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

Rebecca Kaden of Union Square Ventures joins Nick to discuss USV's Newest GP on Leveraged Growth, Consumer Brand Building & Customer Obsession. In this episode, we cover: I've heard you talk about Allbirds, Zullily, and others before, can you highlight a few notable investments from your time at Maveron? Previous career as a journalist? Did you write about tech? How'd you end up joining Maveron? Why the move to USV? Fred Wilson said: "Each partner who has joined USV has done two things very well. First, they have figured how to operate inside of our shared investment thesis. And second, they have figured out how to stretch it." You've said: "Next up: exploring the intersection between our core USV thesis around network effects, whether centralized or decentralized and the entrepreneurs building the standout consumer businesses that integrate into our hearts and minds." Talk about the types of Network effects that you look for and can create large, strong businesses on the consumer-side. Investment Process/Structure at Maveron vs. USV? You often talk a lot about one of my favorite items... customer obsession. It's well documented on this podcast that I will not invest in founders that aren't customer obsessed. I'd love to hear your thoughts here and how you test for this characteristic with early-stage founders. What are your thoughts on the role of brand and importance of brand in consumer companies? What are the key elements to building strong brand and can you give us specific examples that you've observed in portfolio companies? Thoughts on vertically-integrated brands-- strengths and weaknesses, is that critical for a brand w/ a physical good for you to make an investment? What's your role as investor, are you passive or active; are you coaching and teaching or more of a listener and support? What's your style? What do you like least about your job? In what ways do woman VCs support and help each other out in this male-dominated industry. Case Study-- very incomplete information, two companies, early stage, very similar sector and product category, both have exceptional founding teams... one has modest growth rates but exceptional NPS scores, the other has exceptional growth rate but modest NPS.  All other things being equal, which one are you more likely to invest in?   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, the Super LP, joins Nick to discuss Chaos Capital, the new Micro VC Movement and LPs Chasing Hype. In this episode, we cover: How his mindset as an LP has evolved Startups out of Standford vs Berkley and if the valley is over-fished how the micro VC movement has changed Chris' selection criteria and what he looks for in managers Why he most often says no The impact on LPs of companies staying private longer Yhe impact of new LPs coming into venture on asset class How the LP community interacts... adversarial, collaborative, competitive or othewise The areas where Chris can grow most as an LP and we wrap up w/ his thoughts on co-investment alongside GPs as well as follow-ons in later rounds   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: -Zach Coelius -Nathan Benaich -Jason Calacanis   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.

The Trend Spotter joins us today on the program. Tim O'Reilly is one of the top minds in tech, who has predicted and/or driven many of the movements that now seem so obvious to us. In today's episode we discuss: Tim's path to becoming an investor How he linked up w/ Bryce Roberts and launched O'Reilly Alphatech The shift in their model w/ Indie VC We talk about Tim's focus on profitability and his counter to those that cite some of the biggest and best tech companies that are not profitable We discuss Tim's new book WTF: What the future and why it's up to us Tim outlines the way he thinks about business model maps He explains his thought process of identifying technology shifts before they happen We discuss fear and it's role in shaping consumer mindset Tim references the historical lessons most overlooked by today's society and we wrap up w/ a conversation on ICOs and cryptocurrencies and get Tim's opinion on their role in the future of tech   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: Stuart Larkins & Ezra Galston Ben Einstein Bilal Zuberi  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.

Ben Narasin of NEA joins Nick to discuss how NEA makes decisions, why he joined the firm and the key traits he looks for in founders. In this episode, we cover: -Why he made the move to NEA -His Investment focus -the role of Venture Partner at NEA -the investment process the firm... and if decisions are made by committee -Ben's Evaluation Process -the key factor that every successful founder possesses -The common red flags that pop up and cause him to say no to strong startups -Why he believes his job is to say no -How he assess opportunities with 100 reasons to say yes and one reason to say no -Ben's evolving approach toward weighing risk factors in startups -how the tech and investing industry has changed over the past decade -how AUM is driving a bifurcation in venture -finally we get Ben's response to the recent Techcrunch article highlighting the crash in early-stage VC funding   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: -Guy Turner -Jonathon Triest & Brett DeMarrais -William Mougayar -Madhavan Ramanujam 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.

Eric Ries, author of the Lean Startup and The Startup Way, joins Nick to discuss his new book and his response to the naysayers. In this episode, we cover: Eric's backstory and path to working in tech Steve Blank was on the program and mentioned Peter Thiel's famous comments where he decried the MVP and lean startup approach. Steve thought he was entirely wrong. But I'd love to hear your response to Peter. Peter said in his book, "forget minimum viable products. Ever since Apple started in 1976, Jobs saw that you could change the world through careful planning, not by listening to focus group feedback or copying other's successes." For those that read the lean startup some time ago or maybe those that are newer to tech, can you provide a refresher of the key concepts? Why'd you write The Startup Way? Who is the audience for The Startup Way? Is this for transforming existing, large organizations or for companies establishing their culture and their process? In part one of the book, you talk about the modern company... What, in your estimation, is the biggest problem with the today's corporation? You've said that "the way to stay on top can be traced to two things: treating employees like customers, and treating business units like startups." This runs counter to the common capitalist mentality where there is a focus on margins, incremental product development and creating value for shareholders, not necessarily employees. Are you suggesting significant cultural and strategic change and, if so, how is that possible to achieve? Can large organizations really apply the concepts from the lean startup in the way that a startup can? Do you have a tech and non-tech example of organizations that have successfully applied this methodology? Tell us about the 'Big Picture' elements and your unified theory of entrepreneurship. Mark Suster was on the program and stated that it's nearly impossible to innovate behind the moat... meaning that large corporations should invest in venture and startups on the outside b/c it's too hard for them to disrupt from the inside.  How would you respond to Mark's comments? What would you say to those that claim that the entrepreneurial-minded folks often leave large corporations and those that stay are not inclined to embrace these principles?   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: 96. Student-Focused VC Funds, Part 1 (Peter Boyce II) 97. Student-Focused VC Funds, Part 2 (Peter Boyce II) 98. Public Policy for Angel Investors, Part 1 (David Verrill) 99. Public Policy for Angel Investors, Part 2 (David Verrill) 102. The Limited Partner, Part 1 (Lindel Eakman) 103. The Limited Partner, Part 2 (Lindel Eakman) 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: John Buttrick Semil Shah Eric Paley 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.