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

Simeon Iheagwam of Noemis Ventures joins Nick to discuss Starting a Fund w/ Life Savings, Why it Takes More than Just Performance to Find Success, and Sticking to Your Framework. In this episode, we cover: Walk us through your background and path to VC What’s the thesis at NOEMIS Ventures? What is your process for investing? Are there any must-haves? Like Brad Feld... you are syndication agnostic... don't care about who else is in the round and you're willing to be the first yes.  How do you get to conviction -- especially not having worked for a large VC fund? Where do you help your portfolio companies the most? In your words... why is it difficult to launch a fund as a diverse manager? What were some of the most unexpected and challenging aspects of launching a fund? Strangest question you've received from an LP? What's your approach to investing in diverse founders? You were recently highlighted by Grasshopper Bank and Left Tackle Capital as an extraordinary funder.  And I believe you joined their inaugural cohort called the Future Funders Institute?  We've seen a few different accelerator-like programs spin up, targeted at emerging GPs.  Tell us a bit about the program. 3 data points... Let's say you are approached to invest in a Fintech SaaS business with $5k MRR, and 20% MoM growth for the last 3 months. The catch is you can only ask for 3 data points to make your decision. What 3 questions do you ask for?

On this special segment of The Full Ratchet, the following Investors are featured: Stephen McIntyre Gigi Levy Weiss Richard Kerby Kane Hsieh Each investor discusses a portfolio company that did not survive and why it was that they failed.

Charles Adler of Kickstarter joins Nick to discuss The Founding Story of Kickstarter — Community, Competition, and Customer-Obsession. In this episode, we cover: Walk us through your background and path to tech. Growing up what inspired you most? How did the idea for Kickstarter begin? Was there an MVP - was there an initial target vertical? When did you know that it was working? What was the biggest mistake you made during the journey? When competition arose... did it scare you? Is Kickstarter today still delivering on the initial vision you and your co-founders had? What was the hardest part of growing a venture-backed company? What advice would you have for founders before selecting VC partners? Organic growth and categories? We often talk on the show about the importance of customer obsession, really knowing what they care about and spending time to understand that -- what has been your philosophy and approach w/ customers? Many founders and investors talk about the importance of diversity.  We talk about the importance of climate change and the environment.  We campaign for socio-economic equality.  How do you think founders (and investors) can be more intentional about building their beliefs into their business and their culture? What are you focused on now... tell us about Lost Arts? Why do it alone? Community has been a common thread/focus across many of your efforts.  Is community core to everything you do... if so why?

On this special segment of The Full Ratchet, the following Investors are featured: Ben Casnocha Janet Bannister Nikhil Basu Trivedi Farooq Abbasi Each investor describes the most unusual situation or pitch that they've encountered as an investor.

Guest Update: When the episode was recorded in 2019, Cyan was a partner at Founders Fund. Currently, Cyan is a partner at Long Journey Ventures.  In this special replay of episode 180, Cyan Banister of Long Journey Ventures joins Nick to discuss the Self-Made Engineer, Angel, and Venture Capitalist. In this episode, we cover: So, Cyan you have a really interesting story and background that led you to where you are today. Feel free to start wherever makes most sense but can you talk about your life experience and how it led you to where you're at now? You spoke publicly about your early life at the 2018 TechCrunch Disrupt conference, from living on the streets to becoming a venture capitalist, tell us about this incredible journey, what you accredit your success to and how it lead to venture? Where along the way did you meet Scott? Did you guys every consider raising your own fund? How early are you able to go at Founder's Fund? How do you work with founders post-investment? Judicious with your magic bullets? Have you funded founders with non-traditional backgrounds or missions dedicated to folks living in poverty or providing access to upward mobility? How has your approach changed from your time as an angel to now your experience as a VC ? Do you have any good stories or learnings from Naval? Prior to FF you were an early stage investor in successful companies like Uber, Postmates, PayPal at others... I know you invest alongside Scott... who started angel investing? What was your early approach to angel investing and how were you able to source and select such iconic tech companies at very early stages? Can you tell us a bit about Founder's Fund and your focus? Stage, Sectors, Geographies? "The most promising companies tend to share a few characteristics: They are not popular. They are difficult to assess. They have technology risk, but not insurmountable technology risk. If they succeed, their technology will be extraordinarily valuable. We have no idea what these companies might look like, only that they probably will share these characteristics. Entrepreneurs often know better than we do what might be enormously valuable in the future." -- It's a very humble approach and one that resonates with me and many others. Can you elaborate on the thesis and characteristics of founders that are the best fit for Founders Fund? What's your take on the prevalent number of VCs that remove CEOs of their portfolio companies, on average, within three years of investment? What's your take on contrarian vs. conformist investing... first, how do you even determine what is contrarian and then what's your take on how each ties to performance?

In this special replay of episode 135 & 136, Eric Paley of Founder Collective joins Nick to dispel some conventional wisdom in VC. We address questions including: What’s the focus at Founder Collective? What are the downsides of heavily funded companies? Overview and Methodology of the study of 71 IPOs: ‘Overdosing on VC: Lessons from 71 IPOs’ Conventional VC...

On this special segment of The Full Ratchet, the following Investors are featured: Eric Collins Trae Vassallo Ramy Adeeb M.G. Siegler Each investor illustrates a critical lesson learned about startup investing and how it's changed their approach.

On this special segment of The Full Ratchet, the following individuals are featured: Nick Moran Thomas Gentle This will be a unique segment where, Founder of Shotcall, Thomas Gentle, will discuss his startup story and how he chose New Stack to participate in the funding round. follow us on Twitter @TheFullRatchet for updates and more information.

On this special segment of The Full Ratchet, the following Investors are featured: Check Warner Henrique Dubugras James Currier Lanham Napier Each investor discusses sectors, drivers and/or trends that may have a significant impact in the future and are potentially positioned for outsized-returns.

Avichal Garg of Electric Capital joins Nick to discuss The Intersection of Crypto and VC and the Future of Digital Currency. In this episode, we cover: Walk us through your background and path to VC What’s the thesis at Electric Capital? How does the crypto focus change the fund structure of Electric Capital? When you invest capital and receive equity and/or coins in return...  What determines that breakdown? For pure coin investments, how do you think about and manage liquidity and transactions over time? What are some of the big differences between traditional tech investing and crypto investing? How are the founder's different? What’s are the biggest risk factors that are unique for early-stage cryptocurrencies?