The Full Ratchet (TFR): Venture Capital and Startup Investing Demystified
The podcast dedicated to demystifying Venture Capital. Nick Moran and Nate Pierotti interview VC's & Startup Founders and on how they build great technology startups.
478. Classical vs. Jazz Leadership, IPO Readiness & Key Metrics for a Successful Offering, Requirements for David to Beat Goliath, and Why Altman and Other Leaders are Pivoting to Open Source (Somesh Dash)
477. The Biggest Misconceptions About AI Agents, Why Defensibility Doesn't Matter at Seed, and Whether the AI Center of Gravity Is Shifting to China (Aaref Hilaly)
30 mins; April 07, 2025
Investor Stories 395: Best LP Question (Upham, Ho, Yunger)
9 mins; April 03, 2025
476. Fixing Education with a Startup Mentality: The Innovative Micro Schools-Model Backed by Founders Fund, Khosla, and Sam Altman (Ryan Delk)
475. Non-Dilutive Capital That's More Flexible Than Debt, Why Ruthless Prioritization Leads to Scale, and the One Ingredient That Makes a Company Investable at Any Stage (Vince Hsieh)
38 mins; March 24, 2025
Investor Stories 393: Why I Passed (Ho, Yunger, Chau)
7 mins; March 20, 2025
474. The VC Myth, AI Hype, Mastering GTM, and The Smart Approach to Capital Strategy and Achieving Startup Success (Kyle York)
473. The Future of AI is Vertical, Why Vertical TAMs are Getting Exponentially Larger, and Lessons from the Sector Giants that Lead to Dominance (Alexander Niehenke)
472. DeepSeek's Impact on Other LLMs, AI's Effect on Software Engineering, Nvidia's Future, and the Next Wave of Developer-First Companies (Joseph Ruscio)
471. How AI Transforms Services into Software and Revolutionizes Enterprise SaaS (Shashank Saxena)
30 mins; February 24, 2025
Investor Stories 389: Best LP Question (von Tobel, Felesky, Patil)
7 mins; February 20, 2025
470. The Former CTO of Meta on DeepSeek, Lessons from Zuckerberg, The Next $10T Market Opportunity, and the Impact of DeepTech on Energy Costs and Climate Change (Mike Schroepfer)
466. Investing in xAI, Wiz, and Flexport; Masayoshi Son's Superpower; How Elon Will Win the LLM War; and Whether AI Is an Extinction-Level Event for SaaS (Kevin Jiang)
465. The Villain Test, Lessons from an OG at Sequoia, Spotting Superstars at Seed, Mastering Follow-on, and the Future of Consumer Tech (Craig Shapiro)
44 mins; January 13, 2025
Investor Stories 383: Best LP Question (Droesch, Inkinen, Roizen)
465. Lessons from Jobs, Musk, Case, and Armstrong – What It Takes to Transform Industries and Build Trillion-Dollar Companies (Barry Schuler)
44 mins; January 06, 2025
Investor Stories 381: Why I Passed (Inkinen, Roizen, Upham)
9 mins; January 02, 2025
Replay - Healthcare Deep Dive – How AI and GLP-1 Megatrends Affect the Industry, Why Specialities Need to be Integrated, and Insights on Bundling vs. Unbundling (Ambar Bhattacharyya)
Replay - Why Healthcare is Broken and How to Fix it, A Future Path Forward Where Doctors are Architects not Providers, and How the Employer-Sponsored Healthcare System is Designed to Fail Us (Adrian Aoun)
43 mins; December 23, 2024
Investor Stories 379: Key Advice (Bhattacharyya, Heitzmann, von Tobel)
9 mins; December 19, 2024
464. Hyper-Concentration, Identifying $4B Weee! At Seed, How to Invest in Deals that Have No Competition, and How to Spot Consumer Trends Before They're Obvious (Han Shen)
463. Lessons from Larry Page, Why Subscriptions Won't Work in the Era of AI, How Enterprises Will Adopt AI, and the 3 Keys to Building Great Products (Manish Patel)
53 mins; December 09, 2024
Investor Stories 377: Best LP Question (Nozad, Joaquin, Heitzmann)
5 mins; December 05, 2024
462. The Founder and CEO of G2 on AI's Impact on Enterprise SaaS, How to Embrace the Climb, and Insights on Managing Through Crisis (Godard Abel)
461. The Energy Transformation, Challenges with Transmission and Distribution, Nuclear vs. Renewables, and Why Unreasonable Hospitality is Necessary in VC (Kevin Stevens)
40 mins; November 25, 2024
Investor Stories 375: Why I Passed (Heitzmann, Von Tobel, Felesky)
6 mins; November 21, 2024
460. Why Culture is King, The Role of "Founder Mode" in Building Iconic Companies, Lessons From 25 Years in the Business, and How to Make Tech a Force Multiplier Within a VC Firm (Mathias Schilling)
459. Investing in "N-of-1" Companies, Focusing on Category Creators, How to Invest in AI While it's at Peak Hype, and Using Recruiting as a Key Differentiator (Rusty Ralston and Jay Patil)
458. Lessons from Top Allocators, David Swensen's Principles for Investment, Insights on Private Equity Deals, and What Strategies are Timeless vs. Fleeting (Ted Seides)
