The Full Ratchet (TFR): Venture Capital and Startup Investing Demystified

Glenn Rockman of Adjuvant Capital joins Nick to discuss The Future of Public Health, VC Differentiation within Life Sciences, and Preventing the Next Pandemic. In this episode, we cover: Walk us through your background and path to VC. What's the thesis at Adjuvant? When taking on strategic LPs, especially those that are very high profile, and have their own mandates and their own agendas, do they inform you where you deploy capital, or is Adjuvant completely independent and financially motivated? Is there a standard stage within the clinical or development process that you enter in? Standard check size? Are you multi-stage? You're investing in products designed for people who live on just a few dollars per day ... There's a lot of VCs that won't invest in the underbanked category, for instance, because of low-income dynamics and socio-economic effects, even though there are some big, winners and category creators there. When you're pitching this different lens and different frame to LPs in the life sciences space that are used to deploying into a certain model ... that's designed for a different maybe category of patients. How did that resonate? And how were you able to compete against peers in the life sciences space for LPs? Regarding geopolitical risks to deployment and ideological or philosophical risks amongst the public that have been maligned by governments or biotech companies... How do you address risks of that nature, especially when you're going into different countries with heterogeneous agendas across and belief sets across both? Did your firm take an active position investing in vaccines or treatments or COVID-19? And how do you look at that in the short and medium-term? What do you think happens in the future with public health spending? And do you see a lot more dollars being allocated for prevention and other activities to address public health issues? There's this common belief that I hear you disagree with that becoming a good VC requires an apprenticeship. Why do you think it doesn't? Are there any best practices from traditional VC that you embrace and then others that you just ignore? What do you know you need to get better at?

On this special segment of The Full Ratchet, the following Investors are featured: Erik Torenberg Patrick Gallagher Alfred Chuang Stephen McIntyre Each investor illustrates a critical lesson learned about startup investing and how it's changed their approach.

Neil Sequeira of Defy joins Nick to discuss Overlooked Opportunity in EdTech, Letting the Entrepreneur Be the Guide, and Defy's Sage Program. In this episode, we cover: Walk us through your background and path to VC. Remind us of the thesis at Defy. Tell us a little about your team at Defy. How it has grown and evolved and all of the things each person brings to the table which makes the firm stronger? What do you think is one of the most underappreciated skills of the great venture investor? How do you think founders have changed since you first started investing, if at all? Why is leading a round of financing and ownership important to venture capital firms? At the later stages and growth stages, what's the biggest risk or mistake you've seen founders make when bringing on investors, and/or what's the biggest issue that investors may impose that causes issues? What resources would you recommend to the listeners that you found valuable on founding startups or being a long-term sustaining venture investor? What do you need to get better at? What is the best way for listeners to connect with you?

On this special segment of The Full Ratchet, the following Investors are featured: Monique Woodard Marcelino Pantoja Niko Bonatsos Jim Douglass Each investor discusses sectors, drivers and/or trends that may have significant impact in the future and are potentially positioned for outsized-returns.

Guy Perelmuter of GRIDS Capital joins Nick to discuss The Deep Tech Revolution, Predictions for the Job Market, Crypto, and NFTs, and The Inevitabilities of the Next Decade. In this episode, we cover: Walk us through your background and path to VC. What's the thesis at GRIDS Capital? A common critique of deep tech — it takes longer, it's more unpredictable, timing is of greater risk, and it's more capital intensive — why commit your firm to exclusively targeting a segment that most venture investors refuse to consider? Present Future: Business, Science, and the Deep Tech Revolution —Why did you decide to write a book about the deep tech revolution? Protocols of standardization What factors lead to standardization and choosing of a protocol? What are the "inevitabilities" of the next decade? What does the job market of the future look like? Do crypto coins become a primary Treasury Reserve asset or a major currency in the next three to five years? A quick take on NFTs? What does the future for Brazil and South America look like? You're a previous risk manager, and you've claimed before that being risk-averse is a strength in VC. Why is that?

On this special segment of The Full Ratchet, the following Investors are featured: Ryan Gembala James Currier Jesse Middleton Ramy Adeeb Each investor highlights a situation where they decided not to invest, why they passed, and how it played out.

