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

On this special segment of The Full Ratchet, the following Investors are featured:

• Erik Torenberg
• Ryan Gembala
• Jaclyn Hester
• Jonathan Hsu

Each investor describes the most unusual situation or pitch that they've encountered as an investor.

On this special segment of The Full Ratchet, the following individuals are featured:

• Nick Moran
• Kwame Boler

This will be a unique segment where, Founder of Neu, Kwame Boler, will discuss his startup story and how he chose New Stack to participate in the funding round.

To listen more, please visit http://fullratchet.net/podcast-episodes/ for all of our other episodes.

Also, follow us on twitter @TheFullRatchet for updates and more information.

On this special segment of The Full Ratchet, the following Investors are featured:

• Minnie Ingersoll
• Oren Klaff
• Jason Whitney
• Nikhil Basu Trivedi

Each investor illustrates a critical lesson learned about startup investing and how it's changed their approach.

Niko Bonatsos of General Catalyst joins Nick to discuss Investing in First-time Founders, the Evolution of Social, the Future of Big Tech, and the Freedom of Remote Work. In this episode, we cover:

• Walk us through your background and path to VC
• What's the thesis at General Catalyst?
• Livongo... up nearly 300% since public debut last year — I hear you were in the room during the early formation stages.
• You have been at GC for almost 10 years — what has been the most significant change in VC, aside from the pandemic, since you began your career?
• What are your thoughts on the explosion of seed funds and now many angel funds as well?
• Since the pandemic broke, what's been the most significant adjustment at GC, and/or how do you see the approach to investing changing going forward?
• What surging trends during the pandemic will continue to grow faster, and which will revert once the pandemic is over?
• Do you think this fundamentally changes benefits that are offered to employees?
• I'm not sure if you caught the recent documentary on Netflix — social dilemma explaining social media issues. Many experts argued that we are not evolved to handle all of these inputs and that big tech has and will continue to manipulate our beliefs and actions. What's your take?
• Tweet: "Are you building a consumer product that is perceived as annoying, controversial, or stupid by most people? If yes, I'd love to hear from you!" What are some examples of consumer successes that started this way?
• What qualities does a founder need to have for you to be interested in?
• Break up big tech?
• The three data points

On this special segment of The Full Ratchet, the following Investors are featured:

• Alex Osterwalder
• Mark Suster
• Melody Koh
• Farooq Abbasi

Each investor discusses sectors, drivers, and/or trends that may have a significant impact in the future and are potentially positioned for outsized-returns.

Villi Iltchev of Two Sigma Ventures joins Nick to discuss Using "George" a Proprietary Tool to Source Startups, The Commoditization of Capital, and the New Exit Environment. In this episode, we cover:

• Walk us through your background and path to VC
• What’s the thesis at Two Sigma?
• Tell us about George.
• What's George's biggest blind spot?
• What is your decision framework on investments?
• What characteristics do you look for in markets when identifying new sectors/spaces of interest?
• How long after investing in/working with a company do you tend to know whether it's going to work or not?
• Do you attempt to handicap execution risk vs. technical risk vs. commercial risk?
• Capital is a commodity and, largely speaking, there doesn't appear to be a lot of differentiation in venture.  How do you combat the commoditization of venture?
• Aside from bankers... who do you think stands to lose the most from the increase in SPACs and direct listings?
• Any other downsides, unintended consequences, or problematic issues that could arise from the increase in SPACs?
• A decade from now, will the U.S. be the best country to start a tech company?  If it shifts, what are the prime candidate countries to replace the U.S.?
• International investment strategy for Two Sigma?
• Three data points...  hypothetical investment scenario
• • Let’s say you’re approached to invest in an enterprise SaaS startup.
  • Founder has a great background.
  • MRR is $200k, growing 20% MoM.   LTV:CAC is 5:1.  Quick Ratio greater than 4.
  • 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:

• Ty Findley
• Stephen McIntyre
• Beezer Clarkson
• Sarah Tavel

Each investor highlights a situation where they decided not to invest, why they passed, and how it played out.

Janet Bannister of Real Ventures joins Nick to discuss Launching Canada's #1 Local Classifieds Site, Kijiji, The Flourishing Canadian Tech Ecosystem, and What to Look for in Early-stage Marketplace Startups. In this episode, we cover:

• Walk us through your background and path to VC
• What’s the thesis at Real Ventures?
• Tell us about your time at Kijiji
• You became the Managing Partner at Real Ventures  a few months before the pandemic.  What timing to take on the MP role!
• You've talked about how it's just as important to focus on founder development as it is to focus on business strategy and growth... in what areas do you find that founders need the most development help?
• Largely speaking, what stats or trends across Canada lead you to believe that it will have a booming tech economy over the next decade?
• What city gets most of your attention and what city/region is under-the-radar but shouldn't be?
• What are the top 3 things you're looking for in a marketplace startup?
• come for tool stay for marketplace... vice-versa?
• Balanced scorecard
• Let's say you are approached to invest in a Consumer Marketplace company with $5M in GMV, a 30% take rate, and 20% MoM growth for the last 6 months.
• • 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:

• Tom Tunguz
• Grace Isford
• Ben Casnocha
• Courtney Reum

Each investor discusses a portfolio company that did not survive and why it was that they failed.

George Arison of Shift joins Nick to discuss Going Public via SPACs and PIPEs, The First Mover in Ridesharing That Lost to Uber, and Building the Online Marketplace for Used Cars, Shift. In this episode, we cover:

• Walk us through your background and path to tech.
• What was the outcome of taxi magic? Shut down?
• When you spoke with Bill Gurley - rumor has it he pushed back on the model.  Did you consider switching?
• What is Shift?
• How are you different than Carvana?
• How accurately can you price a car sight unseen?
• It feels like you are effectively CarMax online...  If CarMax is such a good value prop for seekers and buyers, why do you think they only have a 1% market share?
• There were lots of ways you could have expanded early on... your offerings... geography... and even product/business lines (like financing)... talk us through the early decisions that were made and how they were made
• The name is great but does Gen Z get it?  No one shifts anymore
• Online marketplace solving an extremely frustrating and time-consuming consumer life event but it's a very Infrequent transaction so you need to be top of mind when someone is buying a new car or ready to make a transaction... How are you thinking about that?
• Talk about your decision to go with a SPAC to go public.
• The decision to go direct-listing would be in cases where the company is more of a household name?
• SPACs were a four-letter word in the '90s... apparently, there were some bad situations... what is the risk here, and how has that been addressed by the modern SPAC structure?
• Do sponsors get 2% or 20% off the top?
• What was the value of the SPAC vs. the valuation of your company... were you (and other shareholders) diluted by the SPAC investment amount
• And the rest/the balance of capital comes from a PIPE, correct?
• As an investor, wouldn't the preference be to invest in the SPAC vs. the PIPE?
• Building a company in SV or not, and where that is headed?
• What advice would you have for founders before selecting VC partners?
• What was the experience as an openly gay man building a tech company -- do you think that presented a more difficult path to success?

On this special segment of The Full Ratchet, the following Investors are featured:

• Check Warner
• Ramy Adeeb
• Patrick Gallagher
• Shawn Carolan

Each investor describes the most unusual situation or pitch that they've encountered as an investor.

Eric Collins of Impact X Capital joins Nick to discuss The Changing "Search Image" of Founders, Lack of Diversity = Missed Opportunity, and COVID Effects on the BLM Movement in Europe. In this episode, we cover:

• Walk us through your background and path to VC
• What's the thesis at Impact X?
• As a black CEO and fund manager, in what ways do you think your experience fundraising was different than your white, male peers at other firms?
• How do you approach sourcing?
• What's unique about the way you've built your network vs. other firms?
• Less than 1% of venture funding goes to black-led and we've heard the tired line that "not enough companies are founded by underrepresented founders and black founders"...  Are you concerned that you'll have fewer deals or less pipeline?
• What's the right number of deals per year where you feel like you're seeing a sufficient amount?
• I've heard about the "deep analysis" you do and how that creates the edge.  Can you describe what this entails?
• Do the issues run deeper in the LP community than even the GP community?
• Are the return expectations different for your LPs vs. a non-Impact fund?
• A lot of the impact you are creating is long-term in nature.  What are the leading indicators of success for your fund?
• How do you set objectives and measures to know if you're winning/exceeding the plan?
• In response to the pandemic, the gov't created a number of programs to help fast-growth companies.  What was the impact on your underrepresented pipeline and portfolio?
• Black Lives Matter has been the center of attention here in the states.  What's the status of the movement in the UK and how has it impacted your efforts at Impact X?

On this special segment of The Full Ratchet, the following Investors are featured:

• Richard Kerby
• Jaclyn Hester
• Lanham Napier
• Steve Blank

Each investor illustrates a critical lesson learned about startup investing and how it's changed their approach.

