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

On this special segment of The Full Ratchet, the following Investors are featured: Janet Bannister Simeon Iheagwham Somesh Dash Jonathan Hsu Each investor illustrates a critical lesson learned about startup investing and how it's changed their approach.

Marcelino Pantoja of Tribe Capital joins Nick to discuss LP Turned VC, Mistakes When Pitching to Allocators, and Managing Limited Partner Relationships. In this episode, we cover: Walk us through your background and path to VC Refresh on the thesis at Tribe? Talk to us about the mindset of the allocator — what are their key objectives and what do they care about? What are the biggest mistakes you see emerging managers making when pitching LPs? Let's say an aspiring VC has a few years until they will raise from institutions... what should they be focusing on in order to create a really compelling offering in the medium term? Let's say an emerging GP is raising from institutions imminently... what advice would you have for them? Do you think it's significantly easier for an institution to make an investment in some coming from a large successful Tier 1 fund, spinoff, vs. a successful operator or angel? What are the key challenge areas that the LP is really going to scrutinize on the spin-off and what are the areas under scrutiny for the operator? Sometimes it's hard to get information on LPs from a distance... do you have any advice for fund managers that are trying to pre-qualify? What is the difference between a good LP and one that may be a problem... how does a GP determine that early enough to avoid bringing on the wrong types of LPs? In what ways is your job similar and different moving from LP to VC? How do you compete against other firms for deals? I understand the value-add but the value has become competitive with a larger number of firms... how can you continue to win and do so at a price that makes sense for the return potential?

On this special segment of The Full Ratchet, the following Investors are featured: Grace Isford Erik Torenberg Eric Collins Villi Iltchev Each investor discusses sectors, drivers and/or trends that may have significant impact in the future and are potentially positioned for outsized-returns.

Vincent Diallo of Interlace Ventures joins Nick to discuss Retail Apocalypse or Renaissance, the Commerce Evolution, and Fundraising from Corporates. In this episode, we cover: Article Mentioned in Episode: http://bit.ly/TFR-Vincent Walk us through your background and path to VC What's the thesis at Interlace? COVID has affected commerce severely -- for better and for worse. Has this changed your investment approach? Many investors are avoiding all physical retail as COVID has created a "retail apocalypse", but you've stated that you see it more as a retail renaissance. Why? What are some trends from COVID that you think investors are overreacting to that you expect will return to pre-pandemic levels? What new consumer experiences or behaviors are emerging that you are excited about? You mentioned supply chain as another area of interest, where are the biggest opportunities in the supply chain? Biggest mistake fundraising? Biggest win fundraising? Oper8tor program? Is now a good time or a difficult time to be a diverse fund manager?

On this special segment of The Full Ratchet, the following Investors are featured: Tom Tunguz Patrick Gallagher Trae Vassallo Brian Hirsch Each investor highlights a situation where they decided not to invest, why they passed, and how it played out.

Sach Chitnis of Jump Capital joins Nick to discuss Discovering the Next Sectors of Opportunity, The Impact Platform, & The Exit Discussion. In this episode, we cover: Walk us through your background and path to VC What's the thesis at Jump Capital? Talk about developing a thesis on a specific market opportunity — can you give us the broad strokes on your process of how you dissect emerging markets and identify where existing offerings are lacking? How do you determine who will be the winner? Is it common that, of the existing set of players, none will emerge as the winner and you need to wait for a fresh approach? Having a portfolio support platform is unusual for your size — how are you able to make it work at your fund size and what all does it entail? In what areas do you find a Series A funded company needs the most help? How do you advise a founder that's in a hot space, doesn't need capital but has inbound interest and large investment offers, maybe at inflated valuations, from tier 1 coastal investors? Let's talk about exits a bit... you've been around for 8 years, I noticed the good news of both 4C and Personal Capital's recent large exit, where are you finding most of the exit discussions begin... do they start w/ the founder considering it, do you discuss it as an option, or do meetings/partnerships start coming from strategics that get the process rolling? How do you advise founders on negotiation and getting the right offer, not just any offer? What is "swing time" and how do you systematically build that into your schedule?

On this special segment of The Full Ratchet, the following Investors are featured: Niko Bonatsos Melody Koh Ramy Adeeb Mark Suster Each investor discusses a portfolio company that did not survive and why it was that they failed.

Maren Bannon of January Ventures joins Nick to discuss Breaking the Founder Stereotype, Mastering Conviction Over Zoom, & the Contrast between European and American Entrepreneurs. In this episode, we cover: Walk us through your background and path to VC What's the thesis at January Ventures? How are you and your team at January Ventures making tech more of an equal opportunity? What is your approach to portfolio construction in this fund and how will that evolve in the future? What's one thing you know now that you wish you knew prior to raising the fund? You take meetings with founders VERY early — no warm intro, no pitch deck, or no revenue required to pitch to January Ventures. How do you evaluate the potential this early? How do you filter all of the opportunities -- what is your pre-filter process? How have you changed your work/process at January post COVID? What is your experience like moving from SF to Europe and what is your view of the European tech ecosystem?

On this special segment of The Full Ratchet, the following Investors are featured: Henrique Dubugras Jim Douglass Beezer Clarkson Avichal Garg Each investor describes the most unusual situation or pitch that they've encountered as an investor.

Tim Guleri of Sierra Ventures joins Nick to discuss Advice from a Unicorn Founder Turned VC, the Future of the VC Landscape for Founders & VCs, and the Founder Love Metric. In this episode, we cover: Walk us through your background and path to VC What's the thesis at Sierra Ventures? What's been your biggest influence on the firm's ethos? You've had two incredible outcomes as a founder... first question is do you think the process of building a company today is materially different than it was when you did it... if so how? We've talked a lot on the show, over the past 8 months about the effects of COVID on venture... what have been you main observations on how VCs are adjusting to investing during COVID? What do you think the new normal for startups looks like post-covid? How do you advise a founder that's in a hot space, doesn't need capital, but has inbound interest and large investment offers, maybe at inflated valuations, from tier 1 coastal investors? How do you handle situations where the product is just not a great fit for the market and the momentum is not building the way it should? You've been through the exit process this yourself and, I'd imagine, even w/ great outcomes those are some of the hardest decision one faces as a CEO... Do you have a framework or an approach to assessing whether an exit offer is strong and should be taken or whether the founder should hold out for a bigger outcome. There are a lot of factors that play into having to wind down a company... are there any that standout that signal to you that it's no longer working and we need to face to reality? You mentioned something interesting recently pertaining to your relationship with founders and that's that you track a metric that you dub "Founder Love". Can you explain how you gauge and measure this? What do you think the venture industry looks like in 5-10 year