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

On this special segment of The Full Ratchet, the following Investors are featured: Rebecca Kaden James Hardiman Evangelos Simoudis Each investor highlights a situation where they decided not to invest, why they passed, and how it played out.

Tae Hea Nahm of Storm Ventures joins Nick to discuss Go-to-Market Fit, Tidal Waves, Category Leadership & Split-Personalities. In this episode, we cover: What was your path to Venture Capital like and why'd you make that career change? You've been very successful with exits- is there a framework you apply to identify these? Can you explain further about your tidal investing strategy and how it has changed? With your expansive experience in Venture, do you believe are changes necessary in the silicon valley mentality? How active of a role do you play with your portfolio founders? You said you love to take the subway and observe what people are doing- what are some things you are spotting now and what are you spotting across the world. Why'd you write "Survival to Thrival"? Through your recent observations, what is the next big thing you are testing in Korea? You talk a lot about split personalities, when did you realize this was a necessary quality and how long did it take you to develop this yourself? How has this also changed over your tenure as a CEO? You've stated that founders have to stay both pragmatic and ambitious. In tech it's often a problem when you build out infrastructure or sales before everything is ready. On the flip side sharing too many problems or issues with your team and investors will make them wary. Have you had any of these occurrences with finding a balance and what would you advise the audience as solutions. How have you developed a positive attitude despite the dichotomy of feelings day in and day out? How would you advise other founders and CEO's to deal with this? How do you actually identify true passion in founders and what are the criteria you use for this? How have you aligned Storm Ventures proclaimed company culture with the unofficial culture? What is your advice to other CEO's trying to find a fit? In your book you talk about the 3 go to market elements. How long did it take you to realize these 3 things? You talk about identifying problems versus disastrous in the book. Can you tell us just the first step you founders should take if a problem is disastrous? Guest Links: Survival to Thrival Tae Hea Nahm Bio Tae Hea Nahm Twitter Tae Hea Nahm Blog Tae Hea Nahm Linkedin 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.

On this special segment of The Full Ratchet, the following Investors are featured: Madhavan Ramanujam Guy Turner Yoav Leitersdorf 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.

On this special segment of The Full Ratchet, the following Investors are featured: Bilal Zuberi Zach Coelius Elizabeth Galbut 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.

Brian Ascher of Venrock joins Nick to discuss Product is Paramount. In this episode, we cover: What is your story at Venrock and how have both you and your firm evolved over the past two decades. Talk a little about Venrock and your focus there. You were a product manager at Intuit, prior to Venrock.. what do you think is the VCs role in shaping product strategy? What are your thoughts on SaaS investing and this increasing focus on the "Intelligent Enterprise" You wrote an article a few years ago called "Goldilocks and the 3 SaaS Go To- Markets Models"... what are the three flavors of SaaS go-to-market and have they changed since you wrote the article? Business Model: Price/seat vs. metered service vs. price for value We're about to close on our first fintech investment for fund I-- can you talk a bit about fintech and why it's so hot? Some have said that digital currencies and/or the blockchain itself will be as disruptive as the internet-- agree or disagree? Something we've neglected a bit on the program is long-term governance. What are your thoughts on Managing a Board of Directors and what situations have you seen play out-- for better or worse? What is the percentage of healthy, well-functioning boards vs unhealthy boards? How are chairman roles assigned/elected-- are they often explicit and how useful is it to have an official Chairman? 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.

On this special segment of The Full Ratchet, the following investors are featured: Paul Martino Jason Calacanis Chris Farmer 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.

Carter Cast of Pritzker Group joins Nick to discuss Leadership from Origin to Scale. In this episode, we cover: You've been a manager and leader in early stage companies – from startups like Blue Nile (from $0 to $50 million in a couple years) to Walmart.com (from $0 – 5 billion in 7 years). I'm sure each was different but tell us about the experience of scaling such high growth companies? What were some of the key lessons or surprises from those experiences? You went from Operator to VC... Why'd you write the book? You present these catchy archetypes in the book... Captain Fantastic; the Solo Flier; Version 1.0; the One-Trick Pony; the Whirling Dervish. Can you give us a brief overview of each and then maybe we can talk about which, in particular, afflict entrepreneurs? Clearly you've thought deeply about the personal side of entrepreneurship and the psychology of founders. When you're looking at new deals, what sort of traits are you looking for in the founders? You and I have discussed your "Launching and Leading Startups" class at Kellogg-- what do you focus on in the class and why? I tend to see different skill sets and strengths of those running an early stage business vs. those running an IPO-ready company and we recently had David Cohen on the show who said that often the person to start a company is not the right person to scale it or take it public. Do you agree or disagree and how do you think about the changing leadership requirements through scale? 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.

On this special segment of The Full Ratchet, the following Investors are featured: Sarah Anderson Ash Fontana Chris Duovos 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.

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: 113. The Next Great Startup Ecosystem is… Part 1 (Chris Olsen) 114. The Next Great Startup Ecosystem is… Part 2 (Chris Olsen) 116. Index Investing, Mastering Dealflow & Seeing Everything at Series A, Part 1 (Galen Mason & Brian Axelrad) 117. Index Investing, Mastering Dealflow & Seeing Everything at Series A, Part 2 (Galen Mason & Brian Axelrad) 118. Economic Theory in Venture Capital, Part 1 (Mark Suster) 119. Economic Theory in Venture Capital, Part 2 (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.

On this special segment of The Full Ratchet, the following Investors are featured: Brendan Wallace Semil Shah Joe Medved 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.