Erik Torenberg of Village Global joins Nick to discuss Decentralization of VC, Why Your Fund Size is Your Strategy, and Why Startup Formation is the Most Important Contributor to Economic Growth. In this episode, we cover:

• Walk us through your background and path to VC
• What were the biggest lessons learned from Product Hunt that you took to investing?
• Recently had Ben Casnocha on... anything specific you'd like to add about the thesis behind Village Global?
• How do you think about working with experienced vs non-experienced angels?
• How do you think about portfolio construction for VG?
• Fast forward... some angels have strong early signals of success, others don't -- do you cull the herd or amplify those that are good pickers?
• Considering this, why do you think so many VCs have concentrated portfolios?
• How do you think about follow on investing?
• What is the role of a pre-seed firm?
• If there's a weakness in the Village model... what is it?
• Part of your model is to increase the amount of founders and investors.  What do you say to those that argue there's too much capital already?
• What’s does the future look like for Venture?
• What’s your advice for people getting into venture?
• Three data points
  • Let’s say you’re approached to invest in an early seed stage SaaS startup...
  • The founder is a technical serial entrepreneur with two solid 8-figure exits.  And she has a credible co-founder that is more business/commercially focused;
  • An MVP of the product has been launched and was the top product of the day on Product Hunt, when it launched;
  • and The Product launched two months ago and currently has $5k of MRR.
  • 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:

• Jonathan Hsu
• John Vrionis
• Trae Vassallo
• Kane Hsieh

Each investor discusses sectors, drivers, and/or trends that may have a significant impact in the future and are potentially positioned for outsized-returns.

Farooq Abbasi of Preface Ventures joins Nick to discuss Funding the Misunderstood Technical Founder, Self Evaluation as a Solo Capitalist, and Capital to Underwrite R&D risk vs. S&M risk. In this episode, we cover:

• Walk us through your background and path to VC
• Why did you launch Preface?
• What's the thesis at Preface?
• How do you define enterprise/infrastructure frontier enterprise?
• What's most different about your approach?
• Are the businesses you fund created and ideated by the founders or is it a collaboration between you and the founders or do you take concepts and bring them to future founders?
• What's your approach to sourcing?
• Because your model is different and the founder profile is a bit different than most...  in what unique ways do you provide value post-investment?
• You're a solo-capitalist...  How do you evaluate yourself and keep some checks/balances on your decisions?
• Did you put together an LPAC -- if so how big is the group, how often do you meet and when/where do they help?
• Are you actively investing in open-source startups?
• What are your thoughts on the Bifurcation in the VC industry... capital underwriting of R&D risk vs. S&M risk?
• What are your thoughts on biases in founder selection, data-driven predictors of founder success?
• What's been the greatest challenge in your VC career and how have you overcome it?
• You’re passionate about Diversity, having founded Diversity.vc in 2016. How are you practicing a more inclusive style of venture capital?
• Three data points...  hypothetical investment scenario

On this special segment of The Full Ratchet, the following Investors are featured:

• Darren Bechtel
• Melody Koh
• Somesh Dash
• Jeff Fluhr

Each investor highlights a situation where they decided not to invest, why they passed, and how it played out.

Ty Findley of Ironspring joins Nick to discuss Industrial Innovation, Where Blitzscaling Doesn't Work, Why Sector Focus Wins, and Beginning with the End in Mind. In this episode, we cover:

• Walk us through your background and path to VC?
• Why the decision to leave Pritzker and become an MP at Ironspring?
• What's the thesis at Ironspring?
• Lots' of new firms and new funds being launched…  How is Ironspring different?
• You're a "sector-focused" fund… why do you think specialized funds will outperform their generalist counterparts?
• We work in an asset class that often promotes bliztscaling, exponential growth and often spending ahead of progress… how do you rationalize the expectations of startups in our industry with the much slower pace that many legacy and heavy industrial industries… that your startups are serving… are going to move at?
• Glacial pace has benefits… long-term durability of cash flows, customer retention, pricing power… the moat
• Do you think product-led growth can work in these sectors?
• Talk about the difference between "occupations" vs. "activities" and why this is especially relevant in industrials amidst the pandemic?
• How do you think your style as an investor differs most from others (ie. discussion of decision making process/thinking in bets… focus on the decision not the outcome)
• How would you describe your system for investment decision making?
• 4-part framework of the “Day in the life of a VC fund manager”?
• Must-haves for an investment?
• Aligned with your recent collaboration on the article, "Evaluating the Successful Industrial Technology Exits", you've talked about startups in industrial tech "beginning with the end in mind"… why is this important?
• Rumor has it you're starting a podcast -- lots of new podcasts these days, why will your's standout and what's the objective?

On this special segment of The Full Ratchet, the following Investors are featured:

• Minnie Ingersoll
• Jim Douglass
• M.G. Siegler
• James Currier

Each investor discusses a portfolio company that did not survive and why it was that they failed.

Lo Toney of Plexo Capital joins Nick to discuss Common Traits Shared by Top GPs, Why Underrepresented Fund Managers Will Produce Superior Returns, and SPACs vs. Direct Listings vs. IPOs. In this episode, we cover:

• Walk us through your background and path to VC?
• Why are Product Management skills similar to the skills required for VC?
• What's the thesis at Plexo Capital?
• Do you think a thesis on investing in underrepresented founders will produce superior returns?
• What do you say to pundits that claim you've restricted your options and will have far fewer managers to choose from... which will adversely impact returns?
• On a percentage basis... will there be more outsided outcomes from diverse founders (or managers) vs. those that are not diverse?
• How are you innovating on the LP side?
• We talked about some of the challenges of raising funds... are there ways that you work with and help emerging managers raising a first-time fund?
• Not just about performance... especially early on.  What are the common success traits you see in GPs?
• What's your position on investing in the management company or even the GP itself?
• Where do you see the market for secondaries evolving?
• I'd like to talk about the exit market a bit...
• What are your thoughts on companies listing direct?
• How about the explosion of SPACs -- net positive or negative for venture?
• Any unintended consequences that founders (or investors) need to watch out for?
• Zoom is now worth more than Uber, Airbnb, and Stripe combined... Are the three companies undervalued or is Zoom overvalued... or is the pricing about right?
• Amazing to see companies like Paypal and Square have surpassed Goldman in market cap
• "3 Data Points"...
• You’re approached by a first-time fund manager.  The fund manager did not work for a large, brand-name venture firm before and she has never had an institutional investor.  She has been actively investing for 3+ years.  She plans to raise $20M to invest in 30 seed-stage companies w/ no reserves.  The catch is you can only ask 3 questions (for 3 additional 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:

• Elizabeth Yin
• Michael Cardamone
• Gigi Levy-Weiss
• Niki Pezeshki

Each investor describes the most unusual situation or pitch that they've encountered as an investor.

Lanham Napier of BuildGroup joins Nick to discuss Scaling Rackspace, The Evolving Responsibilities of a Venture-Backed CEO, and Confronting Big Tech Monopolies. In this episode, we cover:

• You took on capital from Seqouia, Norwest and others while at Rackspace.  What was the biggest challenge to taking on venture capital?
• How were you able to move from the early product-market-fit days to true scale... what were the defining decisions/actions that helped you expand exponentially?
• As a company leaves the product-market-fit stage and reaches scale, what is the job of the CEO or how does the job of the CEO change as the company scales?
• You've talked about investing "long-term capital"... what do you mean by that?
• How have you created a fee-light model, where management fees are eliminated?
• How do you guide CEOs that have been conditioned to think in 12-18 months cycles, when the long-game is much more critical?
• You've hired and developed a lot of folks over the years.  What advice do you have for young CEOs with regards to selection and/or development of people?
• Leadership -- great ones emerge in hard times.  What are some of the most important lessons you've learned about leadership?
• We're in an environment where the largest tech companies have monopolized a lot of the upside in the market.  Of course recently many of the CEOs appeared in front the house judiciary committee.  Where do you stand on the position of large tech companies and how that impacts emerging startups?
• Do you think China is a threat to the U.S.'s position as world power and tech leader?
• What would suggest we do about it?

On this special segment of The Full Ratchet, the following Investors are featured:

• Henrique Dubugras
• Ryan Gembala
• Grace Isford
• Scott Kupor

Each investor illustrates a critical lesson learned about startup investing and how it's changed their approach.

Trae Vassallo of Defy Partners joins Nick to discuss Leaving Kleiner Perkins to Start Defy Partners, The State of Venture in the Bay Area, and Maintaining a Beginner's Mind. In this episode, we cover:

• Can you talk about your transition from Kleiner Perkins?
• How tough was that decision to make?
• What was it like to work with John Doerr?
• What’s the thesis at Defy Partners?
• When you began Defy you chose not to look at San Francisco. Can you talk about why that is?
  • How do you think this plays out? What will tech and venture in the Bay Area look like a few years from now, when COVID is behind us?
  • Any stats on flight of talent form Bay area to other cities/regions?
• What changes have you observed in venture/tech that this crisis has either caused or accelerated?
• You’ve been a founder and can relate w/ the folks you’re working with. How do you try and keep that beginner’s mindset as you gain more experience and get further away from your founder journey?
• What are some the biggest mistakes you see founders making when pitching investors?
• What tips can you give founders around building relationships as well as pitching in a completely virtual environment?
• You experienced a severe personal experience… near death situation a few years ago. How has that changed you as a person and as an investor?
• 3 data points…
  • Let’s say you’re approached to invest in a consumer hardtech startup.
  • The startup is doing $1.5M ARR
  • It’s growing at 15% MoM
  • And LTV:CAC is 4:1
  • 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:

• Jason Whitney
• Shawn Carolan
• David Horowitz
• Jaclyn Hester

Each investor discusses sectors, drivers and/or trends that may have significant impact in the future and are potentially positioned for outsized-returns.

