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 468: Selling Too Early, LP Pressure, and Investor Tension — Lessons from Investors at Foundry Group, Centana Growth, and Andreessen Horowitz (Levine, Byunn, Ulevitch) 03/26/2026

Investor Stories 467: Investors from Techstars, Redpoint, and Andreessen Horowitz on Strategy, Writing, and Building an Edge in Venture (Cohen, Effron, Simpson) 03/23/2026

Investor Stories 466: Jim Tananbaum, Eric Byunn, and Ben Orthlieb on the Questions LPs Should Be Asking (Tananbaum, Orthlieb, Byunn) 03/19/2026

504. American Dynamism: The Future of U.S. Industrials, Backing Companies with Major Production Components, Manufacturing Sovereignty, and Why Space Dominance is Critical (David Ulevitch) 03/16/2026

Investor Stories 465: Pricing Too Late, Selling Too Early, Investing Too Fast — Hard Lessons from Top VCs (Ramanujam, Cohen, Orlovski) 03/12/2026

Investor Stories 464: Anti Portfolio Confessions: Missing Twilio, Zoom, DocuSign, MongoDB, and Solana (Austin, Simpson, Chaddha) 03/09/2026

Investor Stories 463: Selling Transformation Not Software, Managing Through Activists and Mergers, and Scaling Culture with Intent (Agarwal, Tananbaum, Cohen) 03/05/2026

503. The Future of Fintech, If VC Growth Has Become a New Asset Class, and the Case For and Against Vertical Integration in the AI Age (Eric Byunn) 03/02/2026

Investor Stories 462: Study the Masters, Develop Your Own Eye, and Stop Outsourcing Conviction (Wang, Mohapatra, Banks) 02/26/2026

Investor Stories 461: Feast and Famine in Crypto, When to Take the Off Ramp, and Evaluating Founder Temperament (Simpson, Chaddha, Orthlieb) 02/23/2026

Investor Stories 460: The Math Behind Venture Returns, When Sizing Matters More Than Selection, and Growth Over Discounts (Wallach, Okike, Banks) 02/19/2026

502. A New Era For Venture: Dynamic Capitalism, Finding Alpha in the AI Cycle, Are Bubbles a Feature or a Bug, and Why the Future for America is Still Bright (Seth Levine) 02/16/2026

Investor Stories 459: Inside the Best LP Questions: Getting Better Over Time, Building Networks, and Driving Outcomes (Effron, Austin, Simpson) 02/12/2026

Investor Stories 458: Anti Portfolio Lessons: Netflix by Mail, Palantir at the Wrong Price, and the Cost of Price Sensitivity (Madera, Bussgang, Orlovski) 02/09/2026

Investor Stories 457: Lessons for Early Career VCs: Fiduciary Mindset, Power Law Discipline, and Personal Edge (Dash, Okike, Hudson) 02/05/2026

501. Spotting the Next Big Thing, Why This Cycle Is Different, Acceptable vs Unacceptable Risk, and Why Duration Is a Feature Not a Bug (Jon Callaghan) 02/02/2026

Investor Stories 456: Inside Visionary Leadership: Platform Leverage, Founder Adaptability, and Market Timing (Rizik, Wang, Wallach) 01/29/2026

Investor Stories 455: Lessons Learned: Building Investment Criteria, Missing HubSpot, and Staying True to Your Model (Madera, Agarwal, Bussgang) 01/26/2026

Investor Stories 454: When There Are No Good Choices: Navigating Ethical Dilemmas, Founder Splits, and Existential Company Threats (Cohen, Effron, Austin) 01/22/2026

500. AI Native VC, Achieving 50%+ Graduation from Seed to Series A, Why Access Is the Key to Success, and Why Network Driven Firms Can No Longer Compete (Ben Orthlieb) 01/19/2026

Investor Stories 453: Founder Led Capital Flywheels, Thoughtful Reserve Strategies, and Long Term Fund Design (York, Hsieh, Ramanujam) 01/15/2026

Investor Stories 452: Raising the Bar on Founders, What 100x Looks Like in Practice, and Why People Matter More Than Ever (Bussgang, Okike, Hudson) 01/12/2026

Investor Stories 451: Why I Passed: Moving Too Slowly, Misreading Return Drivers, and Passing on Lyft (Banks, Tananbaum, Cohen) 01/08/2026

499. A 17 Time Midas Lister on Greatness, the $6T AI Teammate Market, Why AI Sovereignty Is Critical, and Who Wins the Battle Between Incumbents and Startups (Navin Chaddha) 01/05/2026

Investor Stories 450. How to Succeed Early in VC: Slow Down, Commit to Relationships, and Become an Active Listener (Niehenke, York, Hilaly) 01/01/2026

Replay - 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) 12/29/2025

Investor Stories 449: Exceptional Founders Up Close: Listening Over Posturing, Integrity Over Ease, and Deliberate Execution from Day One (Hsieh, Delk, Maples Jr.) 12/25/2025

Investor Stories 448: Hard Lessons in Investing: Mistiming Trends, Relying on Partnership Debate, and Avoiding Good Money After Bad (Hilaly, Dash, Rizik) 12/22/2025

Investor Stories 447: Choosing the Right VC: Understanding Value Add, Assessing Alignment, and Identifying the Best Board Partner (Jiang, Walsh, Saxena) 12/18/2025

498. The Crypto x AI Convergence, the Truth About Stablecoins, Tokens vs Equity, and Whether NFTs Will Make a Comeback (Arianna Simpson) 12/15/2025