Worth

Helena Merk and Brian Li started Glimpse (YC W20) with an ambitious goal: to combat loneliness and create the rare social product which actually makes us happier.

Its arrival couldn't be more timely. Hear their story and why early users are addicted to these 2 minute, one-on-one video chats.

[0:33]: Taking on loneliness and an early pivot

[5:55]: Lessons learned from past social products

[8:22]: The shift from content consumption to creation

[13:18]: Dropping out for YC W20

[20:17]: Why Glimpse is the perfect product for right now

[22:48]: Favorite books and podcasts

Helena's Twitter - https://twitter.com/HelenaMerk

Brian's Twitter - https://twitter.com/brianli101

Glimpse (on iOS and Android) - https://www.joinglimpse.com/

Worth website - worth.carrd.co

Recommendations - https://www.notion.so/book-podcast-recommendations-59abba1db1db4fc2b9b9a4e08edb0b24

Varadh Jain is an angel investor and digital nomad currently doing one-off projects in different parts of the world.

Most recently, he spent three years as an early employee at Opendoor, helping to scale the company from 200 employees to nearly 1,500. Before that, he was on the founding team of Polymail (YC S16) and spent time at a seed fund in Los Angeles.

In this conversation, he and Asher discuss thinking about careers in seven year intervals, how Varadh got started with Angel investing, and being helpful to founders without necessarily providing advice.

[1:05]: Joining Polymail as Employee #1

[2:27]: Realizing his Visa was going to expire in 2016 and starting with the OpenDoor team

[3:31]: How Varadh's role at OpenDoor evolved over time

[5:10]: Biggest learnings from three years at a high growth tech company

[6:26]: Thinking about life in seven year chunks, traveling, and self-directed learning

[8:03]: Angel investing, being helpful to early-stage companies, and avoiding advice

[12:42]: What we can learn from drug cartels about how to run a successful business

Varadh's Twitter - https://twitter.com/varadhjain

Varadh's Blog - https://blog.varadhja.in/

Varadh's Angel Investing Portfolio - https://blog.varadhja.in/startups/

Worth website - worth.carrd.co

Recommendations - https://www.notion.so/book-podcast-recommendations-59abba1db1db4fc2b9b9a4e08edb0b24

Wes Wagner is a remote worker and former Head of Growth at Microverse (YC S19), a coding bootcamp with a unique model.

On this episode, he shares with Ethan what it's like to split time between Medellin and Indianapolis, why we should optimize for quality over quantity in our relationships and how he thinks about the future of education.

[1:21]: Wes' path to digital nomad life

[5:35]: Optimizing for quality over quantity of relationships

[6:56] Microverse's unique business model

[12:35]: Creating incentives to unearth talent in overlooked areas

[15:21]: Re-thinking YC in a modern context

[23:46]: Technology that can help us to be more intentional in our relationships

[30:06]: Trusting the process of learning in public

[33:11]: Zero to One, Homo Deus and other favorite books

Wes' Twitter: https://twitter.com/caffeinatedwes

Wes' website: https://westonwagner.com/

Worth website - worth.carrd.co

Recommendations - https://www.notion.so/book-podcast-recommendations-59abba1db1db4fc2b9b9a4e08edb0b24

Eric Jorgenson is a product strategist, writer and (rarely) an Angel investor. He is on the founding team of Zaarly, and has been publishing online since 2014. His business blog, Evergreen, has educated and entertained over a million readers.

He's also the author of the soon-to-be-released "Almanack of Naval Ravikant", a book of Naval's most valuable thoughts, tweets, and pieces of wisdom from the past decade.

He and Asher discuss how he came up with the idea of writing the Navalmanack, his first experience writing online with Evergreen, and reflecting on lessons learned after nine years with Zaarly.