Nikhil Basu Trivedi of joins Nick to discuss Agglomerators vs. Specialists, the Rise of the Solo-Capitalist, and the Importance of Founder-Investor Fit+. In this episode, we cover:

• Why did you decide to leave Shasta?
• What's the plan moving forward?
• The Rise of Solo Capitalists
  • You wrote a great piece on the rise of this behavior, ‘The Rise of the Solo Capitalists’. What do you think has caused the rise in single GP funds?
  • What are the main benefits to both investor and entrepreneur with this model?
  • What are the limitations and/or downsides of this model?
  • You wrote that an LP said that this model ‘may be the biggest threat traditional venture capital firms have seen in a long time’. Why?
• Founder-Investor Fit
  • What do you think are the most important things for founders to consider when choosing an investor?
  • There are many firms that don't care about the "fit" per se... they just want to get money into the best deals.  And it can be tough for a founder to turn down the best offer or the biggest name investor.  Do you think that lack of fit can lead to the demise of the company?
  • Do you think that founder-investor relationships/dynamics will change significantly over the next decade?  Why or why not?
• Agglomerators vs. Specialists
  • Can you break down the types of focus amongst VCs? Agglomerators vs. Specialists?
  • What do you think has caused the rise of the agglomerators?
  • From a returns (TVPI) standpoint, do you think one model is superior to the other?
  • A large, institutional LP said to me this week that he doesn't believe in sector-focused fund models and returns suggest that they underperform.  He only invests in generalists with stage focus.  Have you found that the specialists have underperformed the generalists?
  • What do you think about the future of these models?  Where will the most crowded section be, five years from now?
  • What are your thoughts on rolling funds?

On this special segment of The Full Ratchet, the following Investors are featured:

• Oren Klaff
• Tamara Steffens
• Leo Polovets
• Byron Deeter

Each investor highlights a situation where they decided not to invest, why they passed, and how it played out.

Ben Casnocha of Village Global joins Nick to discuss Backing from Bezos, Zuckerberg, and Gates; Lessons from Reid Hoffman; and Building a Network-centric Venture Firm. In this episode, we cover:

- How have things changed for the firm since the pandemic broke?
- You've raised from some very big names in tech -- Zuckerberg, Hoffman, Gates, Bezos, Greene, Blakely and many more.  How exactly did the formation of Village and fundraise from these notable tech leaders come together?
- Village has a unique approach to sourcing...  Tell us about the scout network?
- Decision making process, architecture when doing deals at this pace and volume?
- Many firms talk about their founder networks and Slack Groups.  But often if you ask founders, the density and connectivity of those networks are lacking.  What is it about your broad founder community that succeeds where others don't?
- Worked with Reid Hoffman for two years... what were some of the key lessons from that experience w/ Reid?
- YC is in full swing right now... many investors I've chatted with this week are a bit dizzy with the number of companies they're meeting with.  Do you invest in companies coming out of YC?
- What do you think the future holds for accelerators like YC?
- How do you determine when to make an exception on a deal?  We all have rules, check-size, valuation range, etc... how  do you know when to go off-thesis?
- What are your thoughts on the future of Valley-based investing vs. investing outside the Valley?
- Thoughts on all these large, multi-stage firms investing at seed and pre-seed?
- Capital Supply and concentration is at new levels in the Bay Area... especially for seed investors.  While it's reasonable that more great companies will be built with the tools and opportunities available, this all won't end well.  I've seen pricing spike and aggressive tactics changing from investors to get access to deal.  What are you observing and how do you think it plays out?

On this special segment of The Full Ratchet, the following Investors are featured:

-Beezer Clarkson
-Alex Osterwalder
-Patrick Gallagher
-Steve Blank

Each investor discusses a portfolio company that did not survive and why it was that they failed.

- You recently published research on the expansion of 175 US companies into Europe. I’d like to discuss a number of points from the piece, but first off… what prompted you to do this research and write the piece?
- Part of the report is about timing… ie. when is the right time is for a b2b SaaS company to make the leap and expand into Europe.  Talk us through your findings and conclusion w/ regard to timing.
- In preparation to make that jump, you recently talked about the challenges for “globalizing” a company and that it really starts at the CEO’s desk… what do you mean by that?
- As an investor, how do you prepare a CEO to shift mindset from US-centric to a more global one?
- When a company makes the leap to Europe, what are some of the most common pitfalls/mistakes they make?
- How do the challenges of growing a b2b software company across Europe differ from that of growing it in the United States?
- Is there a particular playbook that you follow when bridging the gap between the US and European markets, if so can you share the broad strokes of what that entails?
- Do you think it’s more difficult for companies to start in the United States and grow into Europe or start in Europe and grow into the States? Why?
- As part of the report, you talk about the difference between sales led expansion versus product and engineering led expansion, what are the primary differences?
- How has COVID affected which expansion strategy to choose, if at all?
- How to build a fully functioning sales force remote from the ground up
- What, if any, tailwinds have emerged for the growth of the European tech ecosystem?

On this special segment of The Full Ratchet, the following Investors are featured:

• Leah Solivan
• Kane Hsieh
• Richard Kerby
• James Currier

Each investor describes the most unusual situation or pitch that they've encountered as an investor.

To listen more, please visit http://fullratchet.net/podcast-episodes/ for all of our other episodes.

Also, follow us on twitter @TheFullRatchet for updates and more information.

Jonathan Hsu of Tribe Capital joins Nick to discuss how to Acquire Data, Build Abstractions and Do Research. In this episode, we cover:

• Walk us through your background and path to VC
• What’s the thesis at Tribe Capital?
• How do you define PMF?
• Could you explain what the 8 Ball diligence framework is?
• When is a deal too early -- how much data (or over what time continuum do you need data) in order for the model to assess appropriately?
• Just for evaluation or also sourcing?
• Can you apply this tool to a range of business types (ie. SaaS vs. Maretkplaces vs. User-Growth, etc.)?
• How to avoid false positives? Data looks great for early phase -- early market… How do you know that it isn’t luck and the company didn’t stumble onto something with early signals of PMF but they don’t have the insight or flexibility to evolve the business through growth and scale phases?
• What aspect of early stage investing don’t you use data for?
• Why is this not appropriate to measure with data?
• Loss ratio goes down -- do you think it increases potential outcome size?
• On the evaluating side of things, it seems like Tribe has a big emphasis on using data to understand early product market fit. What is your definition of product market fit?
• Does Tribe conduct portfolio support in a similar way?
• What happens when data and intuition clash?
• Do you always lean one way or another? Examples of either?
• How do you account for exogenous factors?
• Ever been a scenario w/ a company misrepresenting data (fake data)?
• How long did it take to build this out -- what is the current team structure of investors, developers, and data scientists?
• Where do you and the team at Tribe need to improve most?

To listen more, please visit http://fullratchet.net/podcast-episodes/ for all of our other episodes.

Also, follow us on twitter @TheFullRatchet for updates and more information.

On this special segment of The Full Ratchet, the following Investors are featured:

• Courtney Reum
• Mark Suster
• Sarah Tavel
• Jason Calacanis

Each investor illustrates a critical lesson learned about startup investing and how it's changed their approach.

To listen more, please visit http://fullratchet.net/podcast-episodes/ for all of our other episodes.

Also, follow us on twitter @TheFullRatchet for updates and more information.

Check Warner of Ada Ventures joins Nick to discuss Structural Disadvantages in Venture, Investing in the "Overlooked," and Open-Sourcing the VC Fund Raise and Investment Playbook. In this episode, we cover:

• Background / Path to Venture
• The thesis at Ada Ventures
• Is it tough getting the up-rounds from Tier 1 VCs when the profile of the founders doesn't look like the standard, obvious profile that's been funded for the past couple of decades?
• You look for founders and markets that have been mis-priced… what are the three that you believe to be underpriced?
• Novel scout program -- how many scouts and who are they?
• How did you recruit them and how are they incentivized?
• Talk about your recent fundraise…
  • How did you determine how much to raise?
  • Walk us through the timeline of the fundraise.
  • What resonated most w/ LPs?
  • What was the biggest surprise?
  • How did you create urgency and get LPs to move from a maybe to a yes?
  • What will you do differently next time?
• You and I have discussed your seed investing framework -- how you make decisions on investments. Can you give us the broad strokes?
• You have an incredibly transparent approach… from your fundraising to your sourcing to your evaluation. Are there any concerns about revealing too much about your strategy?
• You publicized your investment process and shared some of your funnel data. Have you noticed any differences or changes (relationships with founders, LPs, brand, PR) from when you shared the inner workings?
• Many issues w/ racial and gender diversity in the news… what message would you like to share re. Diversity?
• "3 Data Points"
  • Let's say you are approached to invest in a consumer user-growth company with 30k DAUs, and has a 10% WoW growth rate for the last 4 months.
  • Catch is you can only ask for 3 data points to make your decision.
  • What 3 questions do you ask for?

To listen more, please visit http://fullratchet.net/podcast-episodes/ for all of our other episodes.

Also, follow us on twitter @TheFullRatchet for updates and more information.

On this special segment of The Full Ratchet, the following Investors are featured:

• Ramy Adeeb
• Somesh Dash
• Jeremy Neilson
• Minnie Ingersoll

Each investor discusses sectors, drivers and/or trends that may have significant impact in the future and are potentially positioned for outsized-returns.

To listen more, please visit http://fullratchet.net/podcast-episodes/ for all of our other episodes.

Also, follow us on twitter @TheFullRatchet for updates and more information.

