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: Adeyemi Ajao Oren Klaff Leo Polovets 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.

Patrick Gallagher of Tuesday Capital joins Nick on a special Crisis Coverage installment to discuss VC Firm Survival, How Seed Investing Scales, & A Glimpse at the Road Ahead. In this episode, we cover: Walk us through your path to venture How did things first come together for Crunchfund w/ you and Michael Arrington? Why did Michael leave and why did you rebrand Crunchfund to Tuesday? Gives us the highlights of your thesis? How do current events effect your approach going forward? Anything you'll avoid/be much more cautious investing in?... or anything you're leaning into? Some have said that many seed venture firms will not survive the current crisis.  I think there may be more than 1000 seed firms currently...  Do you think the volume of seed players reconciles as a result of this correction? What is your reserve strategy?  How much and how do you make decision as to how you deploy reserves into current portcos? Why the partnership with Frog and what does that mean for your portcos? Aside from design,

Darren Bechtel of Brick & Mortar Ventures joins Nick on a special Crisis Coverage installment to discuss The Built World in Crisis. In this episode, we cover: Background and path to venture? South Park... must be a story behind the name there? Overview of the thesis at Brick & Mortar? Just have to say... I suspect that the impacts of this crisis on the built world will be more profound that we can possibly imagine... and I won't pretend to know what those might be. Can you talk a bit about what you're seeing and what that could mean for the future? Circling back to your path to venture... How did your family react to your pursuit of a career in VC in lieu of the family business? Walk us through your first angel investment -- was it opportunistic or were you looking for startup investments actively? How'd that one turn out? Prior to founding the firm, were there any existing firms in the space that you looked to for inspiration? Talk about your first fundraise... you had access to a lot more capital t

Welcome back to TFR for the first Investor Stories Cram Session. In these special releases, we have aggregated the Investor Stories from previous episodes. In this installment, the following investors are featured: Jonathan Struhl John Greathouse Joanne Wilson Semil Shah Bryce Roberts Troy Henikoff Jason Heltzer Christopher Mirabile David Brown Brad Feld 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.

Somesh Dash of IVP joins Nick on a special Crisis Coverage installment to discuss Late Stage Impacts and Prioritizing Mental Health. In this episode, we cover: Quick background and what led you to venture/IVP? Overview of the firm and your focus? Covid impact on later stages The 2008 crisis... '08 was still strong for C round funding, steep dropoff in 2009, stayed pretty low in 2010, returning to fairly strong levels in 2011... thoughts on timing, severity and duration of impact on later stage funding? Directional impact on average valuations at late stage? Thoughts on exits? What do you think happens in the secondary market? What do you think happens with the well-funded, late stage companies in markets that are highly dependent on social interaction, mobility, travel, etc.? Reasonable to complete deep diligence in a completely remote environment?! You've been w/ IVP since '05... best recollections of changes in strategy made at IVP in '08/'09? Suggestions on how early-stage VCs should adapt the playbook? B

Semil Shah of Haystack joins Nick on a special Crisis Coverage installment to discuss VC Fund Management in a Pandemic World. In this episode, we cover: Last time we had you on was Nov. 2017... quick update on you and Haystack since then? LP interaction - are capital call defaults a serious issue to consider in this environment? How do you think investment dollar volume adjusts in 2020 vs. '19? I know you've had a lot of calls w/ friends and mentors lately... what are you hearing from the veteran investors right now? What feedback or insights have surprised you? What actions have you taken since the crisis hit to adjust your own strategy? How do you see the value of face-to-face interaction playing out in the VC-Founder interaction during pitches moving forward? How are you prioritizing reserves when triaging? In the case of a fund running low on dry powder right now, what are your thoughts on reopening a fund? In what cases should an early stage company change their business model to address the changing en

