On this special segment of The Full Ratchet, the following Investors are featured:
- Chris Rizik of Renaissance Venture Capital
- Casber Wang of Sapphire Ventures
- D.A. Wallach of Time BioVentures
We asked guests to discuss the most visionary founder that they’ve worked with and what makes them so special.
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 the most visionary founder that they’ve worked with and what makes them so special. Here’s the segment called visionary founders.
0:36
On this special segment, we have Chris reisek of Renaissance, who’s one of the most visionary or inspiring managers that you’ve worked with, and what makes them unique?
0:45
Well, I hate to give names, because I work with so many, but we see a number. We talked about the biopharma funds. When we started investing in biopharma, nobody was doing company creation. Now, all the great ones are doing company creation. And, you know, one fund I’m thinking of, for example, had eight people when we first invested in them, and now they have 10 times that many because they have research labs and they have, you know, PhDs doing lab work inside the fund. Then that is super creative, and it has paid off. So, you know, that’s certainly something, if you get to something that is sort of on the other side. We’ve got a couple funds that we’re in that have really taken this platform idea and they have created platforms that are demand, that create demonstrable results, so good that they actually and their reputation so good, they can actually get into companies even though they’re not the highest bidder, because people want access to their platform. And you sort of see it all with all these elements, all the way up through exit. And there’s going to be so many more interesting things we see. I’m working with a fund right now that I mentioned has sort of taken this exit partner idea, and they’ve really institutionalized it in a way that others haven’t to again, to to the point where, you know, it is just part of their every other week process of reviewing their companies. So we’re fortunate to be working with a lot of really, really talented managers. You know, some talented in different ways.
2:30
On today’s special segment, we have Casper Wang of sapphire. Can you tell us about an exceptional founder you’ve worked with in the specific thing they do that’s unique?
2:39
Yeah, I you know, the founder I’ve spent a lot of time with, I’ve known him for a long time, who’s got an incredible story, is Kyle Hanselman, the founder and CEO of Huntress, a cybersecurity platform for the 99% which is the SMBs. And I think, you know, the most unique thing about Kyle is his ability to evolve over time, right? I think you know, when he started the company. And funny enough, in 2015 he took four years to land to where he is, and going back to, you know, the things that we talked about earlier, right? Cybersecurity for SMBs today makes sense. But even 2019 people don’t think is a big category, because they don’t think a mom and pop shop should be spending time and energy or will spend premium dollar, right, beyond just the basics on cyber security. But he did have wishing at this, and he kind of, you know, found a really good distribution model around MSPs, right? Not only just selling things direct, but selling through MSP. So throughout the story, I think my biggest takeaway is one, having a very unique view on the market. And again, you know, if I were to judge back in 2019 find new car, I probably tell him that, hey, you know, based on what I’m seeing, SMB for cyber security, is not a great market, but he had a unique view, right? As founder that that is a very interesting and unique, unique category. And then two, I think, you know, again, the grid portion of things, right? The ability being able to keep iterate, keep reinventing himself, right? The ability to sort of, you know, looking at some his management team, you know, every year and say, Hey, you might not be up for the next journey. Is a very incredible thing that he’s done throughout his career at Huntress amazing.
4:35
On today’s special segment, we have da Wallach of time bio ventures. Can you tell us about an exceptional founder you’ve worked with and the specific thing they do that’s unique?
4:45
Hmm, I’ve had a chance to work with some really exceptional entrepreneurs, and I’ll tell you one thing I love about this founder, ozone at a who runs billion to one, which is. Was a company I invested in many years ago, and our fund is an investor. This guy is he responds to emails so quickly and so completely. And I found that often very successful people are very responsive, but they’re often very responsive in this like shorthand way. And this guy is just amazing in the speed he has, but without any trade off in depth or thoughtfulness. And you really get the feeling that all he’s spending his time thinking about and working on is his business. It’s his passion. He doesn’t have a lot of, you know, sort of pomp dressing up the rest of his life. He’s he’s all business, and it’s great to work with
5:53
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.
