Uploaded June 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
Village Global Luminary LP Bill Gates on why energy is the master key:
"Somebody says, 'We have a water shortage.' No, there's a lot of water. It just takes energy to move that water and desalinate it."
"If energy is cheap, you have infinite wonderful water everywhere in the world."
"The reason we don't recycle is that the energetic costs of restoring things to their original state is too high."
"TerraPower, super awesome way of actually using nuclear fission waste as fuel."
Village Global Luminary LP Bill Gates on why energy is the master key:
"Somebody says, 'We have a water shortage.' No, there's a lot of water. It just takes energy to move that water and desalinate it."
"If energy is cheap, you have infinite wonderful water everywhere in the world."
"The reason we don't recycle is that the energetic costs of restoring things to their original state is too high."
"TerraPower, super awesome way of actually using nuclear fission waste as fuel."






![This Is Why You Do In-Person Sales | Alex Jekowsky (Cents)
Alex Jekowsky is the co-founder and CEO of Cents, the all-in-one software, hardware, and payments platform for the laundry industry. A Forbes 30 Under 30 recipient, he sold his first company at 23 and recently closed a $140 million Series C, the largest software investment ever made in the vertical.
Somrat Niyogi sits down with Alex to break down the go-to-market channels that most tech founders overlook. They cover why Cents has a 99% in-person close rate, why field sales doesnt scale the way Toast made it look, how events became their most efficient acquisition channel, and why building relationships with distributors, and paying them more than anyone else in the space, turned out to be one of the most important bets they made.
[00:00] Why in-person selling has a 99% close rate for Cents
[00:50] Why field sales doesnt scale the way Toast made it look
[01:29] How events became Cents most important GTM channel
[02:10] Going all-in on the Clean Show after Series A
[03:00] 30 people, no bandwidth, honey for lost voices
[03:36] From zero distributor shows in 2023 to 67 in 3 months
[04:48] How to know when youre ready to spend on events
[05:25] Buy computers at Best Buy, return them after the conference
[07:17] Why investors put you in a box and miss how you actually sell
[08:00] The distributor strategy: threading the needle between direct and channel
[09:17] Why Cents pays more in distributor commissions than anyone in the space
This is an excerpt from our full conversation with Alex Jekowsky. Watch the full episode here: https://youtu.be/d_8zpOVcizE?si=o_tRioZ6PDOYqFvK This Is Why You Do In-Person Sales | Alex Jekowsky (Cents)](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/fwADihvu65Q/mqdefault.jpg)
![From Milking Cows in Kyrgyzstan to Building a $98%-Approval Law Firm | Aizada Marat (Alma)
Aizada Marat is co-founder and CEO of Alma, an immigration law firm that combines the expertise of seasoned attorneys with AI to streamline the immigration process for individuals and businesses. Alma has achieved a 98% approval rate on its cases and can prosecute in half the time of a traditional firm.
Amrit Rao, General Partner at Village Global, sits down with Aizada to trace her journey from a small village in Kyrgyzstan to founding one of the fastest-growing legal tech companies in the Bay Area. They cover her path to the US through the Future Leaders Exchange Program, her own frustrating experience with a mishandled immigration case that left her unable to work for over a year, and how that pain point led her from Cooley to McKinsey and eventually to starting Alma. Aizada walks through the companys early pivot from selling immigration software to law firms to becoming a law firm itself, why she believes large language models can already outperform the outsourced manual labor traditional firms rely on, and where she draws the line on what should and shouldnt be automated in legal work. The conversation also gets personal: what its like being married to fellow founder and Village Global portfolio founder Chyngyz, the advice from him she took (and the one piece she didnt), the immigrant founders and operators who inspire her, and her long-term ambition to eventually return to Kyrgyzstan and run for president.
[00:00] Cold open
[00:34] Welcome to the Village Global Podcast
[01:41] Aizadas journey: growing up in rural Kyrgyzstan
[03:24] The Future Leaders Exchange Program and learning English through Britney Spears
[06:01] What Alma does today
[07:17] Aizadas own immigration struggles
[09:44] The pain point that led her to immigration law
[10:18] From Cooley to McKinsey: learning business
[11:24] Discovering AI at McKinsey in 2023
[13:43] Interviewing future co-founders: Richard Socher, Arvind Jain, Dario Amodei
[16:40] Finding co-founders Asel and Shuo
[20:15] Committing to build something big
[22:02] The pivot: from B2B SaaS to becoming a law firm
[27:06] Why AI can outperform outsourced immigration work
[31:54] Case study: how Alma helped Rundu hire globally
[35:23] What should and shouldnt be automated in immigration law
[36:41] Why traditional law firms wont be able to compete
[38:39] Speed as Almas edge
[40:16] Marriage to fellow founder Chyngyz
[43:28] The best (and hardest to take) advice from her husband
[47:07] Karaoke, strategy talk, and Chyngyz the aksakal
[49:35] The founders who inspire her most
[52:44] Advice for founders going from zero to one
[56:40] What gives immigrant founders a strategic advantage
[59:38] Her long-term goal: returning to Kyrgyzstan
[01:01:53] Why she wants to run for president of Kyrgyzstan
[01:03:40] What shes learning now that will prepare her for public service From Milking Cows in Kyrgyzstan to Building a $98%-Approval Law Firm | Aizada Marat (Alma)](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/gKd06kskB8s/mqdefault.jpg)