Nicole Quinn of Lightspeed Venture Partners joins Nick to discuss The Effect of Technology on Relationships, The 5 Indicators of a True Brand, The Appeal of Love/Hate Businesses, & the Rise of Super Apps. In this episode, we cover: Walk us through your background and path to VC What if anything changed the most from your early days, angel investing on your own to the days you joined the team at Lightspeed? I think a good place to start is with an article you wrote a little over a year ago about your investment philosophy, and how it was shaped by the book, Shoe Dog, by Phil Knight. What was the seminal learning from that book, and how has it shaped your approach? What's the thesis at Lightspeed? What are the consumer behaviors in different regions? You emphasized the importance of hiring and the framework Lightspeed uses for its portfolio companies. Could you give us the broad strokes on that? How did you develop your thesis on Lunch Club, and what makes you so excited about it and kind of the way they're thinking about relationships? You have such a lens on social and all these things, but how will relationships be affected over time with not being able to achieve that same level of authentic connection with folks when it's just over chat or the internet? Are you bullish or bearish on Clubhouse? What are the early indicators in a company that signal that a true brand is being built? Are their must-haves vs. nice to haves? Have you ever come across an opportunity where the NPS was? marginal or low, but the repeat rate and referral rate was high? Have you looked at all this? You know, kind of buzzy new way of looking at that the Rahul Vohra Superhuman? How pissed off would you be if this was taken away or something like that? Most of the super apps have been outside of the states, places like China, Latin America. Do you expect the rise of more super apps here? Why or why not?

On this special segment of The Full Ratchet, the following Investors are featured: Henrique Dubugras Nikhil Basu Trivedi Check Warner Brian Hirsch Each investor discusses a portfolio company that did not survive and why it was that they failed.

Mike Smerklo of Next Coast Ventures joins Nick to discuss The Sustainable & Temporary Trends of COVID, The Self-Aware Founder, and Writing the Survival Guide for the Mental Aspect of Entrepreneurship. In this episode, we cover: Walk us through your background and path to VC. What's the thesis at Next Coast Ventures? What are 'Next Coast' markets? How do you come up with the themes that drive investment focus at NCV? What are some of the trends emerging now that you are following that may have the most impact on new business creation over the next five years? Which are sustainable and which are temporary? Especially in the post covid world. The biggest difference in the founder journey from the LoudCloud and ServiceSource days vs. today? What qualities do you look for in founders when investing in the early-stage vs. growth stage? How do you help founders? What led you to write the book Mr. Monkey and Me? Why are you giving all the proceeds for the book to charity? I would love to hear your thoughts on self-awareness w/ entrepreneurs and your approach to it. This question is called three data points. I'm going to give you a hypothetical situation w/ a startup, and you can ask three questions for three specific data points. Let's say you're approached to invest in a Series A Marketplace startup... The company is based in Houston The sector is oil/gas. They launched 24 months ago. and they currently have $500k/month GMV and a 25% take rate ($125k monthly revenue run rate) Again, the catch is, you can only ask 3 questions for 3 specific data points, in order to make your decision. What three questions do you ask?

On this special segment of The Full Ratchet, the following Investors are featured: Maren Bannon Simeon Iheagwham Ty Findley Paul Martino Each investor describes the most unusual situation or pitch that they've encountered as an investor.

McKeever "Mac" Conwell II of RareBreed Ventures joins Nick to discuss Raising a Fund via General Solicitation & Twitter, How Rolling Funds Can Disadvantage LPs, and Facing the Reality of Diversity in VC. In this episode, we cover: Walk us through your background and path to VC What's the thesis at RareBreed Ventures? Why did you start RareBreed Ventures? Tell me about the fundraise... when did you first kickoff and then start getting momentum? Have you gotten better at raising over time? What have you improved most? What resonates w/ LPs, what do you get pushback on? What's been the biggest surprise in the process so far? Optimistic, pessimistic or neutral on diversity in VC over the next decade? Twitter -- blowing up, what's working so well? Rolling fund vs. not... why? Thoughts on thesis and portfolio construction... What's the ideal fund size for your stage and strategy? Founders... biggest mistake you see early stage founders make Gives us a snapshot of Rarebreed in 3 years... how about 7 years?

