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Around three years ago, I started a podcast, Valley Nordic , with a Norwegian venture capitalist, Arne Tonning , as an experiment. Arne and I think differently about the the world. He has a Nordic and a venture capitalist perspective on technology companies and I have a silicon valley perspective on business. Hence, the podcast is titled Valley Nordic. We started as an experiment to see if we record our conversations and post them online, would anybody listen. A few days after our first episode was released, we got feedback that we needed topics for our episodes:) In essence, the podcast is a free flowing conversation between Arne and I on business, culture, and technology with our diverse perspectives as they relate to selected topics.  Thanks to our listeners, we published our 100th episode last week.  We looked into 27 companies and we were right about their growth challenges and their valuations. See the complete podcast episodes index:   Episode T...

We define the Direct To Consumer (D2C) category and discuss the value chain of Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG) companies and how D2C startups are disrupting that value chain. Also, how the D2C category includes products beyond CPG. What made it possible for D2C companies to come to life and differences between US and European D2C markets.  Useful links: 1.  D2C landscape (2017) 2.  Analysis of 14 D2C Companies  Subscribe to the podcast  here . See the notes from the previous podcast  here . 

In this episode we discuss market segmentation, business model innovation, and scaling. How and why Customer Lifetime Value (CLV) focus is the best way to build sustainable businesses. We also discuss, after a startup has achieved Product Market Fit (PMF), how you scale a business and  what do you do differently in the post PMF phase.   Useful links: 1. Customer Facing Devices  2. Why do we buy things? 3. Decision making for startups Subscribe to the podcast  here . See the notes from the previous podcast  here . 

We are doing something new and different in this episode. Instead of the episode being a conversation between an entrepreneur and a venture capitalist, we have a conversation between a product/business person i.e Chander, your regular host, and a software developer/technologist i.e. David Krieger, Principal Software Engineer at  Pivotal . You will still get two different perspectives. We cover how software development has changed in the last two decades, relationship between product managers and engineers, and how a software developer thinks about coding.  Arne sends his regards!  Useful links:  1.  Book: The Mythical Man-Month 2.  Why the tech products are mediocre?   Subscribe to the podcast  here . See the notes from the previous podcast  here . 

Softbank has changed the late stage venture industry. After the recent delay of the WeWork IPO, Softbank's strategy of injecting a lot of capital in startups at high valuations is being questioned. In this episode, we discuss the structure of Softbank Vision Fund and how Softbank is influencing startup founders and smaller venture capitalists.  Useful Links: 1. Softbank vision fund  2. Softbank  3. Masayoshi Son Subscribe to the podcast  here . See the notes from the previous podcast  here . 

We get deeper into startup operations, specifically how to develop and market products. How do you prioritize things in pre product launch and post product launch stages of the startup? What are the boundaries between product and marketing? Furthermore, we discuss frameworks that can be applied to product development and marketing.  This episode also touches upon the current state of WeWork IPO and Apple's product announcements this week. Correction: It was mentioned in the episode that the the new Apple A13 chip has trillions of transistors. We meant to say billions (8.5B) of transistors. Sorry.  Useful links: 1. Five stages of the sales process 2. How do people adopt new products? 3. Why do we buy things? 4. Capitalism and advertising  Subscribe to the podcast  here . See the notes from the previous podcast  here . 

In our latest episode, Arne and I talk about the streaming video market. The history, the current state, and how we think the market will evolve. Streaming video is a very diverse and deep area so we could not include everything we wanted to discuss like the current value chain of cable tv channels. However, you will get a good idea about the current state of streaming.  Correction:  Netflix did lose customers in the US in 2Q19 but had net adds globally. See details at  https://www.cnbc.com/2019/07/18/netflix-loses-16-billion-in-market-value-following-earnings-miss.html Useful Links  1. Hollywood vs. Silicon Valley  2. Netflix culture  3. Apple movie rental service  Subscribe to the podcast  here . See the notes from the previous podcast  here . 

Subscribe to the podcast  here . Peloton filed its S1 earlier this week. Arne and I discuss the complexity of the Peloton business which is a combination of technology (hardware and software), media (production and distribution), and fitness (managing instructors and retail sales). We also talk about their interesting business model and the challenges Peloton might face in continuing its growth.  We could not get to the second section of the podcast due to technical difficulties. So, enjoy our shortest episode till date.  Useful links  1.  Peloton S1     2.  Genesis of a fitness device  See the notes from the previous podcast here .