Why shopping at Erewhon means you don't understand real America

Like, beyond the political viewpoints or the economic viewpoints, the reality is you have to connect with what is massed audience, and that's not gonna be New York or LA.

25:42 / 26:35

What are trends they're seeing? Right? And so in addition to the kind of data sources, we have strategic partnerships that provide us with a lot of insight. And then, frankly, like, we do a lot of kind of measurement of culture. Like, what's happening in culture? How are people feeling? What are they learning? So we spend a lot of time with very young entrepreneurs who have interesting insights on kind of how culture is feeling today and where the misses are. And for many cases, I would argue, like, we've gotta get out in New York and LA. Right? This is not America. Like, you need to go to America to see America. New York and and LA are not America. Anyone you know that's shopping at Erewhon has no sense of what an actual American, you know, is these days. Like, beyond the political viewpoints or the economic viewpoints, the reality is you have to connect with what is massed audience, and that's not gonna be New York or LA. So we really encourage our team members and our founders to get out of the major cities and start looking at what's happening inside of what, you know, quote, unquote real America is because that's really where the scale is, and that's really where the need is. So,

About this clip

Mike Jones argues that VCs and entrepreneurs need to leave New York and LA to understand what actual Americans want and need. He emphasizes that building for mass market requires getting out of elite coastal bubbles and connecting with culture in 'real America' where the true scale and opportunity exists.

Why this clip

This is a provocative contrarian take that challenges the conventional wisdom of coastal venture capitalists about where to find genuine market insights.

25:42 - 26:3553scontrarian take

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