Village Global

🚨 New Village Global podcast drop! Guillermo Rauch, CEO of Vercel, in conversation with Village GP, Ben Casnocha about open source frameworks, design engineering, and why Rauch is long on Bitcoin. Listen now: https://t.ly/939sb

Last week we hosted Howie Liu, CEO of Airtable, and many of our Village Global founders in San Francisco. Was fantastic to learn more about Airtable's journey from zero to the incredible platform it is today. Some highlights: Airtable's evolution from PLG GTM to enterprise sales, how they do customer development conversations, the pros/cons of starting horizontal versus focusing on a niche, and the right amount of discomfort in order to push yourself.

Great to be with Howie Liu, CEO of Airtable, and many of our Village Global founders this week in San Francisco. Howie shared many insights scaling Airtable from zero to the incredible platform it is today. Airtable's evolution from a PLG self-serve motion to proper enterprise sales company has been fascinating. It's a common journey for startups selling into the enterprise. He shared good insights on that along with how to do customer development conversations, the pros/cons of starting horizontal versus focusing on a niche, and more.

I've seen my fair share of fireside chats, the Village Global event yesterday with Howie Liu was exceptional. Being a founder is not easy, you need vision, grit, and a healthy dose of conviction. My biggest takeaway? "You need the right amount of discomfort to push yourself" - Howie

📣 Announcing Velocity, our new program built specifically for pre-seed founders. 👇 We back you with checks up to $1M, a peer cohort, AI resources, and the flexibility of being fully remote. Get top-tier access to AI perks, thanks to Microsoft for Startups and OpenAI. Who is right for Velocity? 🌉 Exceptional founders seeking greater Silicon Valley connectivity, whether in SF or  elsewhere 🏗️ Experienced operators starting a company for the first time and seek a strong community  🤖 AI founders who want to learn from brilliant AI luminaries 💸Founders who want an edge when raising an epic seed round What do you get? 💰Capital – Up to a $1M investment from us and our close network of angels and funds 🤝Peer Community – Join like minded founders in masterminds for accountability and peer support 🌐The Village Network – Find customers, experts, and your next investors 💽Microsoft and OpenAI Credits and Resources – Up to $350k in credits from Microsoft for Startups, $10k from OpenAI, and more Ready to build the future? Apply now. 💡 https://lnkd.in/gUDbiBnF

We at Village Global are announcing a new program for pre-seed founders called *Velocity*. We back you with checks up to $1M, a peer cohort, fundraising support, AI resources, and the flexibility of being fully remote (versus having to move to SF). Did I mention you get top-tier access to AI perks from Microsoft and OpenAI? :) You can apply here: https://lnkd.in/gSsyEGX4 or just email us (hello@villageglobal.vc) if you're a pre-seed founder thinking about starting a company. We'd love to hear from you.

📣 Announcing Velocity, our new program built specifically for pre-seed founders. 👇 We back you with checks up to $1M, a peer cohort, AI resources, and the flexibility of being fully remote. Get top-tier access to AI perks, thanks to Microsoft for Startups and OpenAI. Who is right for Velocity? 🌉 Exceptional founders seeking greater Silicon Valley connectivity, whether in SF or  elsewhere 🏗️ Experienced operators starting a company for the first time and seek a strong community  🤖 AI founders who want to learn from brilliant AI luminaries 💸 Founders who want an edge when raising an epic seed round What do you get? 💰 Capital – Up to a $1M investment from us and our close network of angels and funds 🤝 Peer Community – Join like minded founders in masterminds for accountability and peer support 🌐 The Village Network – Find customers, experts, and your next investors 💽 Microsoft and OpenAI Credits and Resources – Up to $350k in credits from Microsoft for Startups and $10k from OpenAI Ready to build the future? Apply now. 💡 https://lnkd.in/gzSzdwaZ

News is out: Alma raised $5.1m to revolutionize immigration! While TechCrunch spotlights my story, my brilliant co-founders, Assel Tuleubayeva and Shuo Chen, also faced significant immigration hurdles. Our shared experiences fueled our mission to simplify U.S. immigration. We're thrilled to embark on this journey with our incredible partners: Bling Capital, Forerunner, Village Global, NFX, Conviction, MVP Ventures, New Enterprise Associates (NEA) and Silkroad Innovation Hub! A heartfelt thank you to our day-one supporters and, most importantly, to all the immigrants trusting Alma with their American dream. Your faith in us drives our innovation! #Alma #ImmigrationMadeEasy

Congratulations SpaceWERX & Orbital Prime awardee Rebel Space Technologies on advancing cybersecurity in space! 🛰 📡 🇺🇲

Being an angel can at times feel like you’re on your own island. Last week we hosted our second annual Angel Island — where independent angels and fund managers connected with fellow early-stage investors and swapped insights about what’s happening in the market. Some topics of note: • Even before managers do reference checks on founders, the quality and seniority of their provided references can speak volumes.  • As angels write bigger checks, there is more expectation from founders that the angels will be hands-on.  • Many personal investors are electing not to transition to professional fund managers to retain flexibility around pacing and pricing, and given the tougher LP market. • Some sectors like cyber don’t have a winner take all profile; many funds can return 3x-4x DPI without marquee exits or an IPO.  • Make sure your founders have a process or routine in place to help them endure for a very long game. One manager talked about the work he did to have a 13+ year career in the NFL; there are analogies between athletic prep and founder prep. Some hotter takes we overheard: • Help companies that are winning. It’s ok to not help the failing companies. Don’t throw good money at bad signal. • There was a fair amount of discussion re: the upside/downside of telling a founder that they should stop pursuing their idea, and the challenge of whether to back a great founder with a so-so idea. At the end of the day we heard from Guillermo Rauch from Vercel, who spoke passionately about open source frameworks, design engineering, and why he’s long on Bitcoin. At the core of Village Global’s investing ethos is a deep belief in the power of network. We were delighted to produce the event with our friends over at GIC.