47 mins; November 04, 2024
Investor Stories 372: Visionary Founders (Bhattacharyya, Heitzmann, von Tobel)
6 mins; October 31, 2024
457. Founder's Guide to Raising Capital: Pitch Deck Insights, Macro Trends, and the Importance of Investor Metrics (Justin Izzo)
42 mins; October 28, 2024
Investor Stories 371: Best LP Question (Strebulaev, Yormak, Holloway)
7 mins; October 24, 2024
456. LP Insight on What Distinguishes the Good from Great VCs, Why VC Firms Fail, How to Mitigate Risk, and What to Look For When Metrics Mislead (Jon Terbell and Ted Clark)
455. From Campaigns to Code: The Intersection of Tech, Politics, and Regulation (Bradley Tusk)
55 mins; October 14, 2024
Investor Stories 369: Why I Passed (Yormak, Bhattacharyya, Holloway)
8 mins; October 10, 2024
454. Building the AMEX of LATAM, Raising a $50M Debt Facility, Why Leaders Should Tend to Flowers Not Weeds, and How Creativity Can Lead to 80% Organic Consumer Acquisition (David Garcia)
453. Building and Scaling in Unsexy Spaces, The Next Generation of AI-Based Accounting, Backchanneling your Investors, and If the AI Hype Cycle is Bad for Venture (Mike Whitmire)
452. Consumer Headwinds, Whether AI Revenue Will Catch up with Infra Spend, and Are Creative "Takeunders" the Solution to Lina Khan's FTC Agenda (Laura Chau)
451. Who Wins in the Cat and Mouse Game of Cyber, Open Source's Role in Security, The Dealflow Network that Sources Deals and Vetts Them, and Will The Future Bring More Bundling or Unbundling? (Oren Yunger)
450. The Former CFO of McKinsey on AI, Quantum Computing, BioEngineering, and Why Social Impact Can be the Key to Investment Success (Gregory Ho)
43 mins; September 09, 2024
Investor Stories 364: Disruptive Forces (Bhattacharyya, Heitzmann, von Tobel)
6 mins; September 05, 2024
449. Scaling Unicorn Pendo, When to Hire Your First Sales Leader, How To Construct a Team Pre and Post PMF, and How to Balance Stretch vs. Strain (Eric Boduch)
448. Where AI Value will Accrue in the Tech Stack, How Far we are from AGI, The Role of Adversarial AI, and Enterprise Adoption of AI in 2024 (Jill Chase)
445. Secrets of a Serial Entrepreneur and VC: Fraudulent Founders, Radical Recaps, C-suite Shuffles, and Reviving Dysfunctional Boards (Heidi Roizen)
64 hours 59 mins; August 05, 2024
Investor Stories 359: Best LP Question (Klein, Jensen, Edelson)
6 mins; August 01, 2024
444. Lessons from Founding Trulia to IPO, How to Enter New Industries with No Experience, and Why Technology is Critical to Combat Diabetes in an era of GLP-1s (Sami Inkinen)
443. The Path from Aspiring VC to Partner at Bessemer, Building Non-Consensus Conviction, The Most Compelling Vertical Applications of AI, and Why Fintech is the New Frontier in Supply Chain (Mike Droesch)
442. The Prospects & Primary Benefits of Open Banking, Assessing Multi-Variate Risk in Fintech, and Whether Larger Outcomes will come from Embedded Fintech or Vertically Integrated Platforms (Adam Felesky)
441. ID'ing Generational Founders, Targeting Structurally Broken Markets, Bringing Venture Back to the Studs, and How Value will Accrue in AI Between Incumbents and Upstarts (Alexa von Tobel)
47 mins; July 08, 2024
Investor Stories 355: Why I Passed (Klein, Patricof, Strebulaev)
9 mins; July 04, 2024
440. Building First Mark, A Leading VC in NYC, Will New York Overtake the Bay Area, Insights on Unicorn Selection from a Perennial Midas List Investor, and Why Remote Work can Ruin Great Startups (Rick Heitzmann)
439. The Question that Every Investor Should Ask, Teasing out the Characteristics of Generational Founders, and Recruiting Lessons from 1000+ Interviews (Katelin Holloway)
52 mins; June 24, 2024
Investor Stories 353: Best LP Question (Aoun, Dukach, Rueckert)
5 mins; June 20, 2024
438. Healthcare Deep Dive – How AI and GLP-1 Megatrends Affect the Industry, Why Specialities Need to be Integrated, and Insights on Bundling vs. Unbundling (Ambar Bhattacharyya)
435. How a Sports Journalist, Car Washer, and Rug Salesman Built a Tier 1 VC Firm (Pejman Nozad)
35 mins; May 27, 2024
Investor Stories 349: Why I Passed (Rueckert, Tunguz, Rotman)
8 mins; May 23, 2024
434. Deconstructing the Venture Mindset -- The Data and Decision-Making Driving Top Tier Investing (Ilya Strebulaev)
54 mins; May 20, 2024
Investor Stories 348: Best LP Question (Schwerin, Walsh, Spreng)
5 mins; May 16, 2024
433. Founding VC Firms Apax, Greycroft, and Primetime, the Keys to Unlocking Investment Value in Healthcare, and Why the Aging Population is the Biggest Opportunity in Tech (Alan Patricof & Abby Miller Levy)
