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

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.

Direct download: IS173.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 6:00am EDT

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?
Direct download: REPLAY_CYAN_BANISTER.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 6:00am EDT

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...
Direct download: REPLAY_ERIC_PAYLEY.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 6:00am EDT

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.

Direct download: 172.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 6:00am EDT

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.

Direct download: Why_I_Invested_in_Shotcall_Thomas_Gentle.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 6:00am EDT

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.

Direct download: IS_171.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 6:00am EDT

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?
Direct download: 260_final.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 6:00am EDT

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.

Direct download: IS170.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 6:00am EDT

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?
Direct download: TFR259_final_v2.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 6:00am EDT

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.

Direct download: is169.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 6:00am EDT

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