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 ...
Dec 14, 2020•43 min
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.
Dec 10, 2020•11 min
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 t...
Dec 07, 2020•49 min
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.
Dec 03, 2020•10 min
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 creator...
Nov 30, 2020•40 min
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.
Nov 26, 2020•9 min
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....
Nov 23, 2020•31 min
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....
Nov 19, 2020•10 min
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...
Nov 16, 2020•38 min
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....
Nov 12, 2020•11 min
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 in...
Nov 09, 2020•45 min
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.
Nov 05, 2020•11 min
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 ...
Nov 02, 2020•42 min
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....
Oct 29, 2020•10 min
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...
Oct 26, 2020•59 min
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....
Oct 22, 2020•11 min
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 ...
Oct 19, 2020•50 min
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.
Oct 15, 2020•16 min
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 ex...
Oct 12, 2020•49 min
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....
Oct 08, 2020•10 min
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...
Oct 05, 2020•43 min
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.
Sep 30, 2020•11 min
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 th...
Sep 28, 2020•42 min
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.
Sep 24, 2020•11 min
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 cl...
Sep 21, 2020•1 hr 7 min
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.
Sep 17, 2020•8 min
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 leav...
Sep 14, 2020•46 min
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.
Sep 10, 2020•7 min
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? Wh...
Sep 07, 2020•53 min
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.
Sep 03, 2020•9 min