Niki Pezeshki of Felicis Ventures joins Nick to discuss Finding Markets with Long-Term Tailwinds; Macro Impacts on Venture; and Robust vs. Fragile Data. In this episode, we cover:

• Background and path to venture.
• Thesis at Felicis and your focus there?
• How has the pandemic affected your approach to investment?
• You’ve mentioned that you look for market tailwinds, especially tailwinds that will be lasting. Right now, we’re seeing a number of shifts that will have lasting effects -- which are you watching most closely?
• Why do you think the public markets have, largely, stayed high during a very large health and economic crisis?
• Can you give us an overview on your three-part investing framework for making investment decisions?
• Where do you look for these large shifts, creating opportunity -- aside from Mary Meeker's report?
• How do you make sure you are current on-trend instead of getting anchored on data that's old or fragile?
• What are you looking for in the business model that indicates to you that it is not only the correct approach but can lead to transformational changes in the industry?
• In which types of businesses do you like to see product-focused founders versus marketing-focused founders, is there a heuristic or systematic way that you think about this?
• You mentioned that business is a formula and that it’s clear early on whether it’s going to work or not -- can you give us an example of the formula?
• What's your approach to coaching and advising founders? 
• There's this fine line between being overbearing w/ advice and not providing enough insight in an area that could derail a company.  How do you strike the balance?
• What keeps you up at night... the ones you invested in that you shouldn't have or the ones you didn't invest in that you wished you had?
• 3 Data points: Let's say that you have a consumer SaaS company that is doing 300K in ARR, growing 20%  MoM and that’s all you currently know about the company.
  • Which 3 data points do you ask for and why?

To listen more, please visit http://fullratchet.net/podcast-episodes/ for all of our other episodes.

Also, follow us on twitter @TheFullRatchet for updates and more information.

On this special segment of The Full Ratchet, the following Investors are featured:

• M.G. Siegler
• Grace Isford
• John Vrionis
• Ash Rust

Each investor highlights a situation where they decided not to invest, why they passed, and how it played out.

To listen more, please visit http://fullratchet.net/podcast-episodes/ for all of our other episodes.

Also, follow us on twitter @TheFullRatchet for updates and more information.

Henrique Dubugras of Brex joins Nick to discuss the Blazing Fast Path to $B+; Binary Outcomes; The Fintech Revolution; and A New Approach to Employee Comp. In this episode, we cover:

• Background -- path that led to Brex?
• Origin story for Brex Tag-line / One sentence overview
• What's so different about Brex?
• Why is more than just a credit card?
• How has the pandemic affected the business thus far?
• What do you offer that no one else does?
• Who do you consider to be competition?
• What is the moat here - why can't another well funded startup replicate your offering?
• A criticism I've heard is that, when businesses need credit most, when bank balance/working capital is low, is when Brex cuts off access to credit. What's your response?
• How would you describe your leadership philosophy?
• Are you recruiting/hiring? Is the approach different while 100% remote?
• What's the compensation structure at Brex?
• One of the fastest companies to multi-billion+ valuation -- more pressure w/ all that capital?
• With the raise and expectations some suggest that the outcome is binary -- is it?
• What advice do you have for early-stage, pre-A, founders trying to build a venture scale business?

To listen more, please visit http://fullratchet.net/podcast-episodes/ for all of our other episodes.

Also, follow us on twitter @TheFullRatchet for updates and more information.

On this special segment of The Full Ratchet, the following Investors are featured:

• Ryan Gembala
• Scott Dorsey
• Elizabeth Yin
• Jeff Fluhr

Each investor discusses a portfolio company that did not survive and why it was that they failed.

To listen more, please visit http://fullratchet.net/podcast-episodes/ for all of our other episodes.

Also, follow us on twitter @TheFullRatchet for updates and more information.

Gigi Levy-Weiss of NFX joins Nick on a special Crisis Coverage installment to discuss What's Next in Gaming; The True Essence of Product-Market-Fit; & Investing with an Emphasis on Retention and Engagement. In this episode, we cover:

• Background and path to venture.
• The thesis and your focus at NFX?
• Did you invest in Houseparty when it was Meerkat?
• You've written about your thoughts on PMF...  How do you assess whether a company has real product market fit?
• What advice would you have for those still trying to find it?
• With this focus on product and retention...  What's your response to investors that say distribution is more important than product?
• Why do you think VC interest has been declining in the gaming space?
• What has been the history/evolution in the gaming sector?
• What's next for gaming -- Is there a step beyond the platform?
• Are there any niches or segments within gaming or esports where you see the most potential?
• 3 Data points:
  • Let's say a gaming startup comes to you... they have 50k DAUs, K value of 1, 20 % MoM growth... 
  • What 3 data points do you ask for and why?

To listen more, please visit http://fullratchet.net/podcast-episodes/ for all of our other episodes.

Also, follow us on twitter @TheFullRatchet for updates and more information.

On this special segment of The Full Ratchet, the following Investors are featured:

• Scott Kupor
• Melody Koh
• Tom Tunguz
• Jim Douglass

Each investor describes the most unusual situation or pitch that they've encountered as an investor.

To listen more, please visit http://fullratchet.net/podcast-episodes/ for all of our other episodes.

Also, follow us on twitter @TheFullRatchet for updates and more information.

Jaclyn Hester of Foundry Group joins Nick on a special Crisis Coverage installment to discuss GP and LP Alignment, Challenges for Emerging Fund Managers, and How the Explosion in Seed Fund Volume Plays Out. In this episode, we cover:

• Tell us about your background and path to VC.
• For those who don't know, talk about the approach at Foundry with both the LP and GP model.
• Foundry traditionally had no apprenticeship model and no junior investors... were you the first?
• Pandemic... Are you making investments currently and what are you hearing from other LPs?
• What's your advice for GPs re. building relationships and momentum w/ LPs during these uncertain times?
• What's the biggest mistake emerging managers make when fundraising?
• What do new fund managers underestimate when starting a venture firm?
• Does it matter how specific a thesis is? Do you need to see a unique, focused and compelling edge or are you just as receptive to a generalist w/ a strong network and track record?
• What question tends to trip up GPs?
• What are some of the most important things GPs should ask LPs when raising?
• What do you think are the most important things GPs and LPs need to be aligned on for a successful relationship?
• How does the explosion in volume of seed funds affect you approach to selection?
• How do you think this plays out -- most funds fail? Returns more evenly distributed? Power law no longer applies (or is less pronounced)?
• Fast forward 5 years and let's assume there's been a fundamental shift in early stage Venture. What do you think is the most likely, largest change that's occurred?
• What advice do you have for young people that aspire to be a VC someday?
• Not going to ask for favorite GPs but, I will ask, if you could break quarantine to grab a cocktail w/ one GP -- who do you choose? ; )
• 3 Data Points...
  • You’re approached by an emerging VC firm raising fund II. The fund manager did not work for a large, brand-name venture firm before and she has never had an institutional investor. Net TVPI is 1.4, and Net IRR is 35% and it's a 2018 vintage.
  • The catch is you can only ask 3 questions (for 3 additional data points) to make your decision.
  • What 3 questions do you ask?

To listen more, please visit http://fullratchet.net/podcast-episodes/ for all of our other episodes.

Also, follow us on twitter @TheFullRatchet for updates and more information.

Nick Rishwain and Hannah Konitshek of The LegalTechLive Podcast interview Nick to discuss Advice for Founders -- Reaching out to VCs, Pitching over Zoom, and Closing Capital Amidst a Pandemic. In this episode we cover:

• How have valuations been impacted from the pandemic?
• How long will lower valuations persist?
• Are VCs actively doing deals right now?
• What's the most common mistake that founders make when approaching you for funding?
• How much information would you prefer a founder share with you upfront (deck, financials, incorporation, docs, etc.)?
• How often have you met a founder early, been added to their monthly update list and then come back to make an investment?
• Should founders become more clinical when selecting investors?
• How do you convince founders on New Stack as an investor?
• There is one area that New Stack is really hands-on -- what is it?
• What are some things a founder can do to get funded while  he's only got a well thought out idea and business plan?
• Many founders don't know if their business is venture scale.  How do you determine if a business is venture-backable or not?
• How does a sector that hasn't had huge exits at large multiples (like LegalTech) impact the way you assess startups in that sector?
• How do you evaluate high recurring revenue vs. low recurring revenue?
• Do you have any suggestions for a founder that is pitching now that it is completely remote?
• Overall advice you're giving your portfolio companies right now?

To listen more, please visit http://fullratchet.net/podcast-episodes/ for all of our other episodes.

Also, follow us on twitter @TheFullRatchet for updates and more information.

On this special segment of The Full Ratchet, the following Investors are featured:

• Alex Osterwalder
• Beezer Clarkson
• Michael Cardamone
• Leo Polovets

Each investor illustrates a critical lesson learned about startup investing and how it's changed their approach.

To listen more, please visit http://fullratchet.net/podcast-episodes/ for all of our other episodes.

Also, follow us on twitter @TheFullRatchet for updates and more information.

Shawn Carolan of Menlo Ventures joins Nick on a special Crisis Coverage installment to discuss the Four Fundamentals of Investing; the Future of Micro Mobility; and Hunting Consumer Unicorns. In this episode, we cover:

• Tell us about your background and path to venture.
• What's the thesis at Menlo Ventures?
• Can you explain the "Four Fundamentals" framework for investing and give us a brief description of each?
• What are you looking for in terms of unit economics?
• You like to invest in technologies that change everyday life for the better.  Do you have a sense for the needed technologies and then find founders in those areas, or do you identify compelling entrepreneurs that then guide you to emerging technologies that will shape the future?
• Have you been in the situation where you identified the right consumer trend and technology required to deliver but you picked the wrong startup?
• Is there a priority of importance amongst the four?
• Which do you think investors most often get wrong? 
• Let's talk about consumer a bit...Many VCs think that consumers and consumer behaviors evolve quickly in unpredictable ways.  And b/c of that many VCs avoid consumer.  What's your response?
• We’ve seen an explosion in Cloud and SaaS recently, and some question whether there’s room for another big consumer company, what is your response to this and which areas do you see the biggest opportunities in?
• Before the pandemic, the future of scooter companies was murky with challenging unit economics and fleet maintenance... while governments were, in some cases, were imposing regulations and putting a halt to deployment.  What does the future hold for the scooter companies?
• How do you view these situations, like scooters, where there’s low differentiation and a number of players trying to scale and grab share quickly?
• Any other micro-mobility trends that you’re watching closely, aside from scooters?
• Changing gears away from micro mobility and into AI for a bit, why do you think we haven't seen many unicorns in consumer AI?
• Where (sectors, categories) do you think the initial consumer AI unicorns will come from?
• Let's say that you have a micro mobility company that is currently operating in 3 cities within one region, grossing $500K monthly and growing 30% month to month.
  • Which 3 data points do you ask for and why?

