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

The 1st podcast dedicated to demystifying Venture Capital (est. May 2014). Nick Moran interviews the VC and Angel investor experts on how they find, evaluate and select the next great technology startups.

Investor Stories 442. The Habits of Exceptional Founders, From Recruiting Great Teams to Understanding Customers (Walsh, Niehenke, Hilaly) 11/24/2025

Investor Stories 441. How Great Leaders Build Alignment, Set the Bar High, and Learn When to Let Go (Schroepfer, Saxena, Delk) 11/20/2025

496. How Model Progress Shifts the Goalposts, Why The Death of Software Is Overstated, and How to Diligence Hypergrowth Without Getting Burned (Jacob Effron) 11/17/2025

Investor Stories 440. The Questions That Expose True Alignment, How Founders Test Investors, and Why the Hard Ones Matter Most (Wang, Banks, Cohen) 11/13/2025

Investor Stories 439. From Angel Bets to Scalable Platforms, The Power of Listening, and Doing the Work Yourself (York, Dash, Madera) 11/10/2025

Investor Stories 438. The Deals That Got Away: LinkedIn, Snowflake, and Zeitview (Jiang, Schuler, Rizik) 11/06/2025

495. From CTO to $500M AUM: Entry Point Discipline, Why People Matter at Every Stage, and the AI-Driven Future of Banking (Victor Orlovski) 11/03/2025

Investor Stories 437. Why Founders Must Hold Their Ground, Why Investors Must Break Their Rules, and How Both Survive the Chaos (Binatti, Schroepfer, Ruscio) 10/30/2025

Investor Stories 436. Visionary Founders, From Steve Jobs to Brian Armstrong, and the Leaders Blending Life Sciences and Technology (Schuler, Saxena, Bussgang) 10/27/2025

Investor Stories 435. Why Complacency Kills Momentum, The Cost of Over-Diligence, and Accepting the Limits of Control (Walsh, Wang, Hudson) 10/23/2025

494. The Techstars Refresh, Why Bigger Isn’t Better, Investing in the Seed-Strapping Era, and Why Quantum May Dwarf Every Tech Shift (David Cohen) 10/20/2025

Investor Stories 434. How LPs Judge Performance, Managing Founder Conflict, and The Blind Spots Investors Must Confront (Schuler, Niehenke, Agarwal) 10/16/2025

Investor Stories 433. The Art of Sensing Greatness, From Analytical to Intuitive Investing, and the Case for Industry Outsiders (Hsieh, Hilaly, Maples) 10/13/2025

Investor Stories 432. The Pain of Passing: Missed Bets on Uber, DoorDash, and Great Founders Who Proved Them Wrong (Shapiro, York, Dash) 10/09/2025

493. From Data Science to Drug Design: How AI Shifts Discovery, Target Validation, and Portfolio Construction (Jim Tananbaum) 10/06/2025

Investor Stories 431. Level Heads Build Enduring Companies, The Power of Persistence, and Why Conviction is Everything (Saxena, Delk, Rizik) 10/02/2025

Investor Stories 430. Focus and Execution at Nubank, How Storytelling Wins Customers, and How Creative Partnerships Unlock Growth (Binatti, Madera, Okike) 09/29/2025

Investor Stories 429. Focus and Discipline in Growth, The Dangers of Rules of Thumb, and Fighting Cynicism in Venture (Stevens, Patel, Shapiro) 09/25/2025

492. Prioritizing Monetization: Beautifully Simple Pricing, AI Models for Profitable Growth, and Guardrails for Freemium and Expansion Tiers (Madhavan Ramanujam) 09/22/2025

Investor Stories 428. Trust and Integrity with LPs, What Churn Reveals About Founders, and Building True Differentiation (Ralston, Abel, Shen) 09/18/2025

Investor Stories 427. Balancing Growth with Profitability, Why the Customer’s Pain Matters Most, and Lessons from Film Financing to Supply Chain (Jiang, Ruscio, Niehenke) 09/15/2025

Investor Stories 426. Investor Regrets and Hard Calls: From Tax Credit Dependence to Saying No to Zoom (Hsieh, Delk, Hilaly) 09/11/2025

491. How AI Reshapes LP Allocation Strategy, The Convergence of Venture and Buyout, and Permanent Shifts to Liquidity (Lara Banks) 09/08/2025

Investor Stories 425. Don’t Rush the Process: Building Insights, Networks, and Patience Early in Your VC Career (Shen, Shapiro, Jiang) 09/04/2025

Investor Stories 424. The Unique Traits of Visionary Founders Backed by Gigascale, Heavybit & York IE (Schroepfer, Ruscio, York) 09/01/2025

Investor Stories 423. From Checklists to Leadership: Lessons from iFLY, DFJ Growth & Pismo Leaders (Shen, Schuler, Binatti) 08/28/2025

490. Why Foundry Isn’t Raising a New Fund, Lessons from Hibernation, and the Benefits and Drawbacks of a Give First Philosophy (Brad Feld) 08/25/2025

Investor Stories 422: Best LP Question (Stevens, Patel, Shapiro) 08/21/2025

Investor Stories 421: Rewriting the Playbook (Walsh, Schroepfer, Saxena) 08/18/2025

Investor Stories 420: Why I Passed (Abel, Ruscio, Niehenke) 08/14/2025