The Full Ratchet: Vc | Venture Capital | Angel Investors | Startup Investing | Fundraising | Crowdfunding | Pitch | Private E

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

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 curre

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 subs

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

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

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 publis

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 ha

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 abou

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

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

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

On this special segment of The Full Ratchet, the following Investors are featured: Aydin Senkut Steve Glickman Ash Rust 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.  

Richard Kerby of Equal Ventures joins Nick on a special Crisis Coverage installment to discuss the Tactical Advice for Raising VC Fund 1, Why Not to "Raise the Bar," and a Framework for Startups Adjusting to COVID-19. In this episode, we cover: Walk us through your background and path to Venrock Why'd you leave to launch Equal? You, Rick and the team just launched a $56 million Fund 1 at Equal Ventures in February...congrats on the final close! Tell us a bit about your thesis and how you differentiate? You invest in retail, insurance, supply chain and the care economy. From afar those seem unrelated - how'd you arrive at those four categories... is there a common thread? What is the best tactical advice you'd give to someone raising a fund? What's the biggest mistake you made during the raise process that prospective fund managers should do their best to avoid making? So you're early in the fund cycle w/ multiple years of initial check deployment in front of you... has the deployment strategy changed at all

Elizabeth Yin of Hustle Fund joins Nick on a special Crisis Coverage installment to discuss Investing after 1 Zoom Meeting, 2nd & 3rd Order Effects of the Virus, and Why "Market Pull" is Critical. In this episode, we cover: Tell us a bit about your background and path to venture Why'd you leave 500 and start Hustle Fund? What is the thesis at Hustle Fund? From a macro standpoint, how do you think the pandemic effects the venture landscape? What were some trends you were following, prior to the virus, that have accelerated in this environment? What are some that have regressed? What are some non-obvious sectors or business types that you're bullish on? Due to maybe second and third order effects of the virus, what are some sectors you are bearish on? You’ve said that you can make a decision after one Zoom conversation in 48 hours. Without much time to conduct diligence on the company and its founders, how are you able to get conviction so quickly? Many of us are trying to figure out how to invest w/o meet