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

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

  • Tim Guleri
  • Amy Nauiokas
  • Sach Chitnis
  • Guy Perelmuter

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

Did you miss our guests full length episodes?

For other great episodes, go to The Full Ratchet blog and catch up! Also, follow us on LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/company/27155166/) and Twitter (https://twitter.com/TFR_Pod).


Tony Wilkins of Standing Oaks Venture Partners joins Nick to discuss Identifying Stand-outs at Pre-Seed, Coaching High-Growth Leaders, and Leveling the Playing Field for Underrepresented Founders. In this episode we cover:

  • Are leaders born or made?
  • How do you select for potentially great leaders at the very beginning of their business journey?
  • How do you think about building a strong and healthy culture within a firm? 
  • What's the most important thing for an angel investor to know when they start investing?
  • What will it take to level the playing field for founders? 

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

Did you miss our guests full length episodes?

Go to The Full Ratchet blog and catch up! Also, follow us on LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/company/27155166/) and Twitter (https://twitter.com/TFR_Pod).

Direct download: 315_Investor_Stories_215__Whats_Next_Wiener_Larco_Pascucci.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 6:00am EDT

Jonathan Lehr of Work-Bench joins Nick to discuss IT and Enterprise Tech Investing, The Realities and Myths of PLG, and The Past and Future of NYC Tech. In this episode we cover:

  • Walk us through your background and path to VC.
  • Tell us a little more about the thesis at Work-Bench. 
  • On your website, you mention you invest in "seed and seed II" startups. What is a seed II?
  • What sort of myths are there around PLG companies?
    • How do you advise startups to price their products?
  • Mark Suster recently Tweeted…  "If you look at our industry, it's now awash with capital that requires every firm to get very focused on where its edge comes from. If you're not a bulge-bracket VC, choose your positioning wisely"(stage, sector, geography, founder access) … way too many firms are generic". What are your thoughts on the financing environment?
  • You've been a part of the New York tech ecosystem for about a decade now. How has the tech scene evolved over the past 10 years or so? 
    • There was a dogma for a while that enterprise startups had to be built in Silicon Valley. Why do you think this is a mistaken belief?

Missed a recent episode? Go to The Full Ratchet blog and catch up! Also, follow us on LinkedIn and Twitter.

 

 


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

 

  • Nikhil Basu Trivedi
  • Alfred Chuang
  • Monique Woodard
  • Ben Sun

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

Did you miss our guests full length episodes?

For other great episodes, go to The Full Ratchet blog and catch up! Also, follow us on LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/company/27155166/) and Twitter (https://twitter.com/TFR_Pod).

 

Direct download: 314_Investor_Stories_214__Why_I_Passed_Basu_Trivedi_Woodard_Sun_Chuang.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 6:00am EDT

Rob Go of NextView Ventures joins Nick to discuss Reflections From 10 Years at NextView, Dogma vs Discipline, the Importance of Effective Post Money, and Market Sizing Pitfalls. In this episode we cover:

  • Is VC fundamentally changing under our feet?
  • What are other biggest industry shifts that have changed the way you operate at Next View?
  • Most LPs are focused on their fund managers' ownership percentage at entry. Explain what effective post-money at exit is and why that has become a north star from next view?
  • Takeaway #3: There is a Goldilocks zone between too much dogma and lack of discipline. Can you give us an example or two of strategies that were difficult to let go of or move on from?
  • Your favorite saying internally is “anything worth doing is worth doing fast”. Yet this is a pretty long cycle business and it takes time for a portfolio to mature and drive returns. What were the key learnings with regards to returns and metrics?
  • How do you know if you're winning if the metrics are a bit of a red herring?  Are there any alternative metrics or signals you look for to quantitatively gauge performance?
  • You cited the biggest observable misses for most VC's and it's related to market size -- what's been your observation here and where are investors missing?
  • You suggest that founders and investors should make each other a bit uncomfortable. Why?
  • Does this ever prevent you from winning deals?
  • What's your opinion on competition after a decade of investing?
  • How do you think about the competitive set of investors and how to maintain and edge in sourcing and winning the best deals?
  • Do you have any advice for founders w/regards to fundraising?

Missed a recent episode? Go to The Full Ratchet blog and catch up! Also, follow us on LinkedIn and Twitter.


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

Dharmesh Thakker
Billy Libby
Emily Paxhia
Ed Sim


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

Did you miss our guests full length episodes?

For other great episodes, go to The Full Ratchet blog and catch up! Also, follow us on LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/company/27155166/) and Twitter (https://twitter.com/TFR_Pod).

Direct download: IS213-_Post_Mortems_Thakker__Libby__Paxhia__Sim.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 6:00am EDT

Jonathan Ebinger of Transform Capital joins Nick to discuss Donating Half Your Carry, Why Open Banking is the Future, and Recruiting Outside the Bay Area. In this episode we cover:

  • Walk us through your background and path to VC
  • Tell us about your experience at Blue Run and why you decided to launch Transform.
  • What is the thesis at Transform?
  • Portfolio construction / stage / check size
  • How did you come up with the model to donate 50% of your carry?
  • What causes are you allocating carry to?
  • What was the biggest challenge in the transition from early stage to late stage venture investing? 
  • So you led the Series A in Jackpocket at BlueRun and the later stage Transform. How do you avoid conflicts of interest across both firms?
  • I know you are an active fintech investor -- w/ regards to crypto... what areas are most compelling right now from an investment standpoint?
  • We're in a hot market at the moment -- seeing lots of fund creation, lots of startup formation, and valuations are inflating  to 2-3x what they were a few years ago.  Is the market overheated and are too many startups getting funded?
  • Is the bay area being threatened in its supremacy?
  • The Economist last week talked about the slowing pace of innovation and rise of mega-companies. What's your take on their position that innovation has slowed -- and what does that mean for venture?

Missed a recent episode? Go to The Full Ratchet blog and catch up! Also, follow us on LinkedIn and Twitter.

The host of The Full Ratchet is Nick Moran, General Partner of New Stack Ventures, a venture capital firm committed to investing in outsiders.

To learn more about New Stack Ventures by visiting our Website and LinkedIn and be sure to follow us on Twitter.

Are you a founder looking for your next investor? Visit our free tool VC Rank and tell us about your business. We’ll send a list of possible investors right to your email’s Inbox!


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