On this special segment of The Full Ratchet, the following Investors are featured: David Goldberg Sach Chitnis Kane Hsieh Reid Christian Each investor illustrates a critical lesson learned about startup investing and how it's changed their approach.

Brendan Wallace of Fifth Wall joins Nick to discuss How COVID Has Instigated a Massive Demographic Reshuffling, Accelerating the Transformation of Retail, and Why Real Estate Will Become the Largest Consumer of Climate Tech. In this episode, we cover: The world becomes more flat over time, and w/ mobility tech, like Uber and others, the distance between points shortens over time, which all fundamentally disrupts urban planning of the cities themselves but also the suburbs and beyond... now we're in a situation where a wild card factor comes into play... this pandemic... that has altered how people live and work more fundamentally than ever expected? First off... trends where you will deploy dollars? Do we go back to a primarily in-office environment post-covid? why or why not? Have you seen more value creation or more value destruction, in real estate, from the pandemic? What strategies will cities implement to stay competitive post-covid? We have a new administration in office... How do you think this affects real estate and your strategy at Fifth Wall? Climate issues and the net carbon effect of construction on the planet... is technology the primary solution to these issues, or is it even more basic than that? Financial side or real estate, construction and AEC side, there's the post-construction in-service opportunities/retrofits for buildings whether residential, commercial or industrial... what part are you spending the most time in and do you feel there's the biggest gap between current state and desired state? What are the most common mistakes founders make when building in this sector?

On this special segment of The Full Ratchet, the following Investors are featured: Ben Casnocha Elizabeth Yin Ed Sim Tim Guleri Each investor discusses sectors, drivers and/or trends that may have significant impact in the future and are potentially positioned for outsized-returns.

Paul Martino of Bullpen Capital joins Nick to discuss Doubling Down on Data to Discover Overlooked Founders, Teaching and Coaching CEOs, & Bullpen's Approach to Measuring Fund Success. In this episode, we cover: Can you first refresh us on the thesis at Bullpen and then maybe give us an update on the firm over the past three years? How do you define post-seed today... and is it moving as other stages have? Are you still one of the few specialized at post-seed or have you seen increasing competition? Is there still a strong emphasis on metrics and using the data as an early filter of deals? How are you using data to source? What do you look for in founders? Why are you committed to coaching/supporting companies? We all know the scorecard of success in VC... DPI, TVPI, IRR, PME, etc... what are the leading indicators of success that you measure and manage to make sure you're driving success in those metrics. You are a founder yourself, what advice would you give to founders right now that are building during the Coronavirus Recession Wrote article: "The 2008 Recession Saved Our Company. The Coronavirus Recession Might Save Yours, Too" Let's say you have a chance to speak w/ a younger Paul, circa 2010... what advice to give? What does the underdog founder look like? or What do you look for in founders? What's broken in the venture ecosystem? This question is called three data points. I'm going to give you a hypothetical situation w/ a startup and you can ask three questions for three specific data points. Let's say you're approached to invest in a post-seed stage SaaS startup... The founder does not come from big tech. Her HQ is in St. Louis The sector is retail. They launched 12 months ago. and they currently have $80k MRR. Again, the catch is, you can only ask 3 questions for 3 specific data points, in order to make your decision. What three questions do you ask?

On this special segment of The Full Ratchet, the following Investors are featured: Niko Bonatsos Niki Pezeshki Farooq Abbasi Jaclyn Hester Each investor highlights a situation where they decided not to invest, why they passed, and how it played out.

