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

Leo Polovets of Susa Ventures joins Nick to discuss Raising Fund III, A Framework to De-risk Your Startup, & When to Explore vs. Exploit. In this episode, we cover: Give us an update on your investments at Susa since we last chatted? How has the thesis at Susa evolved over the past couple of years? Do each of the GPs at Susa have specialty areas of focus? This year Susa closed on 2 new funds - Susa III a $90M early stage fund, along with your first opportunity fund to which investors committed $50M. What was the elevator pitch to LPs and what worked well in the first two funds that resonated with LPs, leading to the successful raise? What would you have done differently in Fund I and Fund II if you could go back? What it takes to raise a Series A... often founders will have a singular focus on the vanity metrics -- they assume if they hit $2M in ARR they'll attract the A round at an attractive multiple from Tier 1 investors. But, we've seen this play out and it's not all that's required. Why is a singula

On this special segment of The Full Ratchet, the following Investors are featured: Adeyemi Ajao Ash Rust SC Moatti 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.

Welcome back to TFR for another Cram Session. In these special releases, we have aggregated the takeaways and tips from previous episodes. In this installment, we will be recapping the following episodes:   138. How to Angel Invest Like the Best, Part 1 (Jason Calacanis) 139. How to Angel Invest like the Best, Part 2 (Jason Calacanis) 142. Beacon: An Engineering Systems Approach to Investing, Part 1 (Chris Farmer) 143. Beacon: Modernizing the VC Firm, Part 2 (Chris Farmer)   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.

Mark Suster of Upfront Ventures joins Nick to discuss Economic Theory in Venture Capital. In this episode, we cover: You’ve written about a major lesson from Clayton Christensen’s book, the Innovator’s Dilemma, which was one of ‘deflationary economics.’ Can describe what this means and why it should be a focus for startups? In light of deflationary economics, what are the key questions that a founder should ask him/herself about the business? Why is it that incumbents have such a hard time responding to startups w/ this approach? What should new market entrants focus on when it comes to price vs. functionality? At a high-level what are your thoughts on the trade-offs between growth and profitability? What are your impressions of what Bryce Roberts is doing at Indie VC? How have your thoughts on investment psychology and economics been influenced by The Black Swan by Nassim Taleb? What other principles of economics, that we haven’t touched on, have informed your investment philosophy? In light of today’s topi

On this special segment of The Full Ratchet, the following Investors are featured: John Vrionis Bradley Tusk Oren Klaff 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.

Jason Whitney of IU Ventures joins Nick to discuss University-Affiliated Funds & Angel Networks. In this episode, we cover: Backstory/path to venture At IU you have 3 core initiatives - The Quarry, IU Venture Fund and the IU Angel Network. What's the focus of each? Talk about the investment focus for the IU Philanthropic Fund. What're the criteria to be eligible for funding? How does IU Ventures support the University's mission? How does it affect or benefit current students?   As a broader goal, I know the organization ultimately hopes to entice investors and entrepreneurs from around the country to return to Indiana as a result of participating in the network. Are you measuring this and are your efforts working thus far? So, a criticism of both university venture funds and angel groups is speed -- traditional angel groups and academia move slowly with investment decisions.  How do you combat that issue for founders raising on a tight timeline, trying to close a round? I was speaking with a university-a

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

Can you give us a brief overview of Assure? Can you walk us through the history of how sidecars and/or angel groups have handled (or mishandled) these syndication style investments in previous decades? What are the pros and cons of utilizing an SPV as an LP or individual investors? Do the lead investors on these SPVs make money upfront -- initiation fees, mgmt fees, broker/transaction fees? Do you see fund managers that use SPVs exclusively for pro ratas? What are the advantages here? What are the regulatory risks for sidecar funds?

On this special segment of The Full Ratchet, the following Investors are featured: Bobby Franklin Steve Glickman Cheryl Cheng 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.

M.G. Siegler of GV joins Nick to discuss Streaming Wars, The Future of Mobile & The Evolution of User Interaction. In this episode, we cover: Backstory/path to Venture How'd you find your way from Hollywood to SV? Who was the first VC that, based on your writing talent, saw your potential as an investor? Why did you leave Crunchfund for GV?  A little confusion about the array of venture funds affiliated with Google - can you give us a quick overview and whether there is still an affiliation between Google and GV? Tell us about your thesis. How hands-on do you get w/ portcos? How does Jony Ive's departure affect Apple? What are the most valuable consumer tech companies by market cap - five years from now? Right now, in the streaming market, we have a fragmented group of services yet know one platform to unify the user experience...  what do you see for the future of streaming? How do you see the competition between Apple and Disney play out?  Who wins? Just heard the announcement that Facebook is acquirin

On this special segment of The Full Ratchet, the following Investors are featured: Michael Cardamone Jenny Rooke Scott Dorsey 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.

