Worth
24 episodes - English - Latest episode: about 4 years ago -sharing unique stories of young people in tech • guests from Pioneer, YC, Floodgate, Weekend Fund and more • https://worth.carrd.co • https://twitter.com/thisisworth_
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Episodes
#23 → Natasha Mascarenhas: Stories Worth Telling
July 09, 2020 16:57 - 26 minutes - 24.7 MBAs a reporter at TechCrunch, Natasha Mascarenhas writes about early stage startups. She joined us to talk the future of media and higher education, asking more thoughtful questions, and telling better stories. It's always fun to talk to people who love what they do, but are also much more than their work. Enjoy! [2:43]: A day in the life of a TechCrunch reporter [5:00]: Her focus on edtech and predictions about the space [7:54]: Chasing down her dream of writing professionally [11:45]: ...
#22 → Charlie Feng: What's the Next Bicycle?
May 20, 2020 02:15 - 26 minutes - 20.8 MBCharlie Feng is the Co-Founder of Clearbanc, the fastest, most affordable way for founders to fund their business and the biggest investor of eCommerce businesses in the world. Previously, he spent time founding companies in the chatbot and marketing automation space, and even had a short stint as a professional gamer. In this conversation, he and Asher discuss some of the metrics that Clearbanc's algorithm leans on when determining whether or not to fund a business, lessons learned from b...
#21 → Stephanie Bowker: Start With Why
April 25, 2020 23:02 - 20 minutes - 15.5 MBStephanie Bowker is the Head of Marketing at Spendesk, one of the fastest growing Fintech startups in all of Europe. Previously, she was the first Product Marketer at Gusto and during her time at Intuit, had the opportunity to work closely with Co-Founder Scott Cook. In this conversation, we talk first principles of effective marketing, how to divide up responsibilities as your team begins to grow, and Stephanie's journey from the Bay Area all the way to Paris, France. [1:11]: Getting a c...
#20 → Erika Hairston & Arnelle Ansong: 1 Million New CS Grads
April 19, 2020 03:08 - 29 minutes - 27.1 MBErika Hairston and Arnelle Ansong are the co-founders of Edlyft (YC W20). While they pieced together their own support systems as CS majors, they're building Edlyft to provide structured mentorship for aspiring engineers, at scale. On who gets to start a startup, betting on people of different backgrounds, and more. [2:13]: Leaving jobs at Bain and LinkedIn to go full-time on Edlyft [14:44]: The 'hair on fire' problem that many CS majors face [17:14]: Erika and Arnelle's opinion on the d...
#19 → Tim Harsch: Owler
April 15, 2020 23:35 - 19 minutes - 15.6 MBTim Harsch is the CEO and Co-Founder of Owler, a business insights company bringing transparency to private businesses around the world. After joining the company as an Associate Product Manager out of college, Tim's relentless work ethic and technical expertise lead him to become the CEO of the company all before the age of 30. We discuss the many use cases of Owler, why Tim never pictured himself leading a company, and keeping perspective on the different tiers of challenges in life. [1...
#18 → Allison Barr Allen: Running Fast
April 13, 2020 00:38 - 27 minutes - 21.5 MBAllison Barr Allen is the Co-Founder and COO of Fast, a startup working to bring 1-click, passwordless checkout services to the five billion users of the Internet. Previously, she served as the Head of Global Product Operations at Uber as the company scaled from 2,000 employees to more than 26,000 worldwide. She's also deeply committed to supporting entrepreneurs through Trail Run Capital, her Angel investment fund. In this episode, we discuss Fast's recent $20M round lead by Stripe, Allis...
#17 → Blake Robbins: The Twitter Episode
April 05, 2020 02:21 - 26 minutes - 24.7 MBBlake Robbins is a partner at Ludlow Ventures. His unique combination of sincerity and grit is embodied by the early-stage firm itself. We did an entire episode based off Blake's old Tweets. On influencers, creators, building a career with cold outreach, and writing checks from the heart of Detroit. [0:57]: Why the new dream job is becoming a YouTuber [4:30]: The 'Adpocalypse' and more creator-friendly platforms [9:40]: Blake on hustling, Imposter Syndrome, and shamelessly Tweeting peopl...
#16 → Alberto Arenaza: Accents and Unfair Advantages
April 02, 2020 01:49 - 27 minutes - 25 MBAlberto Arenaza is the co-founder of Transcend Network, a global fellowship for entrepreneurs focused on the future of learning and work. He was also a member of the Minerva Schools' first graduating class — a journey which took him from Buenos Aires to Berlin, and now back to San Francisco. Hear why Alberto thinks this experience is an unfair advantage in supporting ambitious founders around the world. [4:12]: Seeing 7 cities through Minerva's innovative model [6:02]: The unique perspect...