Alfred Chuang of Race Capital joins Nick to discuss The Next Generation of Tech & Venture Capital from the Perspective of a Unicorn Founder Turned GP. In this episode, we cover: Walk us through your background and path to VC What's the thesis at Race Capital? Why did you name your fund Race Capital? I want to talk a bit about open source... there seem to be wildly differing takes on this but what is your opinion of for profit tech companies building products on open source architecture and, in some cases, just reskinning open source tech w/ a UI and selling for profit? As we evolve to an increasingly cloud-first technology environment, what does it mean as we transition from a hybrid (onprem, cloud) approach to cloud only? How does edge computing reconcile with this future cloud-only environment? On the data side... Do you think we move to a Unified Data Infrastructure Architecture in the future? Transition a bit to talk more about your journey... I want to talk a bit about BEA Systems... sounds like an amazing journey and a great outcome. What is your biggest regret looking back (if any)? Ultimately, why do you think entrepreneurs choose you over other firms? What's your opinion on valuation and, as things have gotten more competitive, firms bidding price up and founders really optimizing for valuation at the early stages? Is Silicon Valley's exodus real? Will these SPAC deals blow up?

On this special segment of The Full Ratchet, the following Investors are featured: Erik Torenberg Maren Bannon Shawn Carolan Lanham Napier Each investor discusses a portfolio company that did not survive and why it was that they failed.

Monique Woodard of Cake Ventures joins Nick to discuss The "Three Layer Cake" Fund, How Personal Experience Drives Your Investment Lens, The Future of Tech for the Aging Population, & How a Solo GP Can Do it All. In this episode, we cover: Walk us through your background and path to VC What's the thesis at Cake Ventures? You have a strong focus on looking for startups that are addressing the needs of a world undergoing massive demographic changes. Talk to us a bit about how you approach investing in demographic change? What sort of demographic changes do you believe will have opportunities? Were you surprised to see Baby Boomers dominating online shopping? What is it like being a solo GP? What are the pros and cons? How do you replicate and try to scale yourself? Context switching is often cited as the hardest thing about what we do. Talk us through your schedule and how you manage context switching? This question is called three data points. I'm going to give you a hypothetical situation w/ a startup and you can ask three questions for three specific data points. Let's say you are approached to invest in a consumer social business with 100k MAUs, and 20% MoM growth for the last 3 months. The catch is you can only ask for 3 data points to make your decision. What 3 questions do you ask?

On this special segment of The Full Ratchet, the following Investors are featured: Lo Toney Stephen McIntyre Eric Collins Trae Vassallo Each investor describes the most unusual situation or pitch that they've encountered as an investor.

David Goldberg of Alpaca VC joins Nick to discuss Staying Competitive in the Seed Fund Boom, Success Metrics at the Fund Level, and the Shifting Equilibrium of Investors and Founders. In this episode, we cover: Walk us through your background and path to VC Tell us about your shift from law to finance and to becoming a founder of FreshNeck? What's the thesis at Alpaca VC? Talk to us about your Field Studies and why you do them. How do you develop a thesis on consumer behavior, trends, and how they will evolve in the coming years? Similar to us you do a lot of OKR and KPI measurement and tracking as a firm... what are some of the most important metrics you track that should ultimately lead to the right progress? What about w/ the portfolio companies? Do you have systems and processes on the front-end, pre-investment You are a remote team of fund managers in NY, CO, and FL... what are the advantages and drawbacks for startups with w/ remote teams? Do you think the center of gravity is shifting away from the Valley? You recently invested $2.5M of your personal capital into 6 Black and Latin fund managers - what drove this decision? What are your thoughts on Carta X and new liquidity for late-stage equity?

On this special segment of The Full Ratchet, the following Investors are featured: Janet Bannister Simeon Iheagwham Somesh Dash Jonathan Hsu Each investor illustrates a critical lesson learned about startup investing and how it's changed their approach.

