On this special segment of The Full Ratchet, the following Investors are featured:
- Hemant Mohapatra of Lightspeed India
- Lara Banks of Makena Capital Management
- Victor Orlovski of R136 Ventures
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 today’s special segment, we have Hemant Mohapatra of lightspeed. Can you tell us about an exceptional founder you’ve worked with and what specific thing they do that’s unique to any other founder?
0:47
I’ll mention Awais Ahmed from pixel space. This is a founder. When we met him and his co founder, they were right out of college, so they were 2122 years old, and they were trying to raise money for a hyperspectral satellite company to against to go against Planet Labs. And every part of my brain was saying, shit, this stuff is just like impossible to do when you’re sitting out of here in a tiny College in India, and then you’re trying to how would this be possible? You haven’t even built a satellite yet. But then, every time I sat with him and his co founder, shit age, the way my body reacted to the way these guys were responding to questions just how hyper aware they were of where the world of hyperspectral imaging is, who else is at what stage of development, what would their technical advantage be? Who would they want to hire if they were able to raise. Who are they going to they have a list of LinkedIn profiles they really want to go after super senior people. They already had hired a couple of really senior people that were working for really large scale companies in the US, and they were because they had spent time with this founder. They were so impressed, they actually began to spend time and joined full time before he had even raised his seed round. So just the clarity of thinking, the resourcefulness, the ambition and aggression and the product and the technology depth in deep tech companies, we really look for not just technical depth, but commercial nose, otherwise it becomes an R and D project. So we came away like against all our natural instincts to wait another round and see what happens, we said, let’s go get in business with you, and we put that company in business. You were the first institutional fund to invest in that, in a company in India, in space tech, and they’ve gone to raise about 90, $95 million in the last two years and become another largest company in the category, they have won the Fast Company top 10 space companies award two years back, last year, they won the time 100 Innovation Award and so on and so forth. Incredible.
2:55
On. Today’s special segment, we have Lara banks of mechanic Capital Management, who is one of the most visionary or inspiring managers you’ve worked with, and what specific thing do they do that makes them unique?
3:08
The people who inspire me are the people who kind of think big around like what’s happening next, and so I think Founders Fund is a perfect example of that, is seeing what can be and and building that today, I think their investment in in Andrew and others have kind of shown that. I think that there is, like an opportunity for more people to do that. I think about that with also with with coleslaw and the investment and a number of investments they’ve made over the years. And sometimes feel almost crazy when you first hear them, but in the fullness of time, they become so obvious. And I think that’s really what’s inspiring about venture is just kind of seeing the future and making it happen before others do amazing.
4:01
On today’s special segment, we have Victor Orlovsky of our 136 ventures. Can you tell us about an exceptional founder you’ve worked with and what specific thing they do that’s unique?
4:12
Well, I already mentioned Yoni ozia. I think he is, for me, he is a legendary founder, legendary not because he made public company public, not because he built one of the greatest companies out of Israel, not because he’s also the second generation of founders I mentioned who went public with his company to NASDAQ, but just because he is exceptional leader. You know, when I was at the IPO event in New York, I think mid May this year, I saw people like, there are hundreds of employees who came with their families to, like, celebrate IPO, and many of them were there in the company when I invested back in 2015 and some of. Them were with the company from the very beginning, 2007 or 2008 and they are still kind of like best advocates, believers and adopters of what the tour is all about, right? And I think that that’s fascinating. I mean, how can you keep people must waited for so long, right? I believe that the role of the founder is more in HR than anything else. I mean, he can be a product guy for some time, a sales guy for some time. So, yes, the founder, we have to change the roles, right? To change the cats. Sometimes you need to be technology. Sometimes we need to be in sales. Sometimes you need to be like orchestrator Right, correct. But at all times you are to be like a great adopter of talent. You have to bring in talent and sustain talent and keep the talent motivated right. Motivation of people is the most difficult thing to pursue and most difficult thing to sustain. And I believe that Joan is doing it really great. I think that also what is important for founders, what I’m trying to find out who is obsession to a problem. I can name you another guy whom I interviewed in my podcast ventures from the value. His name is Jim colchian. He is a founder of startup called I wallet. This company is small, and this is his second company. First Company was in Kalmar space. He sold it nicely, so I’m probably the only investor and like an advisor, I mean, in this company so far, and he’s like, going to obviously raise money at some point why I’m talking about Jim, because Jim is a role model for me. He is a role model from the obsession point of view. He’s obsessed with the product in the right way. He is constantly rethinking the way his company works. And I’m advising a lot of startups, and I get the most value from the advisory with Jim, and he has the most value from me. Why? Because he’s so well prepared for every call we have, like every second week we have a call, amazingly prepared. He keeps asking the right way, the right question and makes the right judgment. And I think that that’s like, amazing how much he grows. He have grown over the time. Imagine that he has no clue about payments. He has started the startup in payments. I was like, all in payments for my life, right? And the level of advancement he achieved with his product is exceptional in like, four or five years with some of my help. But I deserve, I mean, I think he deserves the most of what has been done right because of his like, determination and obsession with with the product. So when I’m trying to think of like founders, I’m investing in. So I’m taking Jim, I’m taking Yoni, and I’m trying, okay, I mean, there’s not two different people, but how can I like, it’s like a portrait of people whom I would want to be seen in my portfolio. I mean, to see in my portfolio, as founders. So I’m trying to like compare notes, if this new person I met is like one or like first or like the second one. So that’s the way I’m thinking about founders perfect.
8:35
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.