To listen more, please visit http://fullratchet.net/podcast-episodes/ for all of our other episodes.

Also, follow us on twitter @TheFullRatchet for updates and more information.

On this special segment of The Full Ratchet, the following Investors are featured:

• Patrick Gallagher
• Sarah Tavel
• Byron Deeter
• Jim Kim

Each investor discusses sectors, drivers and/or trends that may have significant impact in the future and are potentially positioned for outsized-returns.

To listen more, please visit http://fullratchet.net/podcast-episodes/ for all of our other episodes.

Also, follow us on twitter @TheFullRatchet for updates and more information.

Tamara Steffens of M12 joins Nick on a special Crisis Coverage installment to discuss Why Corporate VC Gets a Bad Wrap; Microsoft's Fresh Approach to CVC; and Key Insights to Acquire Mass Users. In this episode, we cover:

• Background and path to venture.
• Overview of the thesis at M12.
• Investments since COVID? Changes in strategy, markets of interest.
• CVC has the reputation of being very slow, not leading deals, imposing restrictive terms, and thinking only about broader success of their parent company— what's different about M12?
• What's your approach to sourcing?
• You are known as a user acquisition expert in the valley... having generated millions of app downloads for Path, Color and Acompli. One of your main suggestions is to "Dismantle the silos" ... what do you mean by that?
• You've cited the top three things you need to make your app part of the zeitgeist -- can you walk us through each and why they're critical?
• Talk about the 'Leaky Bucket' of new user acquisition and how to avoid it?
• What's a good level of user retention (%) after 6 weeks?
• What are the biggest differences in approach when acquiring consumers vs. enterprise customers?
• What are the main KPIs/OKRs you track when optimizing a sales funnel / team?
• I'd like to talk a bit more about the startups you work with...What are the key factors you're looking for in investments?
• How do you work with your portfolio companies?
• Why should every startup be thinking about culture as they build their companies?
• How are founders today different from founders 20 years ago?
• What tips do you have for founders pitching investors remotely?

To listen more, please visit http://fullratchet.net/podcast-episodes/ for all of our other episodes.

Also, follow us on twitter @TheFullRatchet for updates and more information.

Brian Hollins of BLCK VC joins Nick on a special Crisis Coverage installment to discuss Breaking into VC; Excelling at Goldman Sachs; and the Origin of BLCK VC. In this episode, we cover:

• Background and path to venture?
• What was the most surprising thing about venture that you only realized after working in it for awhile?
• So you've got this great job in venture...  Why'd you decide to go back to HBS?
• Tell us about the origin story of BLCK VC?
• What are some of the specific activities and programs that BLCK VC is running?
• On June 4th, BLCK VC held an event, “We Won’t Wait”, for people in venture to take action. What were the primary goals and outcomes of the event?
• I want to talk a bit about your experience at Goldman... did you have an opportunity to invest in black and/or underrepresented founders?
• What, if anything, did Goldman do to support black investors and founders?
• It's so hard breaking into this industry and orders-of-magnitude harder when you're black --  how have diversity issues and racial profiling affected your professional journey?
• Can you give us your take on the current social unrest and what path you want to see going forward?
• Do you think we'll see the systemic changes required this time or do you think progress will be limited?
• Who are some investors, founders or people in the space you see paving the way and driving change?
• What can white VCs do, specifically, to contribute to more better balance and stronger representation for black founders and investors?  What organizations do you care about?
• What are sites or resources that our audience can visit to get more involved?
• Aspen Fellowship... At New Stack we're rolling out a fellowship program to train young, college students in VC... you're back on a college campus... what are some ways that we can get our job description in front of more black, latin and underrepresented minority students?
  • Are there any national organizations or communities for college-aged, black students that are interested in tech?
• 3 Data Points...
  • Let's say you are approached to invest in an enterprise SaaS business. The startup has $10M ARR, Growing 10% MoM and LTV:CAC is 4:1. Catch is you can only ask 3 questions (for 3 additional data points) to make your decision.
  • What 3 questions do you ask?

To listen more, please visit http://fullratchet.net/podcast-episodes/ for all of our other episodes.

Also, follow us on twitter @TheFullRatchet for updates and more information.

On this special segment of The Full Ratchet, the following Investors are featured:

• Minnie Ingersoll
• Adeyemi Ajao
• Richard Kerby
• David Horowitz

Each investor highlights a situation where they decided not to invest, why they passed, and how it played out.

To listen more, please visit http://fullratchet.net/podcast-episodes/ for all of our other episodes.

Also, follow us on twitter @TheFullRatchet for updates and more information.

Kane Hsieh of Root Ventures joins Nick on a special Crisis Coverage installment to discuss Investment Decision in < 3 weeks; the Challenges and Opportunities with 3D Printing; and the Future for Industrial Automation. In this episode, we cover:

• Backstory/Path to Venture
• Tell us about the the thesis at Root and your focus areas.
• Any unique outcomes or behaviors you are observing as a result of the pandemic?
• What's your investment position on 3D printing... bullish or bearish?
• I used to work in the industrial automation area... developed two different products there and saw limitless opportunities but also many challenges.  From your standpoint, what have been the biggest challenges to progress in industrial automation?
• What excites you most about industrial automation going forward?
• How will jobs in the industrial space, or any space for that matter, change with the immersion of automation and robotics? Is this a net job eliminator?
• Startups w/ hardware as a part of their solution (whether off the shelf or developed internally) are often are more capital intensive than their pure software counterparts.  How do you balance progress and capital efficiency for  these businesses?
• Do you think the expectations of progress/traction, at different stages, is different for hardware as a service vs. software as a service?
• One piece of advice for founders of industrial automation startups... what would it be?
• What are some of the deep tech or capital intensive investment areas that you're avoiding?
• Heard a rumor that you're starting podcast?
• I came across a side project, "Transformer Poetry,” a book of famous poetry reimagined by OpenAI’s GPT-2 language model. I don't even know what to ask here but would love to hear what the inspiration for it was.

To listen more, please visit http://fullratchet.net/podcast-episodes/ for all of our other episodes.

Also, follow us on twitter @TheFullRatchet for updates and more information.

James Currier of NFX joins Nick on a special Crisis Coverage installment to discuss Network Effects; 9 Days Until a Funding Decision; Software as the Foundation for the Modern VC firm; and the Future of Social Media. In this episode, we cover:

• Background and path to venture
• Thesis: Overview of the thesis and your specific focus at the firm
• Pandemic: Unique outcomes or behaviors you are observing as a result of the pandemic?
• Overview of Software: You're a huge inspiration to me...  I love that you're bringing innovation to venture -- building software and tools that help founders and allow them to access more investors. For those in the audience that don't know, can you give a brief over of the major software and tolls that you've built.
• FAST Program: You launched the FAST Seed Financing Program ($1M, $1.5M or $2M for 15% of their company) which ran April 16-May 22.... were you allowed startups to apply for funding and you committed to responding in 9 days. Why'd you launch the program?
• What did you learn that was surprising?
• Will you do it again and, if so, what will you change?
• All this software focus could run the risk of investing in startups that look great on paper but could underestimate or not fully assess the founding team's mindset.  How do you consider the qualitative?
• Creators vs. Opportunists: How do you insure that the founder's you are backing on true creators with the right motivation instead of just opportunists with great skill addressing large markets?
• Unusual vs. Conventional thinking: You have said that exceptional outcomes are the result of unusual thinking and that conventional thinking is the death of many companies -- explain what you mean by these types of thinking?
• 1st time vs. 2nd time founders: What's the biggest challenge to working with second time founders?
• Social: One of your key observations was that social media is becoming less social and more media. What are some of the consequences of this shift?
• It seems that social media is moving away from broadcasting towards intimacy and sharing. Does the pandemic accelerate any trends/behavior/psychology within in social?
• Do you think business models and advertising as a primary revenue stream with have to change w/ it?
• 3 Data Points...
  • Let's say you are approached to invest in a consumer social business that has a network effect. Their user base is 20k DAUs and is growing 30% MoM and they have not yet monetized. Catch is you can only ask 3 questions (for 3 additional data points) to make your decision.
  • What 3 questions do you ask? 

To listen more, please visit http://fullratchet.net/podcast-episodes/ for all of our other episodes.

Also, follow us on twitter @TheFullRatchet for updates and more information.

On this special segment of The Full Ratchet, the following Investors are featured:

• Leah Solivan
• Oren Klaff
• Jason Whitney
• Darren Bechtel

Each investor discusses a portfolio company that did not survive and why it was that they failed.

To listen more, please visit http://fullratchet.net/podcast-episodes/ for all of our other episodes.