Marcelino Pantoja of Tribe Capital joins Nick to discuss LP Turned VC, Mistakes When Pitching to Allocators, and Managing Limited Partner Relationships. In this episode, we cover: Walk us through your background and path to VC Refresh on the thesis at Tribe? Talk to us about the mindset of the allocator — what are their key objectives and what do they care about? What are the biggest mistakes you see emerging managers making when pitching LPs? Let's say an aspiring VC has a few years until they will raise from institutions... what should they be focusing on in order to create a really compelling offering in the medium term? Let's say an emerging GP is raising from institutions imminently... what advice would you have for them? Do you think it's significantly easier for an institution to make an investment in some coming from a large successful Tier 1 fund, spinoff, vs. a successful operator or angel? What are the key challenge areas that the LP is really going to scrutinize on the spin-off and what are the areas under scrutiny for the operator? Sometimes it's hard to get information on LPs from a distance... do you have any advice for fund managers that are trying to pre-qualify? What is the difference between a good LP and one that may be a problem... how does a GP determine that early enough to avoid bringing on the wrong types of LPs? In what ways is your job similar and different moving from LP to VC? How do you compete against other firms for deals? I understand the value-add but the value has become competitive with a larger number of firms... how can you continue to win and do so at a price that makes sense for the return potential?

On this special segment of The Full Ratchet, the following Investors are featured: Grace Isford Erik Torenberg Eric Collins Villi Iltchev Each investor discusses sectors, drivers and/or trends that may have significant impact in the future and are potentially positioned for outsized-returns.

Vincent Diallo of Interlace Ventures joins Nick to discuss Retail Apocalypse or Renaissance, the Commerce Evolution, and Fundraising from Corporates. In this episode, we cover: Article Mentioned in Episode: http://bit.ly/TFR-Vincent Walk us through your background and path to VC What's the thesis at Interlace? COVID has affected commerce severely -- for better and for worse. Has this changed your investment approach? Many investors are avoiding all physical retail as COVID has created a "retail apocalypse", but you've stated that you see it more as a retail renaissance. Why? What are some trends from COVID that you think investors are overreacting to that you expect will return to pre-pandemic levels? What new consumer experiences or behaviors are emerging that you are excited about? You mentioned supply chain as another area of interest, where are the biggest opportunities in the supply chain? Biggest mistake fundraising? Biggest win fundraising? Oper8tor program? Is now a good time or a difficult time to be a diverse fund manager?

On this special segment of The Full Ratchet, the following Investors are featured: Tom Tunguz Patrick Gallagher Trae Vassallo Brian Hirsch Each investor highlights a situation where they decided not to invest, why they passed, and how it played out.

Sach Chitnis of Jump Capital joins Nick to discuss Discovering the Next Sectors of Opportunity, The Impact Platform, & The Exit Discussion. In this episode, we cover: Walk us through your background and path to VC What's the thesis at Jump Capital? Talk about developing a thesis on a specific market opportunity — can you give us the broad strokes on your process of how you dissect emerging markets and identify where existing offerings are lacking? How do you determine who will be the winner? Is it common that, of the existing set of players, none will emerge as the winner and you need to wait for a fresh approach? Having a portfolio support platform is unusual for your size — how are you able to make it work at your fund size and what all does it entail? In what areas do you find a Series A funded company needs the most help? How do you advise a founder that's in a hot space, doesn't need capital but has inbound interest and large investment offers, maybe at inflated valuations, from tier 1 coastal investors? Let's talk about exits a bit... you've been around for 8 years, I noticed the good news of both 4C and Personal Capital's recent large exit, where are you finding most of the exit discussions begin... do they start w/ the founder considering it, do you discuss it as an option, or do meetings/partnerships start coming from strategics that get the process rolling? How do you advise founders on negotiation and getting the right offer, not just any offer? What is "swing time" and how do you systematically build that into your schedule?

On this special segment of The Full Ratchet, the following Investors are featured: Niko Bonatsos Melody Koh Ramy Adeeb Mark Suster Each investor discusses a portfolio company that did not survive and why it was that they failed.

Maren Bannon of January Ventures joins Nick to discuss Breaking the Founder Stereotype, Mastering Conviction Over Zoom, & the Contrast between European and American Entrepreneurs. In this episode, we cover: Walk us through your background and path to VC What's the thesis at January Ventures? How are you and your team at January Ventures making tech more of an equal opportunity? What is your approach to portfolio construction in this fund and how will that evolve in the future? What's one thing you know now that you wish you knew prior to raising the fund? You take meetings with founders VERY early — no warm intro, no pitch deck, or no revenue required to pitch to January Ventures. How do you evaluate the potential this early? How do you filter all of the opportunities -- what is your pre-filter process? How have you changed your work/process at January post COVID? What is your experience like moving from SF to Europe and what is your view of the European tech ecosystem?

