael Hochberg (https://www.linkedin.com/in/hochberg/) is a physicist and a founder of four successful startup companies in semiconductors and telecommunications, including Luxtera, acquired by Cisco in 2019, and Elenion, acquired by Nokia in 2020. He won the highest awards for young scientists in Singapore (NRF Fellowship) and the United States …

Matt Pellini, Managing Director at Hamilton Lane, joins Olga Serhiyevich on this episode. Highlights: - Matt says the secondaries market has grown over 5x from 15 years ago to now. - Selling in the secondary market used to be a sign of distress but is no longer. There are many different reasons for doing so and it’s mostly a sign of a manager being…

Christopher Ailman (@CJAtheCIO), Chief Investment Officer at CalSTRS, joins Olga Serhiyevich on this episode. Highlights: - CalSTRS, the California State Teachers’ Retirement System, was created in 1913 and is actually older than Social Security. It has over 400 members who are over 100 years old who are still receiving their pension. - Chris says …

This encore episode is a recording of a special event where Mark Pincus (@markpinc) was interviewed by Ben Casnocha in San Francisco in front of a live audience of portfolio founders, friends of the firm, and LPs. Mark is co-founder and Executive Chairman of Zynga, and is an angel investor in Facebook, Snapchat, Twitter, and other companies. He tal…

This encore episode is a recording of a special event where Bill Gates was interviewed in San Francisco by Julia Hartz, co-founder of Eventbrite. It originally took place in 2018 in front of a live audience of Village Global founders and friends of the firm. We are honored to count Bill Gates among our luminary LPs whose financial capital and engag…

Jerry originally joined us on the podcast in 2019. He is co-founder of Yahoo! and founding partner of AME Cloud Ventures. He was interviewed in front of a live audience in San Francisco by Village Global co-founder and partner, Ben Casnocha. Jerry told stories from the early days of Yahoo! and explained his lessons learned from the experience. He a…

Paul Budnitz, founder of Superplastic, and Jennifer van Dijk, CEO of Superplastic, join Christina Des Vaux, head of marketing and platform at Village Global, on this episode. Takeaways: Superplastic is a creatively-led company that has managed to maintain its unique identity and artistic integrity while nevertheless running a thriving business. The…

Henri is an ex-research scientist at Protocol Labs. He Co-Founded Privy, which provides web3 projects such as Friend.tech, t2 & Shibuya with seamless onboarding & embedded wallets. In this episode, we dive into the early MVPs of Privy, learn how it works under the hood, how they managed to design such as smooth UX & more. *** If you like high-quali…

Graham Duncan (@GrahamDuncanNYC) is a longtime investor and author of a legendary essay on reference checking: https://grahamduncan.blog/whats-going-on-here/ He was interviewed by Village Global co-founder and partner Ben Casnocha (@bencasnocha) during a special masterclass for Village Global founders and friends of the firm. Takeaways: - Be aware …

Sebastian Mallaby (@scmallaby) is the Paul A. Volcker senior fellow for international economics at the Council on Foreign Relations and a contributing columnist for The Washington Post. He is the author of five books, including most recently The Power Law: Venture Capital and the Making of the New Future. He joined Olga Serhiyevich, head of investo…

In this episode, we delve into Grayscale's triumph in the crypto world, Tesla's AI-driven innovations, and the captivating realm of NFTs. Discover the groundbreaking shifts and creative fusions shaping our digital era. Embark on this week's digital odyssey with us! Sign up for our Newsletter (Free Updates and News, Every Tue) Grayscale's win agains…

Julio Vasconcellos (@JulioV), managing partner at Atlantico, and Ana Martins (@martinsg_ana), partner at Atlantico, join Anne Dwane (@adwane), co-founder and partner at Village Global, to discuss Atlantico’s 2023 report on digital transformation in Latin America. Takeaways: - If Latin America was its own country it would be #3 in the world in terms…

Gurdane Bhutani and Zeshan Muhammedi are co-founders and GPs at MBX, a VC firm investing in early-stage bio/healthtech companies tackling major public health threats. Prior to that they co-founded healthcare and life-science venture capital firm FundRx, where they championed the firm's build-out of its community-driven investment infrastructure, mo…

Collab.Land is a tool for managing web3 communities and bridging them to Discord and Telegram. It has already been used by 50k+ communities and 8M+ wallets.Today we’re talking with Anjali Young, Co-Founder & CCO of Collab.Land, who shares their project’s story.***Follow Web3 Talks on Twitter:https://twitter.com/web3talks/Check kiwinews - a portal w…