Also, follow us on twitter @TheFullRatchet for updates and more information.

Ramy Adeeb of 1984 Ventures joins Nick on a special Crisis Coverage installment to discuss Why Facebook Should be Broken Up; SV Hype vs Returns; Amara's Law; and VC's Track Record Predicting Trends. In this episode, we cover:

• Backstory/Path to Venture
• Tell us more about what was it like working with Vinod. Is there anything he taught you in specific that was most influential? And how about Pierre?
• How has the crisis impacted the way you invest as well as your thesis?
• Have you seen an adjustment, a correction or a slow down amongst the Series B, C and growth stage investors? Any predictions on how long this period will last? 
• What are some tips for founders when pitching to VC's over zoom? 
• Quick highlights of your thesis (stage, sectors, geos, check sizes, etc.)
• You've said that one should "Avoid the hype - whatever is en vogue you should run away from" why should the hot trends be avoided?
• What's Amara's Law and how does that inform your thesis?
• Any stats or data on VCs ability to predict the future?
• Let's say someone describes one of your investments as feeling more like a product and not a company... how do you respond?
• You've mentioned your focus on passing quickly... What are your tips and tricks to get to a quick pass?
• You've said that Facebook is a monopoly and should be broken up... why?
• In your estimation, what's the most significant adverse effect from WeWork and The Vision Fund that no one's talking about?
• Tech is often credited for creating significant value but some also argue that it destroys jobs and widens the wealth gap. What's your take on this and how, someone like Bernie Sanders, in office could affect venture?
• When it comes to the economy and the effect of tech on the economy, we've seen unemployment fall to an all-time low while the # of people 'not working' is at an all time high... Are we measuring the right economic indicators when it comes to unemployment and also inflation?
• I also came across something you tweeted about Tech Pessimism. You quoted: "We too often focus on the drawbacks of a new tech while taking its benefits for granted." Meanwhile "To be Alive in the tech obsessed 2020 is to be among the luckiest people who have ever lived.” Can you give us some examples of Tech Pessimism and your take on it? Do you think there's a resolution?

To listen more, please visit http://fullratchet.net/podcast-episodes/ for all of our other episodes.

Also, follow us on twitter @TheFullRatchet for updates and more information.

David Rabie of Tovala joins Nick on a special Crisis Coverage installment to discuss Finding PMF, Raising Series B, & Navigating a Startup Amidst the Pandemic. In this episode, we cover:

• I was just checking and we had you on the show back in March of 2016... that was over 4 years ago, pre-launch, during your Kickstarter campaign.  So crazy how much time has passed.  Can you refresh us on the origin story of Tovala...
• We've invested in the pre-seed, seed, Series A and now Series B round... and we're fortunate to have a front row seat while  you and the team built an amazing company but bring the audience up-to-speed on the last few years... what have been the key milestones/inflection points?
• Your revenue was strong, hovering near mid seven figures ARR, until Q3 2019 when it took off at a growth rate like I've never seen... accelerating past $10M ARR and continue a rapid growth rate, even during the crisis.  What changed that caused the ramp?
• How do you define PMF and when did you know you reached it?
• What tech companies do you compare yourself to and how do you measure up?
• North Star Metrics?  LTV, Payback, Yearly Spend, Retention?
  Overall, how has the crisis affected your business?
• What are the major levers/measures you've taken to reduce cost?
• Talk to us about raising the B round -- and How it was trying to raise as the pandemic hit?
• Let's talk about what's next for Tovala...  On the oven side of the business... currently consumers have to purchase your smart steam oven -- a countertop device similar to a toaster oven.  What does the future look like on the hardware side and is the Tovala countertop steam oven always going to be necessary to enjoy Tovala food?
• And the food itself... what are some options available to expand meal kits available beyond just Tovala's kitchen? Any other strategic partnerships or growth channels that are high priority opportunities for you after closing the B round?
• Greek chicken and vegetable pita... Any plans for breakfast or lunch?
• From my family members... When are you going to have a pizza or a hamburger?
• How would you describe your leadership style and the culture you've established at Tovala?
• What advice would you have for founders building a D2C tech company?

To listen more, please visit http://fullratchet.net/podcast-episodes/ for all of our other episodes.

Also, follow us on twitter @TheFullRatchet for updates and more information.

On this special segment of The Full Ratchet, the following Investors are featured:

• Grace Isford
• Somesh Dash
• Steve Blank
• Mark Suster

To listen more, please visit http://fullratchet.net/podcast-episodes/ for all of our other episodes.

Also, follow us on twitter @TheFullRatchet for updates and more information.

Taranvir Johal & Salman Elmi of Tavolo and Top Figure join Nick to discuss Racism in Venture -- A White, Male VC Threatens Black & Brown Founders. In this episode, we cover:

• Quick personal backstory and origin story for Tavolo -- Taranvir.
• Quick personal backstory and origin story for Top Figure -- Salman.
• So, there was an incident last week in Minneapolis where venture capitalist, Tom Austin (who has since been fired by F2 Group), confronted you in your building's exercise room.  You guys captured a video of the incident and it begins with w/ Mr. Austin pointing his mobile phone camera back and forth at the three members of your team -- as he confronted you. Walk us through what happened before and after the video recording.
• Very, very reminiscent of the Amy Cooper video from NYC's Central Park -- shocking similarities between your situation and the Cooper situation.  It's nothing short of tragic.  What were you feeling as this was happening to you?
• What has it been like growing up in a society that is not structured to promote your success?
• Tell us about your experience as black and brown founders in the startup world?
• How does what happened change the way you go about business in the future?
• Thoughts on the murder of George Floyd and impact on the black community?
• What are some of the changes you’d like to see most from a systemic point of view?
• What do you think are some actionable steps investors and founders can take to respond to what’s been going on?

To listen more, please visit http://fullratchet.net/podcast-episodes/ for all of our other episodes.

Also, follow us on twitter @TheFullRatchet for updates and more information.

Jim Douglass of Fulcrum Equity Partners joins Nick on a special Crisis Coverage installment to discuss Pandemic Effects on B2B SaaS and Healthcare -- Total $ Invested, Multiples, and the Exit Environment. In this episode, we cover:

• Background/path to venture.
• The thesis at Fulcrum.
• Investments since COVID -- Anything additional you need to see or changes to process to get to investment?
  B2B SaaS -- impacts to existing contracts and funnel opportunities thus far?
• Recently, we had Byron Deeter at Bessemer on the show talking about why this is the seminal moment for Cloud and b2b SaaS companies, do you share that excitement with Byron or where do you stand?
• Previous downturns have had a deeper and longer term effect on growth stage (volume and dollars) then the earliest stages -  what are your predictions for the near term and mid term on growth stage investing?
• How do you and your partners think that investment multiples will be affected?
• What about the exit environment...What have you been seeing in the current exit environment and how do you think it will be impacted over the next 12 months or so?
• I believe the entire team at Fulcrum has experience as an operator -- How does this impact the way you work w/ portfolio companies?
• Substantive changes to operating plans?
• Healthcare Services framework and approach to investing?
• What actions are you seeing CEOs take and/or what are you encouraging they take in order to maintain operating culture in this distributed work environment?
• "3 data points"
  • Independent of the COVID situation, let’s say that you are approached by a B2B SaaS company that is currently doing $5M ARR, has a 5:1 LTV/CAC Ratio and MoM growth is trending at 10%
  • Catch is you can only ask for 3 data points to make your decision.
  • What 3 questions and data points do you ask for (can not ask for P&L, Operating Plan, Cohorts, etc... need to be specific data points)?

To listen more, please visit http://fullratchet.net/podcast-episodes/ for all of our other episodes.

Also, follow us on twitter @TheFullRatchet for updates and more information.

On this special segment of The Full Ratchet, the following Investors are featured:

• John Vrionis
• Elizabeth Yin
• Bobby Franklin
• Jeremy Neilson

Each investor illustrates a critical lesson learned about startup investing and how it's changed their approach.

To listen more, please visit http://fullratchet.net/podcast-episodes/ for all of our other episodes.

Also, follow us on twitter @TheFullRatchet for updates and more information.

Melody Koh of Nextview Ventures joins Nick on a special Crisis Coverage installment to discuss Super-Technologies; The Everyday Economy; The Overlooked Working Class; and Fear of Missing Out vs. Fear of Looking Dumb. In this episode, we cover:

• Background and path to venture
• Thesis and Focus at NextView
• Hands-on approach (only 2-3 investments/yr)?
• You wrote that when it comes to investing in the COVID era -- FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out) is replaced by FOLD (Fear Of Looking Dumb). What are you seeing from other investors?
• How will this effect 'Seed' as a Stage of investing?
• How has the crisis effected your approach?
• Conviction without face to face?
• Recently heard about NextView’s new virtual Accelerator... congrats on the launch. Can you give us a quick overview of the program?
• Do you have any predictions on the long-term effects of this crisis on the ‘Everyday Economy’?
• I saw your tweet about companies shifting the real estate burden to employees as everyone works from home... do you think companies should subsidize this?
• Super-Technologies...  railroads, electricity, automobiles, and now internet connectivity.  Ideas about what may be some of the next infrastructure type super-technology?
• Why do you think the working class has been overlooked as an opportunity for innovation?
• You cite labor as an opportunity ready for innovation. Why is now the time for innovation here?
• You point out a really interesting observation -- that this demographic is more likely to use smartphones as their daily driver and that they tend to skew towards older devices. What does that mean for new tech products?
• Are there examples of tech companies that have successfully built a company designed for this category of workers?
• What are the key success factors or key criteria for success, when launching technologies for the working class?
• Which working class industries do you think are in the best position for change?