[1:01]: Dropping out of school to join Zaarly in 2011

[2:34]: Why Eric would work for Bo Fishback—the founder of Zaarly—in a McDonald's

[4:02]: Narrowing Zaarly's focus to home service providers

[5:44]: How Eric's role within the company has evolved over time

[6:42]: Reflecting on 9+ years at Zaarly

[10:40]: How the idea for the "Almanack of Naval Ravikant" was born

[13:47]: Eric's favorite pieces of advice from Naval

[16:25]: Curating timeless business advice at Evergreen Library

[21:06]: Course Correctly and Eric's next project after he finishes the Navalmanack

[24:45]: Eric's love for "Poor Charlie's Almanack" and "The Systems Bible"

Eric's Twitter: https://twitter.com/EricJorgenson

Navalmanack Website: https://www.navalmanack.com/

Evergreen Library: https://medium.com/evergreen-business-weekly

Course Correctly: http://coursecorrectly.com/

Eric's Personal Website: https://www.ejorgenson.com/

Justin Potts, co-founder and CEO of Avenify, joins Ethan to discuss their innovative lending platform for income share agreements. The marketplace allows top college students to finance their education debt-free, backed by investors who earn a return when they succeed.

Before launching, he and his co-founder Timo spent 3 months RVing to different colleges across the country. Hear how that's impacted the product, why they've largely eschewed the venture route and where they see tremendous opportunities to grow.

[3:31]: How Justin and Timo have leaned on angels, savings and crowdsourced funding for Avenify

[9:22]: Growing up in Texas, building apps and meeting his co-founder in college

[16:36]: Why they think nursing students are a perfect fit for their product

[19:58]: Joining the Product Hunt mafia

[22:54]: RVing across the country to hear students' stories and understand the market

[25:21]: Transparency, adverse selection and other common ISA concerns

[32:21]: Justin's affinity for a good startup story

Worth website - worth.carrd.co

Avenify website - https://avenify.com/

Republic website - https://republic.co/avenify

Justin's Twitter - https://twitter.com/PottsJustin

Recommendations - https://www.notion.so/book-podcast-recommendations-59abba1db1db4fc2b9b9a4e08edb0b24

Cameron Porter is an investor at AlleyCorp, a New York City based venture studio that's incubated the likes of Business Insider, Mongo DB, and more.

After leading all of college soccer in scoring his senior year at Princeton, Cam dropped out to play professional soccer in the MLS, while simultaneously working for the league as a software engineer.

He and Asher talk startup ideation, contextualizing his unconventional path into venture, and above all, why greatness can't be planned.

[1:08]: How AlleyCorp systematizes the process of startup ideation

[5:03]: From high school graduating class of 45 to the NCAA's leading goal scorer

[8:36]: Playing in the MLS while simultaneously working for the league as a software engineer

[12:07]: Optimizing for the average Wednesday

[13:56]: Where AlleyCorp differs from a typical VC firm

[17:10]: The mechanics of an ideation session and the process of talking to users

[23:57]: The story of how AlleyCorp was started

[29:30]: Optimizing for performance at work, content consumption, and what is worth Cam's time

[33:49]: Cam's favorite books and how they've changed the way he sees the world

Cam's Twitter: https://twitter.com/Cam39Porter

Cam's Personal Website: https://incremental.nyc/

AlleyCorp Website: https://alleycorp.com/

Worth website - worth.carrd.co

Recommendations - https://www.notion.so/book-podcast-recommendations-59abba1db1db4fc2b9b9a4e08edb0b24

In the latest episode of Worth, Asher sits down with Vedika Jain, ex-Stripe and True Layer, and currently the Chief of Staff at Weekend Fund.

Among other things, we discuss advice she received from Harry Stebbings on breaking into venture, ways in which Weekend Fund is looking to help founders from underserved markets, and what she believes makes a problem worth solving.

[1:05]: Rethinking a traditional childhood education

[4:18]: The story of how Vedika ended up at UC Berkeley and what makes a problem worth solving

[6:56]: Landing at Stripe and what made their culture so strong

[12:22]: Learning how to code and getting into flow at Le Wagon

[15:37]: Scaling True Layer from 7 employees to 70

[19:12] Advice from Harry Stebbings and joining forces with Ryan Hoover at Weekend Fund

[23:29]: Experimentation on the Weekend Fund model and lessons learned from Weekend Build

[34:06]: Roam Research and some trends Vedika feels strongly about

[37:07]: Vedika's favorite books and our mutual appreciation of Morgan Housel's writing

Worth website - worth.carrd.co

Weekend Fund Website - https://weekend.fund/

Vedika's Twitter - https://twitter.com/vedikaja_in

Vedika on what makes a problem worth solving - https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/creativity-why-i-learned-how-code-vedika-jain/

Recommendations - https://www.notion.so/book-podcast-recommendations-59abba1db1db4fc2b9b9a4e08edb0b24

Among other topics, in the second part of this conversation we touch on mentors, college entrepreneurship and getting a foothold in venture.