Our Gitcoin Grants page: https://explorer.gitcoin.co/#/round/10/0x2871742b184633f8dc8546c6301cbc209945033e/0x2871742b184633f8dc8546c6301cbc209945033e-322

Lee Hnetinka, founder and CEO of Future and Darkstore, joins Olga Serhiyevich, Head of Investor Relations at Village Global, on this episode. Lee and his companies are building innovative solutions in retail and e-commerce and have worked with world’s most admired brands like Nike, Adidas and Disney where they enabled same-day and 1-hour delivery f…

Cameron Dawson, Chief Investment Officer at NewEdge Wealth, joins Olga Serhiyevich, Head of Investor Relations, on this episode. Prior to joining NewEdge Wealth, Cameron was the Chief Market Strategist at Fieldpoint Private Securities and a Senior Equity Analyst at Bank of America. Takeaways: Cameron says that wealth management firms can provide th…

Web3 Talks is back! Links I mentioned: Library of web3 startup lessons:https://goldmine3.xyz/ Web3 startup I'm building with my Co-Founder Tim:https://kiwinews.xyz/

Prescott Watson (@prescottwatson) joins Olga Serhiyevich (@olgaserhi), head of investor relations at Village Global, on this episode. Prescott is co-founder of Port Power, a software platform that aims to de-risk commercial fleets’ adoption of electric vehicles by ensuring their charging infrastructure functions flexibly and reliably. Takeaways: - …

Mark Cuban (@mcuban) joins Olga Serhiyevich (@olgaserhi), head of investor relations at Village Global, on this episode. Takeaways: - In the US healthcare system the interests of patients, providers, and payers are not aligned. This drives many of the problems in the system today and is part of what inspired Mark to get involved in trying to disrup…

Eric Woo (@ericjwoo), co-founder and CEO of Revere, and Spencer Tyson (@SpencerGTyson), Head of Investment Ratings at Revere, join Olga Serhiyevich (@olgaserhi), Head of Investor Relations at Village Global. Revere has pioneered the world’s first rating system for venture capital funds. Takeaways: - Venture has changed a lot over the last couple de…

Jon Korngold joins Olga Serhiyevich, Head of Investor Relations, on this episode. Jon is the Global Head of Blackstone Growth (BXG) and Co-Head of Technology Investing at Blackstone. Prior to joining Blackstone, Jon was Head of General Atlantic’s Global Financial Services and Healthcare sectors. Takeaways: - The vast reach of Blackstone, as one of …

For a while there, Adidas Web3 lead Erika Wykes-Sneyd worried her push to get the 74-year-old brand working with Web3 partners might not work out. "Like signing a deal with the Bored Ape Yacht Club when Gargamel and Gordon were not doxxed individuals—that got me nervous," she told Stacy Elliott and Andrew Hayward. "Approving the first ever ETH purc…

Avenged Sevenfold lead singer Matt Sanders, a.k.a. M. Shadows, is rehearsing for the band's upcoming tour and also figuring out how to upend what it means to be a fan. The band launched a Deathbats Club NFT collection in 2021. That is to say, they were early. The lead singer said it was timed to give fans a chance to get comfortable with Web3 techn…

Marc Iserlis is a film/TV producer and documentary filmmaker joins Village Global's Head of Investor Relations Olga Serhiyevich (@olgaserhi). Marc is currently building tokenized film financing at Republic, an alternative fundraising platform. Takeaways: - Marc’s ambition is at Republic is to allow individuals to join in the success of film product…

When Web3 bug bounty platform Immunefi launched two years ago, CEO and founder Mitchell Amador says the bug bounties weren't great and adoption was slow. But the tides started to turn because even if exploiting a smart contract nets a bigger payday than a bounty, it comes with a huge drawback. "There's a ton of risk when you engage in this, you kno…

Mailchain is basically a web3 email. It provides a web app that lets you send your emails as if you used Gmail or Hotmail. But you send your emails via your wallet, ENS, Lens profile, and other identities you may use. Thanks to that and end-to-end encryption, your emails are 100% private. Today we’re talking with Tim Boeckmann, Co-Founder & CEO of …

There's no doubt that the SEC dealt Kraken—and the outlook for crypto staking products in the U.S.—a big blow when it announced a $30 million settlement and ordered the company to stop offering the service to its customers in the states in February. Now Marco Santori, the company's chief legal officer, says the exchange is eager to move on from it.…

Zora is one of the most popular web3 tools, used by the biggest creators in the NFT space. What were its early days? How they acquired their first users? How have they organized the Base campaign that generated 700,000+ mints? This and much more in our conversation with Dee Goens, Co-Founder & COO @ Zora. *** Follow Web3 Talks on Twitter: https://t…

