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.

484. Calculating the Market Size for AI, Building an "Experimentation Machine," the Bull Case for Non-Technical Founders, and the Key to PMF in the AI Age (Jeff Bussgang) 06/02/2025

Investor Stories 404: Disruptive Forces (Abel, Patel, Shen) 05/29/2025

Investor Stories 403: Key Advice (Chau, Whitmire, Garcia) 05/26/2025

Investor Stories 402: Visionary Founders (Yunger, Tusk, Terbell and Clark) 05/22/2025

483. AI Revenue-Model Transformation, Building an AI Moat, and The Arrival of Agents (Medha Agarwal) 05/19/2025

Investor Stories 401: Best LP Question (Chase, Boduch, Whitmire) 05/15/2025

482. How AI Reshapes Distribution Models, What Startups Get Wrong About Product-Led Growth, and the Real Use Case for Agents (Casber Wang) 05/12/2025

Investor Stories 400: Lessons Learned (Yunger, Chau, Terbell and Clark) 05/08/2025

481. Co-Founding Meritech, Betting Early on Facebook and Salesforce, Avoiding Shiny Objects, and Thinking Like a Public Market Investor (Paul Madera) 05/05/2025

Investor Stories 399: Why I Passed (Whitmire, Garcia, Tusk) 05/01/2025

480. The OG Seed Investor, Mike Maples Jr., on Spotting Inflection Points, Living in the Future, and Why the Best Form of Competition Is No Competition (Mike Maples) 04/28/2025

Investor Stories 398: Disruptive Forces (Ralston and Patil, Schilling, Stevens) 04/24/2025

479. Inside the LP Playbook with Venture Vanguard, Chris Rizik: What Metrics Actually Matter, How to Fix Venture’s Liquidity Crisis, and Why Co-Invests Are a Trap (Chris Rizik) 04/21/2025

Investor Stories 397: Key Advice (Ho, Yunger, Tusk) 04/17/2025

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) 04/14/2025

Investor Stories 396: Visionary Founders (Chau, Whitmire, Garcia) 04/10/2025

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) 04/05/2025

Investor Stories 395: Best LP Question (Upham, Ho, Yunger) 04/03/2025

476. Fixing Education with a Startup Mentality: The Innovative Micro Schools-Model Backed by Founders Fund, Khosla, and Sam Altman (Ryan Delk) 03/31/2025

Investor Stories 394: Lessons Learned (Chase, Boduch, Whitmire) 03/27/2025

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) 03/24/2025

Investor Stories 393: Why I Passed (Ho, Yunger, Chau) 03/20/2025

474. The VC Myth, AI Hype, Mastering GTM, and The Smart Approach to Capital Strategy and Achieving Startup Success (Kyle York) 03/17/2025

Investor Stories 392: Disruptive Forces (Garcia, Tusk, Seides) 03/13/2025

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) 03/10/2025

Investor Stories 391: Key Advice (Upham, Patil, Chase) 03/06/2025

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) 03/03/2025

Investor Stories 390: Visionary Founders (Roizen, Boduch, Ho) 02/27/2025

471. How AI Transforms Services into Software and Revolutionizes Enterprise SaaS (Shashank Saxena) 02/24/2025

Investor Stories 389: Best LP Question (von Tobel, Felesky, Patil) 02/20/2025