On this special segment of The Full Ratchet, the following Investors are featured:
- Shamin Walsh
- Daniela Binatti
- Mike Schroepfer
Each investor highlights a situation where they decided not to invest, why they passed, and how it played out.
The host of The Full Ratchet is Nick Moran of New Stack Ventures, a venture capital firm committed to investing in founders outside of the Bay Area.
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Transcribed with AI:
0:19
Welcome back to TFR on today’s special segment, we ask guests to discuss their anti portfolio, a startup investment that they passed on. Here’s the segment called Why I passed
0:35
today’s special segment, we have shameen Walsh, damn ventures. Shameen, can you tell us a story about a startup that you passed on? Oh,
0:43
I mean, we pass on startups a lot because we invest so early that there are a lot of great startups, actually, that that we pass on just out the gate because they’re too expensive for us. I’m trying to think of one that I’ve passed I think there are a few startups I have passed on in the enterprise space. Oh, I can use an example. So I passed on tapcart, which is a large business now, because I didn’t necessarily believe that every brand needed its own app, but I should have listened to our own mantra, which is to love the founder and just like the idea, because they’re incredible founders, and I really like them as people. And so I should have, I should have. I should have heeded our own guidance. Awesome. You.
1:46
On today’s special segment, we have Daniela Bucha of Pismo. Daniela, can you talk about a critical opportunity or decision that you chose not to pursue? Was it the right call, and why did you pass on the opportunity?
1:59
I think it touched one of the things that we just discussed like was the moment when we were starting and when we decided to go to look for fundraising, we had the opportunity to sign with one or two local angel investors that would provide us with the money that we needed. But although we needed the money so badly, we said, it’s not the right partner, because, like, there’s no experience in outside Brazil, there’s no experiencing launching startups. So I remember saying no to a term sheet and to one of those things, and on the other day, the four of us, like, Jesus Christ, what are we doing? Like, what’s going to happen? Like, what if you don’t find another fund? But I think it was the right call to make at that time, because when you go to investors, it’s not only about money, it’s also about the opportunities that they can bring and how they can help you and navigate in the ecosystem. Like, it’s a very difficult endeavor to build something into escalate. So having the right partners, I think it’s one of the most important decisions that a founder has to make.
3:12
On today’s special segment, we have Mike schrepfer of gigascale, Mike, this is the anti portfolio question. Tell us a story about a startup that you passed on,
3:21
we met an entrepreneur, and it was, like, very obvious in the very beginning that this was our sort of entrepreneur, very smart, very scrappy, like building all their own stuff was working on a problem. And it’s like, wow, this entrepreneur is really great. And then they’re working in a market that I hated. I was like, I do not like this market. I don’t think this is a thing. So we kind of, we’re like, look, we got to believe in the market and the entrepreneur. So we’re gonna, we’re gonna go ahead and pass six or nine months later, it’s like, oh, it turns out the stuff I was working on actually is applicable to this other market that I love. But like, by that point, everyone else had figured this out, and mass evaluation pump, so, so I definitely recite this to my team on a probably weekly basis, is like, like, just should have kind of closed their eyes and gone in without entrepreneur. So that’s that’s definitely and I think all of my stories are basically some variant of, like, Oh my God. This team is really good. This technology is really cool. There’s this sort of thing I don’t like the market or this other thing and I like and those are all my regrets.
4:17
Interesting. You.
4:23
That will conclude this installment of investor stories. If you’re enjoying the program and would like to see it continue, take a moment and leave a five star review in iTunes. Okay, that will wrap things up for today until next time over. Prepare, choose carefully and invest confidently. Thanks for joining me.