Arthur Hayes says the speed at which projects like Terra grow and then implode is a feature of the crypto industry, not a bug. He founded crypto exchange Bitmex in 2014 and then became the original crypto bad boy. In 2021 the DOJ charged him in with violating the U.S. Bank Secrecy Act for not implementing an anti-money laundering program at Bitmex.…

Ben Casnocha (@bencasnocha) and Reid Hoffman (@reidhoffman) are co-authors of The Startup of You: Adapt to the Future, Invest in Yourself, and Transform Your Career. In the book, they look at the best of Silicon Valley startups and derive entrepreneurial principles that can transform the career of any professional across all industries. They revise…

XMTP is one of the leading web3 messaging protocols. What were the early days of this project? What web3 native features they developed How they built a developer community around their protocol? How did they start handling DMs on Lens?This and much more in our conversation with Matt Galligan, Co-Founder & President @ XMTP. *** Follow Web3 Talks on…

Ben Casnocha (@bencasnocha) and Reid Hoffman (@reidhoffman) are co-authors of The Startup of You: Adapt to the Future, Invest in Yourself, and Transform Your Career. In the book, they look at the best of Silicon Valley startups and derive entrepreneurial principles that can transform the career of any professional across all industries. They revise…

Anthony Scaramucci of hedge fund SkyBridge Capital got burned by Sam Bankman-Fried: he co-hosted SALT conferences with FTX and sold a 30% stake in SkyBridge to FTX Ventures. And yet, "The Mooch" tells Dan Roberts and Stacy Elliott "I'm more bullish now than I have ever been" on crypto as an investment case. He discusses his frustration with SBF, ho…

Louise Story (@louisestory) most recently was the Chief News Strategist and Chief Product & Technology Officer at The Wall Street Journal. Louise also spent more than a decade at the New York Times. She joins Olga Serhiyevich on this episode to discuss: Her unique role at the Wall Street Journal and some of the products that she built, including AI…

In our latest gm AMA, recent guest Friederike Ernst, Co-founer and COO of Gnosis, hopped into our listener Telegram room and answered questions via voice memo. Friederike talked about the Gnosis merge with xDai, how to decentralize a DAO, whether prediction markets should be considered a public good, why Gnosis chose not to have a single figurehead…

Grab your picks and shovels for a Bitcoin mining deep dive. Even as Texas aims to pass a bill limiting rewards for Bitcoin miners, Toronto-based Bitcoin mining company Hut 8 is bullish on growth across the U.S. That's why Hut 8 recently announced a merger of equals with U.S. Bitcoin Corp. Hut 8 CEO Jaime Leverton joined Dan Roberts and Stacy Elliot…

Julien has been building tools for membership NFTs since 2018, long before the NFT boom. What were the early days of the NFT market? How dogfooding helped them to acquire their first users? How they organized ticketing with Unlock for EthCC? What they've learned from running a DAO program? This and more in our conversation with Julien Genestoux, Fo…

In our first gm AMA, recent guest Neal Stephenson hopped into our listener Telegram room and candidly answered questions via voice memo. Neal is the "Snow Crash" author who coined the term "metaverse" and is now working on open metaverse blockchain Lamina1. Make sure you go back and listen to his full gm episode from March 4 before enjoying this bo…

Move over, DeFi—ReFi is coming? Gitcoin founder Kevin Owocki has stepped away from DeFi grant-giving machine Gitcoin as it fully decentralizes and is now focused on regenerative finance (huh?) and ReFi incubator Supermodular. He aims to "regenerate the regenerators." He explains it all to Dan Roberts and Liam Kelly, and also talks DAO structure, cr…

Stefan George is one of the most OG builders in the space. How was it building on Ethereum in 2014? Why they pivoted from their initial idea? How an ICO inspired them to build Safe? Why it later transformed into a DAO? How Gnosis Chain became the #2 most decentralized chain in the space? And why you used it without even knowing it? This and more in…

Gnosis first launched in 2015 as a decentralized prediction market built on Ethereum. Now it's a DAO, a multi-sig wallet, a staking chain, and a vibrant community with its own GNO governance token. Co-founder and COO Friederike Ernst talked to Dan Roberts and Stacy Elliott about the careful evolution of Gnosis, decentralization impostors, account a…

David Boehmer (@DavBoehmer) speaks to Olga Serhiyevich (@olgaserhi) about the talent intermediation industry, the evolution of business models in the sector, and creating a talent marketplace at Banff. Takeaways: - Chance often has a significant impact on a person’s career but David says that a life’s impact is too important to be left to chance. -…