On this special segment of The Full Ratchet, the following Investors are featured: Henrique Dubugras Jim Douglass Beezer Clarkson Avichal Garg Each investor describes the most unusual situation or pitch that they've encountered as an investor.

Tim Guleri of Sierra Ventures joins Nick to discuss Advice from a Unicorn Founder Turned VC, the Future of the VC Landscape for Founders & VCs, and the Founder Love Metric. In this episode, we cover: Walk us through your background and path to VC What's the thesis at Sierra Ventures? What's been your biggest influence on the firm's ethos? You've had two incredible outcomes as a founder... first question is do you think the process of building a company today is materially different than it was when you did it... if so how? We've talked a lot on the show, over the past 8 months about the effects of COVID on venture... what have been you main observations on how VCs are adjusting to investing during COVID? What do you think the new normal for startups looks like post-covid? How do you advise a founder that's in a hot space, doesn't need capital, but has inbound interest and large investment offers, maybe at inflated valuations, from tier 1 coastal investors? How do you handle situations where the product is just not a great fit for the market and the momentum is not building the way it should? You've been through the exit process this yourself and, I'd imagine, even w/ great outcomes those are some of the hardest decision one faces as a CEO... Do you have a framework or an approach to assessing whether an exit offer is strong and should be taken or whether the founder should hold out for a bigger outcome. There are a lot of factors that play into having to wind down a company... are there any that standout that signal to you that it's no longer working and we need to face to reality? You mentioned something interesting recently pertaining to your relationship with founders and that's that you track a metric that you dub "Founder Love". Can you explain how you gauge and measure this? What do you think the venture industry looks like in 5-10 year

On this special segment of The Full Ratchet, the following Investors are featured: Check Warner Ty Findley Lo Toney Byron Deeter Each investor illustrates a critical lesson learned about startup investing and how it's changed their approach.

Ed Sim of boldstart ventures joins Nick to discuss: Velocity as a Superpower, Why Contrarians Win, The Role of a Board Member, and Why Some Challenge When they Should Chill Walk us through your background and path to VC What's the thesis at boldstart ventures? What was it like starting Boldstart in NYC in 2010? Tell us a bit about the thesis at investment and how things evolved over the years until the ultimate exit? What's your preference... Niche and narrow problems or big and expansive opportunities? What is your mental model for investing in enterprise founders with ideas? category creation Why only technical founders? Will this enterprise bull market sustain? You've talked about being involved and sitting on boards from "whiteboard to scale" ?... how do you manage ever-increasing board responsibilities with other demands of the job? Where are VCs most lacking when it comes to the value that early-stage founders require? Do you think there's too much money in venture? How do you win in a seed with so many seed funds?

On this special segment of The Full Ratchet, the following Investors are featured: Steve Blank Niki Pezeshki Lolita Taub Jesse Middleton Each investor discusses sectors, drivers and/or trends that may have significant impact in the future and are potentially positioned for outsized-returns.

Brian Hirsch of Tribeca Venture Partners joins Nick to discuss Maintaining a Disciplined Fund Size and Strategy, The Rise of NYC Tech, and Changes in the Exit Environment. In this episode, we cover: Walk us through your background and path to VC What's the thesis at Tribeca Venture Partners (TVP)? We've seen notable firms in the valley launch platform and service offerings to founders... have you considered this at Tribeca - why or why not? Biggest differences between NYC tech vs Bay Area Tech COVID is causing many people to move away from the city. Any concerns about losing tech talent? How much does the exit environment for tech companies effects what you invest in? what's most undervalued in the public market or exit market at large that will be more appropriately valued in 3-5 years from now What's your take SPACs? 10/9 Brain's Tweet: "New 🦄 every 3 days this year vs. how many SPACs? Unicorns and SPACs are like pizza. If the ratio of cheese to sauce is off the 🍕 tastes bad and goes down poorly." What's your take on rolling funds?

On this special segment of The Full Ratchet, the following Investors are featured: Janet Bannister Shawn Carolan Reid Christian Villi Iltchev Each investor highlights a situation where they decided not to invest, why they passed, and how it played out.