If you're building something (especially if it's in the elder care space), check out Mike Maples Jr.'s podcast — https://greatness.floodgate.com/ — and slide in Shawn's DMs! Twitter linked below...

[0:31]: Shawn's take on the landscape of college entrepreneurship

[3:38]: How he thinks about cultivating an "information diet"

[8:15]: Learning under the legendary Ann Miura-Ko and Mike Maples Jr. at Floodgate

[14:47]: The acute impact Eric Liu and Jack Dorsey have had on Shawn's life

[17:25]: An author and podcast recommendation

Worth website - worth.carrd.co

On college entrepreneurship - https://techcrunch.com/2019/02/06/how-students-are-founding-funding-and-joining-startups/

Advice for breaking into venture - https://medium.com/startup-grind/9-essential-lessons-that-helped-me-break-into-vc-fb05d2bd058

Shawn's Twitter - https://twitter.com/shawnxu

Book recommendations - https://www.notion.so/book-podcast-recommendations-59abba1db1db4fc2b9b9a4e08edb0b24

Ethan sits down with Shawn Xu of Floodgate, recently named to Forbes 30 Under 30 in venture.

Shawn shares how his passion for different cultures has guided him from launching international markets at Square, to investing in brilliant student founders at Dorm Room Fund and now to learning under the legendary Ann Miura-Ko and Mike Maples Jr. at Floodgate.

Before all this, he was just a kid hustling for restaurant tips. Listen to his exceptional story and much more, here.

[1:33]: Growing up an immigrant in SF's backyard

[11:58]: How Shawn evaluates opportunities in international markets

[16:59]: Why business school is worth it sometimes

[19:45]: The exceptional Dorm Room Fund family

[22:26]: On being non-consensus and right

Worth website - worth.carrd.co

Shawn's experience at Dorm Room Fund - https://medium.com/startup-grind/reflections-on-2-years-at-dorm-room-fund-c815e614e0dc

How to evaluate international markets - https://medium.com/@shawnxu/how-to-identify-the-next-big-market-894208c118c9

Shawn's Twitter - https://twitter.com/shawnxu

Book recommendations - https://www.notion.so/book-podcast-recommendations-59abba1db1db4fc2b9b9a4e08edb0b24

Mehak Vohra knew that dropping out at 19 was a huge risk. Since taking the leap in 2016, she's been featured by Forbes, ABC, Adweek, Huffington Post and a slew of other publications while growing her agency, Jamocha Media, into a six-figure business.

In this conversation with Ethan, she pulls back the curtain on her childhood, transitioning from college student to freelancer and scaling her newest project, OnDelta, a growth marketing bootcamp that's free until you get a job.

[1:25]: Running for Mayor of San Francisco

[5:33]: All things OnDelta

[11:15]: Growing up in West Virginia and Oakridge, Tennessee: birthplace of The Manhattan Project

[16:43]: How a single weekend changed the trajectory of Mehak's life

[21:02]: Jamocha Media as a vehicle for learning

[22:15]: The struggles of freelancing

[25:09]: Doubling down on LinkedIn

[27:41]: OnDelta as a "scaleable marketing agency"

[30:40]: Mehak's favorite book

Worth website - worth.carrd.co

OnDelta website - https://www.ondelta.io/

Mehak's Twitter - https://twitter.com/themehakvohra

Mehak's Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/themehakvohra/?hl=en

Mehak's LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/mehakvohra/

Mehak's YouTube channel - https://www.youtube.com/user/watthemehak/videos

Book recommendations - https://www.notion.so/book-podcast-recommendations-59abba1db1db4fc2b9b9a4e08edb0b24