John Vrionis of Unusual Ventures joins Nick to discuss The DNA of Startup Success. In this episode, we cover: Backstory/path to venture. Talk about your experience at Lightspeed and your decision to leave. Where/when did you first meet Jyoti Bansal, the founder, AppDynamics? What's unusual about what you do? 'Unusual Academy' and 'Get Ahead Platform' -- what are they and what's the difference? You’ve spoken about your team at Unusual being focused on redesign the early-stage VC market and giving founders a distinct advantage. What about your approach gives founders a distinct advantage? You've spoken about founder focus on "How it works" vs. "Why it matters" -- what's the disconnect you've observed with early-stage founders? You've covered your own experience of learning through suffering -- is that also a quality/characteristic you look for in founders? Arrogance vs. Humility -- have you invested in founders displaying these traits? What's been your experience? 3 must-haves that you look for in a new invest

On this special segment of The Full Ratchet, the following Investors are featured: Jeff Clavier Bradley Tusk Scott Kupor 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.

Courtney Reum of M13 joins Nick to discuss Creating Unfair Advantages, Surviving Founder Burnout and Driving Successful Exits. In this episode, we cover: Backstory/path to venture Tell us about your experience being an investor at Goldman Sachs and working with brands like Procter & Gamble, Under Armour and Vitamin water. What are some takeaways you got from that experience that influence you today?  You and your brother founded VEEV Spirits which became the first line of organic ready-to-drink cocktails. VEEV received the Technomic Fast 50 Award and was named an Inc. Magazine 500 Fastest-Growing Companies in the U.S. What are some key factors that helped you establish such a successful brand? Tips for founders? Tell us about the approach you used to raise capital for Veev? Tell us the story behind founding M13. What was your vision for the firm early on?  What is your current focus/thesis at M13? Tell us about your “repeatable playbook” approach.  You took some big risks investing early in companies lik

On this special segment of The Full Ratchet, the following Investors are featured: David Horowitz Jim Kim Ash Rust 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.

Oren Klaff of Intersection Capital joins Nick to discuss Flip The Script & Perfect Your Pitch. In this episode, we cover: Backstory/path to finance What led to the founding of Intersection? What's your mandate and focus at Intersection? Tell us about the Velocity product. Your bestselling book Pitch Anything, provides a detailed methodology on effectively presenting, persuading and winning a deal during the pitch. Can you go over some key takeaways from the book for listeners? In the book you talk about the "S.T.R.O.N.G Method.” Can you briefly summarize the most important components of this approach and give some examples on how it works?  Your newest book "Flip the Script: Getting People to Think your Idea is Their Idea" is about to launch on August 13th.. why'd you write the book? I liked the title of your first chapter... Inception.  Many will remember the blockbuster movie.  What's the "We are evolved distrust information from the outside world"... how does this impact the approach? Is ther

On this special segment of The Full Ratchet, the following Investors are featured: Adeyemi Ajao Roy Bahat Cheryl Cheng 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.

John Gannon of Going VC interviews Nick to discuss The Story Behind TFR & New Stack Ventures. In this episode, we cover: How did you get Brad Feld on early on? How did you stay true to your vision when you were getting asked early on by entrepreneurs to feature them on the podcast? (you mentioned this in episode 10, w/Brad Feld) If you were starting TFR again, in 2019, what would you do differently? Why the podcast format vs blogging vs. ... ? When did you know that the podcast was "working" ... bringing deal flow or whatever you thought was a strong signal that things were clicking for your audience? What surprised you once the podcast got "big"? Anything unexpected on the positive or negative side? How did the podcast tie into your recent fundraising process? Where did it help, and did it hurt or cause any issues, too? How did the podcast tie into your recent fundraising process? Where did it help, and did it hurt or cause any issues, too? Do you measure deal flow that is podcast related, and

Michael Cardamone of Acceleprise joins Nick to discuss SaaS Acceleration, Sales Savvy Founders & the Rise of Tech-Enabled Services. In this episode, we cover: What is Aaron Levie like to work for? Backstory and path to Acceleprise When you started Acceleprise a lot of folks told you not to -- the world doesn't need another accelerator. Why did you proceed? Why an Accelerator and not a traditional VC fund? Check size then and now? The biggest criticism of accelerators that I'm hearing from investors is that accelerators admit companies that need a lot of help and can't figure things out on their own -- and those are not the companies that one wants to invest in. What's your response to these folks? You've mentioned your interest in working w/ founders that have a "willingness to sell." How specifically do you develop the sell-skills of founders that are willing but green w/regards to sales. What are some the best demand-gen techniques that you use? Talk to us about how you think through pricing models and

On this special segment of The Full Ratchet, the following Investors are featured: Scott Dorsey Aydin Senkut Cyan Banister 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.