About Nick Moran & Origin of TFR

Overview

Nick Moran is the founder and General Partner of New Stack Ventures. Prior to New Stack, Nick spent time as both an investor and an operator. He worked in M&A for Danaher, a science and technology conglomerate. Subsequently, Nick developed one of the most successful products in the company’s history, a novel way of testing compounds in drinking water.

New Stack Ventures is a pre-seed / seed stage fund invest in the exceptions. Our startups often don’t look like what’s commonly funded in Silicon Valley. The standard formula of Stanford educated, Google trained, Bay Area-located is NOT what we’re looking for. We believe in mission-driven founders with an irrational commitment to their cause –regardless of location or circumstance.

Origin of The Full Ratchet

My name is Nick Moran and I launched the first Venture Capital podcast, The Full Ratchet, in May of 2014. I started angel investing in 2013 and found the startup fundraising/investing process to be confusing and opaque. The industry was a black-box with little transparency. Yet, I observed that venture drives significant value across both public and private markets. And the most inspiring, thought-provoking people that I had interacted with were startup entrepreneurs.

After a year of coffee chats with VCs and Angels, it became clear that I could learn the most from conversations with the experts. And why not record the conversations to help others in a similar situation? A few months later The Full Ratchet was created; where I interview the investor experts on everything from “What is an Angel?” to “What ratios and monthly recurring revenue levels are required for a Series A SaaS investment?” Thanks for visiting and shoot me a note if you have any questions, comments, or suggestions! nick at fullratchet dot net.

Nick’s Bio

Nick is the founder and General Partner of New Stack Ventures. He has held positions in Mergers and Acquisitions, Strategy and Product Management.

He holds an MBA degree from the University of Virginia, Darden School of Business Administration, and a Bachelors of Science in Operations Management and Business Process Management from Indiana University, Kelley School of Business.

Prior to New Stack, Nick worked for Danaher (NYSE: DHR) in M&A and Product Management. There he developed one of the most successful products in the company’s history — an analytical device for testing compounds in drinking water. In addition to investing, Nick founded the 1st Venture Capital podcast, The Full Ratchet.

Our Investment Thesis

At New Stack, we invest in the exceptions. Our startups often don’t look like what’s commonly funded in Silicon Valley. The standard formula of Stanford educated, Google trained, Bay Area-located is NOT what we’re looking for. We believe in mission-driven founders with an irrational commitment to their cause –regardless of location or circumstance.

New Stack leads rounds at the angel, pre-seed, or seed stage. We typically invest between $500k and $1.5M into startups that are pre-revenue, in pilots/PoCs, or early Commercialization.

Themes that we look for include:

TRACTABLE: Tools that give non-experts, expert capabilities
UGV: Platforms that empower users to generate value
ACCESS TO IDLE SUPPLY: Activating idle capacity
TROJAN HORSE: Targeted beachhead provides access to broader opportunity
NETWORK EFFECTS: Value increases as users increase
BD INNOVATION: Customer acquisition strategy is as novel as the product
COMPETING W/ NON-CONSUMPTION: Turning non-consumers into consumers
MOUNTING LOSS: As individual usage increases, switching costs increase

Entrepreneurs

If you are a founder, looking for funding, you can submit your deck by emailing us: team at newstack dot vc

Investors

If you are an investor and would like to input, send Nick an email at nick at fullratchet dot net. Nick has worked with over 50 investors and investor groups on their:

- Thesis
- Evaluation process
- Standard Deal Docs
- Creating a Syndicate
- Dealflow Strategy
- VC Fundraise Strategy
- Building an Investor Brand
- Launching a Blog or Podcast