Simeon Iheagwam of Noemis Ventures joins Nick to discuss Starting a Fund w/ Life Savings, Why it Takes More than Just Performance to Find Success, and Sticking to Your Framework. In this episode, we cover: Walk us through your background and path to VC What's the thesis at NOEMIS Ventures? What is your process for investing? Are there any must-haves? Like Brad Feld... you are syndication agnostic... don't care about who else is in the round and you're willing to be the first yes. How do you get to conviction -- especially not having worked for a large VC fund? Where do you help your portfolio companies the most? In your words... why is it difficult to launch a fund as a diverse manager? What were some of the most unexpected and challenging aspects of launching a fund? Strangest question you've received from an LP? What's your approach to investing in diverse founders? You were recently highlighted by Grasshopper Bank and Left Tackle Capital as an extraordinary funder. And I believe you joined their inaugural cohort called the Future Funders Institute? We've seen a few different accelerator-like programs spin up, targeted at emerging GPs. Tell us a bit about the program. 3 data points... Let's say you are approached to invest in a Fintech SaaS business with $5k MRR, and 20% MoM growth for the last 3 months. The catch is you can only ask for 3 data points to make your decision. What 3 questions do you ask for?

On this special segment of The Full Ratchet, the following Investors are featured: Stephen McIntyre Gigi Levy Weiss Richard Kerby Kane Hsieh Each investor discusses a portfolio company that did not survive and why it was that they failed.

Charles Adler of Kickstarter joins Nick to discuss The Founding Story of Kickstarter — Community, Competition, and Customer-Obsession. In this episode, we cover: Walk us through your background and path to tech. Growing up what inspired you most? How did the idea for Kickstarter begin? Was there an MVP - was there an initial target vertical? When did you know that it was working? What was the biggest mistake you made during the journey? When competition arose... did it scare you? Is Kickstarter today still delivering on the initial vision you and your co-founders had? What was the hardest part of growing a venture-backed company? What advice would you have for founders before selecting VC partners? Organic growth and categories? We often talk on the show about the importance of customer obsession, really knowing what they care about and spending time to understand that -- what has been your philosophy and approach w/ customers? Many founders and investors talk about the importance of diversity. We talk about the importance of climate change and the environment. We campaign for socio-economic equality. How do you think founders (and investors) can be more intentional about building their beliefs into their business and their culture? What are you focused on now... tell us about Lost Arts? Why do it alone? Community has been a common thread/focus across many of your efforts. Is community core to everything you do... if so why?

On this special segment of The Full Ratchet, the following Investors are featured: Ben Casnocha Janet Bannister Nikhil Basu Trivedi Farooq Abbasi Each investor describes the most unusual situation or pitch that they've encountered as an investor.

Guest Update: When the episode was recorded in 2019, Cyan was a partner at Founders Fund. Currently, Cyan is a partner at Long Journey Ventures. In this special replay of episode 180, Cyan Banister of Long Journey Ventures joins Nick to discuss the Self-Made Engineer, Angel, and Venture Capitalist. In this episode, we cover: So, Cyan you have a really interesting story and background that led you to where you are today. Feel free to start wherever makes most sense but can you talk about your life experience and how it led you to where you're at now? You spoke publicly about your early life at the 2018 TechCrunch Disrupt conference, from living on the streets to becoming a venture capitalist, tell us about this incredible journey, what you accredit your success to and how it lead to venture? Where along the way did you meet Scott? Did you guys every consider raising your own fund? How early are you able to go at Founder's Fund? How do you work with founders post-investment? Judicious with your magic bullets? Have you funded founders with non-traditional backgrounds or missions dedicated to folks living in poverty or providing access to upward mobility? How has your approach changed from your time as an angel to now your experience as a VC ? Do you have any good stories or learnings from Naval? Prior to FF you were an early stage investor in successful companies like Uber, Postmates, PayPal at others... I know you invest alongside Scott... who started angel investing? What was your early approach to angel investing and how were you able to source and select such iconic tech companies at very early stages? Can you tell us a bit about Founder's Fund and your focus? Stage, Sectors, Geographies? "The most promising companies tend to share a few characteristics: They are not popular. They are difficult to assess. They have technology risk, but not insurmountable technology risk. If they succeed, their technology will be extraordinarily valuable. We have no idea what these companies might look like, only that they probably will share these characteristics. Entrepreneurs often know better than we do what might be enormously valuable in the future." -- It's a very humble approach and one that resonates with me and many others. Can you elaborate on the thesis and characteristics of founders that are the best fit for Founders Fund? What's your take on the prevalent number of VCs that remove CEOs of their portfolio companies, on average, within three years of investment? What's your take on contrarian vs. conformist investing... first, how do you even determine what is contrarian and then what's your take on how each ties to performance?