To listen more, please visit http://fullratchet.net/podcast-episodes/ for all of our other episodes.

Also, follow us on twitter @TheFullRatchet for updates and more information.

Jeff Fluhr of Craft Ventures joins Nick on a special Crisis Coverage installment to discuss Launching StubHub During the Dotcom Crash; Why Market Need Trumps Market Timing; Choosing B2B vs. B2C; and Why Founders Shouldn't Let VCs Decide Their Fate In this episode, we cover:

• Background and path to venture
• Thesis and focus at Craft
• So, you incorporated Stubhub in March 2000... just weeks before the dotcom bubble burst. Was there any hesitation or second thoughts as the tech world was collapsing around you?
  
  • LESSON 1: IT’S ABOUT THE MARKET NEED, NOT THE MARKET TIMING
    
    • You talk about the difference between market need and market timing. Can you explain what you mean by this point?
    • How did you validate the market need, beyond just the experience of you and others you knew?
  • LESSON 2: BE FLEXIBLE IN YOUR STRATEGY
    
    • Often founders face this question of choosing B2B vs. B2C... can you talk us through the early days and StubHub and the how the strategy evolved?
    • Do you think if you initially focused on the B2C segment when the crash just happened, results would’ve been different?
    • What metrics were you optimizing for in the early days. While there were some successful marketplaces, like eBay, the playbook and range of metrics, I'm sure, were much less known and developed in the early 2000s vs. the resources we have to leverage today.
  • LESSON 3: VCs DON’T DECIDE YOUR FATE
    
    • Tell us about the Series A Raise -- did it go smoothly?
    • When did you shift the model and begin engaging more B2B channels? Was that post-Series A, B?  What guidance do you have for founders re. focusing on one and when to expand?
    • What was it, do you think, that kept all the VCs from investing?
  • LESSON 4 : DEPRESSION-ERA VALUES CAN BUILD A STRONG CULTURE
    
    • What were the three values that were core to your DNA and culture -- that helped you survive and ultimately thrive?
    • Has this shaped the way you evaluate companies, pre COVID and during?
  • LESSON 5 : MANY THINGS ACTUALLY GET EASIER
    
    • In what ways is it easier to build during a recession?
• If you were building another company right now, what’s one major thing you'd do differently?

To listen more, please visit http://fullratchet.net/podcast-episodes/ for all of our other episodes.

Also, follow us on twitter @TheFullRatchet for updates and more information.

On this special segment of The Full Ratchet, the following investors are featured:

• Ryan Gembala
• Jenny Rooke
• Jeff Clavier
• Courtney Reum

Each investor discusses sectors, drivers and/or trends that may have significant impact in the future and are potentially positioned for outsized-returns.

To listen more, please visit http://fullratchet.net/podcast-episodes/ for all of our other episodes.

Also, follow us on twitter @TheFullRatchet for updates and more information.

Sarah Tavel of Benchmark joins Nick on a special Crisis Coverage installment to discuss Consumer Marketplace Investing; Why Aggregate GMV is a Red Herring; and Minimum Viable Happiness as the Key to Market Leadership. In this episode, we cover:

• Background and path to venture?
• Quick overview of the thesis and your focus at Benchmark
• What are your thoughts on platform VC?
• What tactics or approaches do you use in the process of “scaling your founder”?
• You sit on the board of some companies, such as HipCamp, that have been greatly affected by the pandemic -- What are some of the creative responses you've seen from portfolio companies?
• Is there anything fundamental to Marketplace businesses that you think will shift as a result of the crisis and changes in consumer behavior?
• In the food delivery space, we recently witnessed DoorDash unseating the larger incumbent: GrubHub, with the greatest market share. DoorDash started after PostMates and years after Grubhub... how'd they do it?
• Do you currently see or do you predict more situations where a startup capturing more supply will lead to displacement of a large tech company as mkt share leader?... if so, in what markets?
• Recently, you published a series of newsletters talking about the hierarchy of marketplaces... first off, what are the three phases that you've outlined here?
• Why is a push to aggregate GMV across many markets, less important than dominance in one market?
• What is Minimum Viable Liquidity?
• How do you define/measure happiness?
• At what levels do you know you've reached MVL or MVH?
• Level 2 of your Marketplace framework... Can you talk about what it means for a marketplace to “tip” and how do marketplace based businesses achieve this?
• Is there something specific that happens w/ the metrics of a businesses that show that the marketplace is tipping?
• Do different stages of fundraising map to these phases?
• The third phase you refer to is the 'Outrun' phase... walk us through the main focus areas in this phase.
• Homogeneity of the buy-side as a negative... can you expand on this?
• How does your evaluation of a marketplace based business differ whether it’s a b2b company or a b2c company, if at all?
• Let's say you are approached to invest in a Consumer Marketplace company with $10M in GMV, a 25% take rate, and 20% MoM growth for the last 6 months.
  • Catch is you can only ask for 3 data points to make your decision.
  • What 3 questions do you ask for?

To listen more, please visit http://fullratchet.net/podcast-episodes/ for all of our other episodes.

Also, follow us on twitter @TheFullRatchet for updates and more information.

Beezer Clarkson of Sapphire Ventures joins Nick on a special Crisis Coverage installment to discuss Platform LP; Allocations in a Down-Market; COVID Strategy Drift; and Emerging Manager Selection. In this episode, we cover:

• Background and path to Sapphire?
• Overview of the thesis at Sapphire?
• You have relationships with many different funds and fund managers, how have you been managing the current situation from the LP side?
• Down years tend to be very good times to invest, what portion of institutional LPs do you think will view the current situation as an opportunity to deploy versus those that tighten up?
• Strategy drift of a venture firm can be concerning. COVID has impacted some strategies more adversely than others -- what have you seen as far as shifts in theses and deployment strategies among firms and what's your opinion on GPs changing course due to COVID/SIP?
• Changing gears a little bit, but I want to talk about OpenLP. What is OpenLP and why'd you launch it?
• There was a good article recently published by Kauffman Fellows talking about the relationship between LPs and micro-vcs and emerging fund managers. It mentions that most institutional LPs won’t invest in emerging managers until they see them produce cash-on-cash returns, but at that point, they’re no longer an emerging manager. What do you need to see from emerging fund managers to consider investing in their subsequent funds?
• As far as skills are concerned, which skills do you often see emerging fund managers have aside from having access to great deals, making good investment decisions and providing value to founders?
• Have there been any novel ways that you've seen smaller firms differentiate themselves that you can mention? Any other areas where you'd like to see more focus?
• Let's say you're looking at an emerging fund manager's existing LP-base -- what, if any, are the red flags or things that might give you pause?
• I know you place significant emphasis on the human aspect of working with people, how do you assess whether or not a fund manager has the people skills that you require when deciding whether or not to invest into their venture fund?
• How can a fund manager determine whether an LP has real interest vs. just being a tire kicker?
• You are approached to invest in a Emerging VC Firm. Their last fund is currently at 35% IRR 1.3 TVPI and is 2018 vintage.
  
  • Catch is you can only ask 3 questions (for 3 additional data points) to make your decision.
  • What 3 question do you ask? Granted this is not how investing works! ; )
• Any advice for fund managers that are early in the career, planning a fundraise within the next 12 months?

To listen more, please visit http://fullratchet.net/podcast-episodes/ for all of our other episodes.

Also, follow us on twitter @TheFullRatchet for updates and more information.

On this special segment of The Full Ratchet, the following Investors are featured:

• Alex Osterwalder
• Scott Kupor
• Cheryl Cheng

Each investor highlights a situation where they decided not to invest, why they passed, and how it played out.

To listen more, please visit http://fullratchet.net/podcast-episodes/ for all of our other episodes.

Also, follow us on twitter @TheFullRatchet for updates and more information.

Byron Deeter of Bessemer joins Nick on a special Crisis Coverage installment to discuss Why This is the Seminal Moment for Cloud and Lessons from 19 Unicorn Investments. In this episode, we cover:

• Background and path to venture
• Stage and focus area at Bessemer?
• You’ve said that many of the lessons learned from the 08 crisis are applicable today -- what are the top 2 or 3 lessons that founders can directly apply to their business during the current crisis?
• From a startup standpoint, how is this crisis different from the last?
• What are your thoughts on the dynamics of the PPP and the role the government is playing amid the crisis?
• We’ve seen significant volatility in the public markets, but Cloud has remained pretty resilient... what have been your macros observations on SaaS and Cloud businesses over the past couple of months?
• Why is now “the iPhone moment” for Cloud? 
• We’ve seen a number of business models gain increasing momentum, such as freemium, low friction and developer centric to name a few -- what have you observed w/respect to evolving business models and which do you think will become more pervasive in the coming years?
• You’ve talked in the past about the importance of channel scalability for SaaS and cloud companies, define channel scalability for us and what some red flags that may reveal a lack of this?
• A lot of analysis that goes into these businesses and every situation is different, so I don't want to over simplify... but have you found some general characteristics that separate the winners from the losers?
• Trust is such an important part of a relationship between founders and investors, what's your approach to building relationships, and do you have a specific example/story?
• We saw substantial growth in the number of unicorns from the 2000’s to the 2010’s, what do you expect to see this decade?
• How do you feel about the trend of companies to stay private longer?
• From the 10 Laws of Cloud Computing... which are the ones most often absent from opportunities you're reviewing?
  • Law 1: In the cloud economy, scale wins
  • Law 2: Growth at optimal cost
  • Law 3: Invest behind the cloud sales and marketing learning curve
  • Law 4: Product as a competitive advantage
  • Law 5: Master the 5 C’s of cloud finance
  • Law 6: Discover your secret KPIs
  • Law 7: Customer success is company success
  • Law 8: Impact through engagement or insights
  • Law 9: Tone starts at the top
  • Law 10: Map your fuel stops
• In the last State of the Cloud report, you mentioned 5 predictions about the future of Cloud, can you highlight a few you're most excited about? 