Samir Kaji of First Republic joins Nick on a special Crisis Coverage installment to discuss Relief $ for Startups via CARES Act, EIDL, PPP; & How an Extended Downturn Affects Emerging VC Funds. In this episode, we cover: Startups... The CARES Act became law on 3/27, but many are having trouble making sense of it and how it applies... Let's start out w/ the two types of loans that are available to small businesses... First off, can you explain the difference between the Economic Injury Disaster Loan Program (EIDL) and the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP)? EIDL - No forgiveness potential and and requires personal guarantee? PPP - Forgiveness potential and no personal guarantee? Affiliation...  Dan Primack was writing about how the 500 employee rule and how much of Private Equity portfolio companies will be excluded b/c of how the language is written.  Can you explain the "affiliation issue?" How can this be enforced/checked... so many obscure LLCs used for investment in companies... hard to verify. April

David Horowitz of Touchdown Ventures joins Nick on a special Crisis Coverage installment to discuss How Corporate VC Will Respond. In this episode, we cover: What is your current view of the venture market given the current crisis? Corporates have a history of pulling back in economic downturns, what will happen now? This is your 3rd economic downturn, What is different about this economic period vs. prior recessions? Are there advantages to new corporate funds vs. existing corporate funds? Committed capital vs. not committed You told me you believe corporations are more important in this environment than startups why? What advice do you have for start-up companies on dealing with corporations? Fair that those discussions or partnerships slow down? What is your prediction when things return to normalcy? 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.

Chris Douvos of Ahoy Capital joins Nick on a special Crisis Coverage installment to discuss the LP Lessons from '01 and '08, The Denominator Effect, Capital Calls & Fundraising in a Down Market. In this episode, we cover: What is the denominator problem/effect? Why does it matter? How do LPs react when they face the denominator problem? How quickly do LPs tend to rebalance their investment portfolio? What's the implication to VCs? How should VCs react when their investors face the denominator problem? LPs lose access to future funds if sell position as secondary? When VCs make capital calls at times like these, what's the ripple effect down the line for these LPs? What were some of the typical LP reactions you've seen from the dot com bubble and the 2008 crisis, that you expect to see again? Can you talk more about the thought process of LPs during a crisis like this? Are they rushing to liquidate? Are they putting that money somewhere else? VC capital calls - guidance? What's the impact on VCs that are

Steve Blank joins Nick on this special "Crisis Coverage" installment to discuss The Playbook for Startup Survival. In this episode, we cover: What industries will be most affected by social isolation? How do you see this playing out over the next 3 - 6 months? How does this pandemic and the impact on the economy compare to the past 3 market crashes? Similarities/differences? Having lived through 3 crashes, what's the biggest mistake CEOs make? So lets say I’m a startup founder -- What are the major questions I should be asking before putting a new strategy together? Let's talk about burn and runway -- can you break down the key elements and how much runway one should plan for? What are the first cost cutting measures that should be taken? Should startups consider a change in business model, go-to-market or even target customer -- why or why not? Do you have any guiding principles when it comes to communication -- whether it be to employees, customers or investors? What happened to startup fundraising at diff

Mark Suster of Upfront Ventures joins Nick on a Pre-Crisis chat to discuss Building a VC Franchise; The Shift to Bite-Sized Video Content; Last-Mile Attribution; & the Impact of Corona Virus Over The Next 6-12 Months. In this episode, we cover: Last time we had you on the show was December 2016. Any notable updates or changes at Upfront since then? Just chatting w/ Minnie Ingersoll and she was saying how great the Upfront Summit was and how I need to attend next year... what were the highlights for you this year? Content companies are beginning to optimize for quick 1-5 minute gaps everyone has in their day, on their commute, between meetings, etc. where really short form content can be consumed beginning to end.  You had a chat w/ Meg Whitman, CEO of Quibi at the Summit... and I'm going to read a quote from your blog post about that interview "her analogy of content like “The Da Vinci Code” which had 464 pages and 105 bite-sized, fully realized chapters. In essence, you’re not intimidated by the size of

On this special segment of The Full Ratchet, the following Investors are featured: John Vrionis David Horowitz Cyan Banister 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.