In this special replay of episode 135 & 136, Eric Paley of Founder Collective joins Nick to dispel some conventional wisdom in VC. We address questions including: What's the focus at Founder Collective? What are the downsides of heavily funded companies? Overview and Methodology of the study of 71 IPOs: 'Overdosing on VC: Lessons from 71 IPOs' Conventional VC...

On this special segment of The Full Ratchet, the following Investors are featured: Eric Collins Trae Vassallo Ramy Adeeb M.G. Siegler Each investor illustrates a critical lesson learned about startup investing and how it's changed their approach.

On this special segment of The Full Ratchet, the following individuals are featured: Nick Moran Thomas Gentle This will be a unique segment where, Founder of Shotcall, Thomas Gentle, will discuss his startup story and how he chose New Stack to participate in the funding round. follow us on Twitter @TheFullRatchet for updates and more information.

On this special segment of The Full Ratchet, the following Investors are featured: Check Warner Henrique Dubugras James Currier Lanham Napier Each investor discusses sectors, drivers and/or trends that may have a significant impact in the future and are potentially positioned for outsized-returns.

Avichal Garg of Electric Capital joins Nick to discuss The Intersection of Crypto and VC and the Future of Digital Currency. In this episode, we cover: Walk us through your background and path to VC What's the thesis at Electric Capital? How does the crypto focus change the fund structure of Electric Capital? When you invest capital and receive equity and/or coins in return... What determines that breakdown? For pure coin investments, how do you think about and manage liquidity and transactions over time? What are some of the big differences between traditional tech investing and crypto investing? How are the founder's different? What's are the biggest risk factors that are unique for early-stage cryptocurrencies?

On this special segment of The Full Ratchet, the following Investors are featured: Jason Whitney Leah Solivan Jim Douglass Elizabeth Yin Each investor highlights a situation where they decided not to invest, why they passed, and how it played out.

Lolita Taub & Jesse Middleton of The Community Fund join Nick to discuss The Fund that Started on Twitter, Why Community-driven Startups Win, and Embracing the Underestimated. In this episode, we cover: Background of Lolita & Jesse How did the two of you meet and ultimately decide to launch a fund together? What's the thesis at the Community Fund? Conflicts or issues running multiple funds that invest at similar stages? Why did you create a distributed investment team of 13? How did you select them? Approach to investing in cold reach outs? How does decision-making work? What does a great founder look like to you? You invest in community-driven companies... what does that mean, and how do you define community-driven?

On this special segment of The Full Ratchet, the following Investors are featured: Niki Pezeshki Somesh Dash Byron Deeter Trae Vassallo Each investor discusses a portfolio company that did not survive and why it was that they failed.

Reid Christian of CRV joins Nick to discuss Developer Tools, The Surge of European Tech, and Why Founder Needs Differ Across Regions. In this episode, we cover: Walk us through your background and path to VC What's the thesis at CRV? $600M closed in July... any change to approach or thesis? What are some of the focus areas that you're leaning into amidst the circumstances? How do you evaluate teams? What type of founders excites you to invest? Centralization — the shift from consumers to creators Why is your focus on SAAS/CLOUD/ENTERPRISE IT/BIG DATA? What does the future look like for Enterprise SaaS companies? How has your sourcing of startups changed? In another lifetime, would you like to be a professional basketball player or a venture capitalist? Three data points question