To listen more, please visit http://fullratchet.net/podcast-episodes/ for all of our other episodes.

Also, follow us on twitter @TheFullRatchet for updates and more information.

On this special segment of The Full Ratchet, the following Investors are featured:

• Michael Cardamone
• Jim Kim
• Jason Calacanis

Each investor discusses a portfolio company that did not survive and why it was that they failed.

To listen more, please visit http://fullratchet.net/podcast-episodes/ for all of our other episodes.

Also, follow us on twitter @TheFullRatchet for updates and more information.

Leah Solivan of Fuel Capital joins Nick on a special Crisis Coverage installment to discuss Building TaskRabbit in a Recession; COVID Effects on the Independent/Gig Economy; and Key Factors for Early-Stage Marketplace Success. In this episode, we cover:

• Background -- path to venture?
• How is the current climate affecting your investing?
• Differing viewpoints on how much runway to plan for w/ a new capital raise... are you suggesting founders raise for more than 18-months or does the standard runway guidance hold?
• This crisis has had a pretty profound impact on the sharing economy/the gig economy/the independent economy. As someone with experience working in this space, what are your observations?
• Key lessons learned from building TaskRabbit in 2008/2009 during a recession?
• What will be the big opportunities post-covid, given the changes to consumer behavior?
• What are the main 3-5 things your looking for in a consumer marketplace business at the seed stage?
• Are there GMV levels that you're looking for?
• How about take rate?
• Best advice on investing in marketplace businesses that you've come across and incorporated into your approach?
• I've seen a number of consumer marketplace business that start w/ an auction-style format where vendors bid for consumer business, like thumbtack... then they flip to more of an affiliate/referral model where the consumer enters the specs for their job, those leads are sent to vendors and the vendors reach out individually w/ proposals. Why have we seen this shift?
• Does the transaction interface/format between vendors and customers influence your interest as an investor?
• You've said that you think investor's should stand in a founder's corner, not their kitchen. What do you mean by that?
• How involved do you get w/ founders, and how has that changed as the portfolio continues to grow?
• Advice for founders that are approaching an exit process w/ strategics?
• I know you pride yourself on your efficiency... do you have any efficiency hacks or tips for investors young in their career?

To listen more, please visit http://fullratchet.net/podcast-episodes/ for all of our other episodes.

Also, follow us on twitter @TheFullRatchet for updates and more information.

Grace Isford of Canvas Ventures joins Nick on a special Crisis Coverage installment to discuss How Companies Can Maintain Growth Post-COVID. In this episode, we cover:

• You're an extroverted, people-person... how you holding up w/ the quarantine?
• Quick overview of your background and path to VC?
• Your focus (and thesis) at Canvas?
• You developed a 30 page GTM Playbook based on interviews w/ 10+ CROs/VPs of Sales across major B2B companies. First of all, is this publicly available and also what were some takeaways that really stood out?
• There's a segment of VCs that believe that one must be an operator to be a good VC... what's your stance?
• Examples of successful non-operators?
• You completed a comprehensive analysis of the portfolios of over 200 venture firms, looked at 100 successful GPs, and winning, U.S.-based investments w/ a valuation greater than $500M... what were your key takeaways?
• A bit about signaling... Many in the industry and those observing determine the value of a startup based on whether a brand name venture firm is in the deal... "If Sequoia is in the deal, startup must be great"... what are your thoughts on this common perception?
• What does your weekly routine look like and how have you prioritized the various demands of the job?
• What have you found to be most challenging in your career as a VC?
• What advice do you have for young folks trying to make an impact as an investor or board observer?
• You wrote a great piece that analyzed three areas where VCs could invest to address the societal challenges of COVID-19.
• Can you walk us through each of these and why the opportunity here is greater?
• What do you think the future holds for venture & entrepreneurship in a post-COVID world?
• The old playbook for winning deals is gone... Any idea on how one might win a deal virtually?

To listen more, please visit http://fullratchet.net/podcast-episodes/ for all of our other episodes.

Also, follow us on twitter @TheFullRatchet for updates and more information.

On this special segment of The Full Ratchet, the following Investors are featured:

• Minnie Ingersoll
• Scott Dorsey
• M.G. Siegler

Each investor describes the most unusual situation or pitch that they've encountered as an investor.

To listen more, please visit http://fullratchet.net/podcast-episodes/ for all of our other episodes.

Also, follow us on twitter @TheFullRatchet for updates and more information.

Ash Fontana of Zetta Venture Partners joins Nick on a special Crisis Coverage installment to discuss The AI Investing Playbook; Why "Dev Tools" for Data Scientists is the Next Great Opportunity; When Fund Returns Don't Fit the Power Law; and Ash's Favorite Investment Heuristic from Naval Ravikant. In this episode, we cover:

• Zetta III was announced recently, a $180M fund for founders building AI-first companies.
• You went from $60M -> $125M -> $180M... how was the fundraise different this time around?
• Quickly can you give us your definition of an AI-first company?
• What will you be doing differently with the new fund and how does the pandemic affect your approach?
• Tom Tunguz just mentioned that in the data they're analyzing they are seeing a drop in spend on Machine Learning Infrastructure.  How much of a concern is this to you and your portfolio companies?
• With the launch of the new fund, you outline focus areas both Applications as well as infrastructure and tools...Is the application-layer ready to leverage AI in a significant way or is there still a lot headway that needs to be made at the infrastructure level first?
• Carlota Perez has written about technology cycles and how new technologies typically go through this installment phase, w/ rapid development and heavy investment, followed by crash and subsequent recovery leading to the deployment phase...  in your estimation where are we in the tech life cycle of AI and is it really ready (or will it be ready over the next 3-7 years) for mass deployment?
• How effective are the AI models today when much of the input data, generally speaking, is flawed?
• Talk about the next 3-5 years for Data Science... we've seen significant advances in developer tools and systems for software but I still feel like we're at very early stages in evolution, efficiency and scalability of data science tools/fundamentals.
• Does your fund returns follow the power law?
• Part of the advantage to AI-first startups is the supreme data moat that they can build, preventing others from gaining traction w/ competitive solutions. While this is an advantage for the startups that get a head start (and their investors) is there an adverse impact on other startups that are founded later and don't have the extensive data sets?
• Many of the startups you invest in are "deep-tech" and will not monetize and grow ARR the same way many familiar SaaS or transactional businesses will.  What are the major gating factors to raise each of a Seed Round, a Series A and a Series B, in these longer cycle tech-first approaches?
• You've create a Playbook on how to build an AI-first company.  It's evergreen with plans to update regularly as you work w/ companies...  I wonder if you might give us the basics... What do AI-First companies have in their DNA and when building a company, what's the sequence and major building blocks required at the early stages?
• Last time you were on the show you mentioned you learned a lot of great heuristics and mental models from Naval Ravikant. Can you give us a couple of these that have been really valuable in helping you quickly frame startup investment potential?

To listen more, please visit http://fullratchet.net/podcast-episodes/ for all of our other episodes.

Also, follow us on twitter @TheFullRatchet for updates and more information.

Tomasz Tunguz of Redpoint Ventures joins Nick on a special Crisis Coverage installment to discuss SaaS Strategies, Sector Data, and the $ Ceiling for Deals over Zoom. In this episode, we cover:

• September of 2015 was the last time we had you on the program...  bring us up-to-speed on major milestones and changes since then?
• Has your thesis changed at all?
• Aside from the effects of the pandemic now, what has been the biggest change in SaaS investing since then?
• Lots of varying advice from so-called experts... some suggesting to deep cuts across the board, extend runway out for a few years... others saying now is the time to lean-in, expand and take advantage of opportunities that are created by the crisis.  You put together a pretty simple two by two decision-matrix for startups.  Can you talk through this and how you're providing different counsel to startups in different positions?
• If you're vetting a startup for a Series A that has benefited from the crisis, how do you disentangle or segregate temporary or non-sustainable revenue sources from the steady-state?
• Have you adjusted your vetting criteria or expectations around metrics due to the crisis?
• What's something you look for and analyze that is less common?
• What's your take on situations where there is an agreed MRR but the contract is structured such that the bulk of the contract value is paid upfront.  On one hand is a great boost to working capital but how do you look at that from an MRR standpoint?
• Any tactical advice for founders/sales teams w/ regards to structuring new customer contracts in this environment?
• Is there a maximum $ contract size that you think can be closed over the phone?
• To determine the sectors impacted most by COVID-19, you looked at Roger Lee's data on Layoffs.  We've discussed a lot of the impacted sectors anecdotally here on the show... according to the data, what has been impacted most?
• Are there some sectors where we'll see a lagging effect... due to factors like sales cycles maybe we don't see the effects yet but will over the coming quarter or two?
• You've discussed sectors and categories that this crisis might accelerate... aside from the obvious like teleconference, telehealth, grocery delivery, video streaming, etc... what are some non-obvious areas that may get a big boost?

To listen more, please visit http://fullratchet.net/podcast-episodes/ for all of our other episodes.

Also, follow us on twitter @TheFullRatchet for updates and more information.