Ryan Gembala of Pathbreaker Ventures joins Nick to discuss Breaking Convention, Hitting The Fundraise Wall & Why Deep-tech Is Not More Capital Intensive Than Software. In this episode, we cover: Backstory/Path to Venture Talk about your time at Facebook and working in M&A. What's the thesis at Pathbreaker? How do you define pre-seed? Most of your dealflow inbound or outbound? Quote from the website: "We don't believe all great companies, nor all phenomenal investments, look the same early on. So we are flexible, realistic, and patient - solving for supporting the founders best-suited for tackling the most meaningful problems." I'm curious, what are the must-haves that cut across all investments that you do?   You've said to me that hardware isn't more capital intensive than software. As a hardware investor myself, that was refreshing to hear but I'm sure there are many founders and investors that would strongly disagree. Why is not more capital intensive? Do you think the time horizon to exit is long

On this special segment of The Full Ratchet, the following Investors are featured: Jeremy Neilson Jason Whitney Jenny Rooke 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.

Alex Osterwalder of Strategyzer joins Nick to discuss The Ultimate Testing Framework. In this episode, we cover: Take me back and talk through the origin of the business model canvas? Just to refresh listeners can you provide a high-level overview of the business model canvas and how it's used? Let's chat about your new book, Testing Business Ideas, co-authored with David J. Bland... Why'd you right the book? Who is the target audience? If I'm the reader, what outcome can I achieve after reading this book and applying it's principles? What are the four phases outlined in the book? Walk us through the objective and key elements of the testing phase. A significant focus is the elimination of risks?  How does one systematically reduce or remove risks from their business? We recently had Leo Polovets on the program and discussed the challenge of balancing testing with executing.  I think it can be difficult to know when something is working well enough that you should stop testing and move forward quickly in tha

On this special segment of The Full Ratchet, the following Investors are featured: Scott Dorsey Jeff Clavier John Fein 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.

Jason Calacanis joins Nick to discuss Unicorn vs Pegasus, The Softbank Effect, & Impacts of a Recession on VC. In this episode, we cover: Last time we had you on the show was July 2017. What big things have happened over the past (almost) three years with yourself and Launch? Last time you talked a bit about the "Goldilocks zone"... sort of that post-seed, pre-A round. Is that still the stage getting most focus from you? I read an article where you suggested that SoftBank is changing the way Silicon Valley thinks about going public. What are the biggest positive effects you've seen from the Vision Fund? What about negatives and adverse effects? The volume of startups seems to be ever increasing... Any advice for founders on how to stand out? Lots of people talking about an upcoming recession in 2020. If a recession were to hit, what happens to venture? How do you think it could potentially impact startups as well as investors or VCs? How does your investment strategy change in a recession? Anything found

On this special segment of The Full Ratchet, the following Investors are featured: Scott Kupor Michael Cardamone M.G. Siegler Each investor discusses sectors, drivers and/or trends that may have a 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.

Minnie Ingersoll of TenOneTen Ventures joins Nick to discuss Embracing Failure, Capitalizing on Crisis & Building Resilience. In this episode, we cover: Backstory/path to Venture You co-founded Shift, which you scaled to $100M. What was the most unexpected/surprising aspect of leading and scaling a venture-backed startup? Where did you spend most of your time (and mindshare) at A vs. B vs. C/D? What was it like building a venture-backed startup as a woman? Tell us a bit about the thesis at TenOneTen. I was recently speaking with M.G. Siegler about the societal impacts of tech... all of which are not positive.  I know you're a mother, so this probably takes on new meaning for you... but how to you consider social and societal responsibility in your role as a tech investor? You've experienced early struggles in your life that have informed your approach as an investor and founder.  Can you talk about what you've been through, the impact and the perspective you've gained from it? Is failure acceptable?  As

On this special segment of The Full Ratchet, the following Investors are featured: Jim Kim Courtney Reum Aydin Senkut 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.