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…

Bunnies, mice and bed pooping puppies. We're back and talking pets! Music: Rock Channel Intro Scott Holmes MusicBy Nathan Lee

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…

A Pastor's Wife. A saint. A woman who has to sometimes crawl through some serious $%&@. Kim chats a bit about what it means for her and the experiences that have pushed her to do better.By Nathan Lee

As a couple with diverse interests, Nathan and Kim open the door to their hobbies and how they like the spend their spare time.By Nathan Lee

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…

What are your natural born talents? Kim and Nathan talk some about what they see in each other and which of those they see in their kids.By Nathan Lee

It's a new season of The Birds and the Lees! School is back and the summer is almost gone unless you're where we are and it's mercilessly holding on to our throats with 100+ degree heat each day. But we digress. Do you remember your best moments in high school? What about those we try to forget? We're sharing from our teen years and how they were f…

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…

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…

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: - …

Where have we been? Right here but not on a mic. It's July and we our taking a deep breath to ramble for a few minutes before things pick back up.By Nathan Lee

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…

This is it! The story of all stories. Well except for the one where Kim got deported. You've of the Tinder Swindler. This is our own little version.By Nathan Lee

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 …

No this isn't a Limp Bizkit episode but rather a tribute to all of the times that Nathan has broken something besides hearts all over the world. Nothing serious but a plethora of boneheaded moments in our 20 year marriage.By Nathan Lee

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…

Everyone says there isn't a foolproof training manual to prepare you for what life with kids is like and we can tell you there are many things we never saw coming. We're taking a little trip down childrearing memory lane for this week's episode.By Nathan Lee

It's safe to say that all parents have funny and special stories about their kids. Some just have stranger ones than others. Let's talk about underwear at parent/teacher conferences and lip gloss autographs with Nathan and KimBy Nathan Lee

No, it's not sex. Though, Kim says Nathan has his sexy radio voice on for this episode. We realize that more and more people struggle with mental health issues each year. Many of you have friends and family members deep in it or maybe you are the one struggling. Nathan shares openly how this brought his marriage to the edge but how God's grace and …

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…

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…

TV Shows! We are sure you have favorites and we are sure that we probably forgot to mention them on this episode. Don't be mad! Have your own conversation around the table about the sitcoms, cartoons, cop shows and dramas you loved as a kid.By Nathan Lee

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…

The question is how do we encourage our children to pursue their faith and grow? Well come along and we will let you know what we learned from other people and which stuff we didn't listen to, how our parents instilled it in us and what we HAVE learned that we've put into practice. Music: Pop Rock by Scott Homes…

Do you remember your first Walkman? The first time you played NES? What about when you didn't have to look at a Mapsco to find where you were going? This episode we are sharing our favorite memories of technological advances and what they did for us.By Nathan Lee

What was the first job YOU had? What is the one job you would never do again? Which one had the biggest impact on you today? We're taking a trip down memory lane to talk about the jobs we had as teens, college students and adults. Take a guess on who has had the most jobs between us and see if you're right! Music: Reaction Satisfaction by Ketsa…

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. -…

When do you feel closest to your significant other? Kim and Nathan sit down and laugh about the times they felt closest to one another and get down to what they want their kids to remember when it comes to the one they love. Contact us at PodcastingLees@gmail.com Music: Gingham by Shibuya TerminalBy Nathan Lee

You may have jumped on the bandwagon for The Rise and Fall of Mars Hill which became a phenomena in 2021. You might have also had real criticisms of the podcast. Nathan and Kim sit down to talk about hearing the series for the first time and how it helped them tune into some experiences from their past and ultimately continue to grow. Song: Prigida…

Strap yourself in for an episode that's one part Family Ties and one part Saving Private Ryan. If you can't wrap your head around that one they you have to listen! Song: Prigida - Vintage Style Music provided by Tunetank. Free Download: https://tunetank.com/track/1000-vintage-style/By Nathan Lee

The Lees are back! It's the return and a new direction for the podcast. Song: Prigida - Vintage Style Music provided by Tunetank. Free Download: https://tunetank.com/track/1000-vintage-style/By Nathan Lee

Rohit Krishnan (@krishnanrohit), venture capitalist and author of the blog Strange Loop Cannon, joins Erik on this episode. Takeaways: - Many of the people at the top of their fields today say they would never get hired if they were just starting out today. Today’s selection process at elite institutions has become more stringent but has dropped th…

Lorin Gu, founding partner of Recharge Capital, joins Olga Serhiyevich, Head of Investor Relations at Village Global to discuss: - Why Recharge structures its investing thematically, rather than by asset class. - The three themes that they believe have multi-decade headwinds behind them: semiconductors, women’s health, and fintech/crypto. - What Lo…