Two weeks ago, Earnest Sweat and I launched a podcast called Carry On. It's about the mechanics of building a venture firm. Not the highlight reel version. The actual work.
We didn't set out with a polished thesis for what the show should be. We had a shared interest in firm-building as a craft, a longstanding habit of debate and inquisition, and a hunch that most VC content skips the parts that are actually hard to talk about.
Two weeks in, the feedback has been good. More useful than good, actually. A few things are already becoming clear.
The first is that tighter is better. Our early instinct was to let episodes run long, to make sure we covered everything in an organic way. Listeners told us otherwise. The value is in the sharpest version of the argument, not the exhaustive one. We're cutting for that now.
The second is that devil's advocate isn't a bit. It's analysis. When one of us takes the position most people in venture would nod along to, and the other pushes back on it, that's where the real thinking happens. Consensus views get repeated. They rarely get tested. We're leaning into that friction on purpose.
The third is the most obvious one in hindsight. Earnest and I don't approach problems the same way, and we don't have the same personality on mic. That's not a bug to smooth over. It's the format. A podcast where two people sound identical isn't worth anyone's time.
We recorded four new episodes last week. I'll let them speak for themselves when they're out. We're also experimenting with a new segment, another byproduct of listening closely to what's working and what isn't.
I'm more excited about this batch than the last one, which is probably the point. Two weeks isn't enough data to know what Carry On becomes. It's enough to know we're paying attention to the right signals.
If you haven't listened yet, start with the first episode, Motion ≠Movement: Why Venture Has Lost Its Mind. Shoutout to our sponsors Angellist, Citizens Bank, Wilmer Hale, and KPMG.
More soon.