#15 → Mike Raab: Investing in Authenticity
March 29, 2020 01:16 - 19 minutes - 15 MBMike Raab is the Director of "The Garage" in San Francisco, a coworking space that provides community and resources for Northwestern alumni, operators, and investors. Previously, Mike was an investor at Sinai Ventures where he invested in early-stage consumer tech companies, and has a wealth of experience as a freelance writer with articles commissioned for Business Insider, OneZero, and HackerNoon. In this conversation, he and Asher discuss similarities between the entertainment industry ...
#14 → DeWayne Johnson: Grail
March 22, 2020 17:24 - 29 minutes - 26.8 MBDeWayne Johnson explains streetwear, overlap between the worlds of art and venture capital, cold outreach and his newsletter on marketplaces — Double Sided. His job at Lambda School is to help other people get jobs. Hear DeWayne's uniquely inspiring story to understand why that work matters to him. [0:55]: Similarities between the worlds of art and venture capital [3:04]: What people don't understand about streetwear [5:46]: Calling on Jeff Bezos' wisdom in deciding whether to drop out ...
#13 → Helena Merk & Brian Li: The Future of Friendship
March 15, 2020 14:10 - 25 minutes - 23.4 MBHelena 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]: Wh...
#12 → Varadh Jain: Many-Sidedness
March 09, 2020 09:18 - 14 minutes - 11.5 MBVaradh 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...
#11 → Wes Wagner: Learn From Anywhere
March 04, 2020 03:35 - 35 minutes - 27.6 MBWes 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]...
#10 → Eric Jorgenson: Playing the Long Game
February 29, 2020 00:36 - 28 minutes - 24.9 MBEric 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, hi...
#9 → Justin Potts: A Marketplace for Human Potential
February 24, 2020 21:51 - 34 minutes - 25.9 MBJustin 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 op...
#8 → Cameron Porter: Why Greatness Can't Be Planned
February 19, 2020 02:52 - 37 minutes - 31 MBCameron 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]...
#7 → Vedika Jain: What Makes a Problem Worth Solving
February 10, 2020 15:15 - 41 minutes - 30.9 MBIn 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 m...
#6 → Shawn Xu: Globetrotting and Gaining Perspective (part 2)
February 04, 2020 04:38 - 22 minutes - 16.9 MBAmong 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 th...
#5 → Shawn Xu: Globetrotting and Gaining Perspective (part 1)
February 03, 2020 04:54 - 26 minutes - 20.3 MBEthan 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 ...
#4 → Mehak Vohra: Dropping Into Something Better
January 24, 2020 16:28 - 32 minutes - 74.4 MBMehak 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]: Runnin...
#3 → Prateek Swain: Building Robinhood for India
January 08, 2020 03:39 - 43 minutes - 33.4 MBIn this episode, Asher speaks with Prateek Swain: recent Princeton graduate, and the 23 year old co-founder of GreenTiger, an app that allows people in India to trade U.S. stocks commission free. After being accepted into Y Combinator's Summer 2019 batch, and being dubbed "Robinhood for India", we caught up with Prateek and talked about some of the best advice he got during his time at YC, and the challenges of starting a fintech company. [1:55]: Prateek's experience building his first bus...
#2 → Jess Li: Avoiding the Trap of De-Risking Yourself
December 14, 2019 20:20 - 47 minutes - 35.5 MBIn this episode, Asher is joined by Jess Li, 23 year old VC at Soma Capital and former Partner at Rough Draft Ventures. We talk through Jess' decision to not return to Morgan Stanley after her junior summer, her experience working for multiple Y Combinator backed startups, and how she thinks about career development. [1:45]: Jess' background and childhood [4:42]: Advice from her father and diving into the world of startups [7:58]: Jess' ongoing work with Elpha (YC S19) - a Reddit type co...
#1 → James Gallagher: Income Share Agreements and Not Breaking the Chain
December 05, 2019 01:24 - 32 minutes - 27.2 MBIn this episode, Ethan speaks with James Gallagher: income share agreement expert, EIR at On Deck and a member of Pioneer's first ever cohort. We dive deep into ISAs, James' experience as a publicly-traded person and why he believes in Jerry Seinfeld's "Don't Break the Chain" mentality when it comes to writing and publishing content. [2:42]: why Income Share Agreements align incentives [4:45]: ISA List - a snapshot of all players in the ISA space [10:28]: James' experience as a publicly-...
welcome 👋
November 30, 2019 03:51 - 38 seconds - 603 KBThis is Worth: a podcast where we interview the inspiring young people shaping our society. We'll dissect where they come from, how they think and the impact they want to make. Think Humans of New York, but for young people in the tech ecosystem.