On this special segment of The Full Ratchet, the following Investors are featured:
- Ben Orthlieb of Blue Moon
- David Ulevitch of Andreessen Horowitz
- Jake Saper of Emergence Capital
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. On today’s special segment, we have Ben ORTLIEB from Blue Moon tell us a story about an exceptional founder you’ve worked with, and what they do that’s unique. I’ll
0:44
go with Brenna, not mark or he is laser focused. His ability, even though young to very quickly say, I will do this or I will not do this, because I think it’s a waste of my time or not, is incredible. And he does that for himself and for his teams. I have many a time had people wanting to meet him, and those make sense. And he basically says, No, not right. Now, at least another year.
1:11
On today’s special segment, we have David ulovich, GP of Andreessen Horowitz, American dynamism. David, tell us about an exceptional founder you’ve worked with, and what specific thing they do that’s unique.
1:23
I am very lucky that I work with a lot of incredible founders. I think Garrett Langley at flock safety is a phenomenal founder. He is absolutely fastidiously focused on the business. He has weathered all kinds of press hits and press hate. He has navigated lots of complex ethical issues around how do you work with different law enforcement departments? How do you deal with data retention? What capabilities do you put in the hands of the customer? What capabilities do you hoist up at the company level? How do you decide who to sell to, who not to sell to? How do you decide how they work with each other? What rules do they have to abide by? He’s done all that while building an incredible company that has both hardware and software. Great team based in Atlanta, amazing performing business, saves lives every single day, solves crime, finds stolen vehicles, finds kidnapped victims, found the help find the shooter at Brown University. He as a CEO. He’s always online. He’s always available. He’s super responsive. You know, one of the things you often see with the best CEOs are they are just hyper responsive. They respond immediately. They reply to email quickly. They reply to a text message quickly. He does all that while managing a very, very full family, a bunch of kids, and he’s just a great guy, amazing.
2:36
On today’s special segment, we have Jake saper of emergence, Jake, tell us about an exceptional founder you’ve worked with, and the specific thing they do that’s unique. Well,
2:44
we just talked about Hanover Park, and I think Chris the CEO there, is exceptional. And I would say the thing that makes him most unique is his customer obsession. There is a level of I will do whatever it takes to make this customer and, frankly, this company successful. I gave the anecdote of, like, he does sleep in, you know, his customers, offices. I can give, like, an even more detailed anecdote, which is companies based in New York. I flew to New York for our first board meeting, and I called Chris to see if you want to go to Barry’s that morning, because we’re both, we’re both into that. And he was like, Hey, sorry, I’m in the hospital. And I was like, are you okay? Like, we have a board meeting in a few hours. Like, are you should we schedule the board meeting? Like, whatever you need. And he was like, No, it’s fine. I got kidney stones, but, like, I’m just gonna check myself out of the hospital and then I’ll, I’ll come to the board meeting and I’ll check myself
3:29
back in.
3:30
And I was like, what? I was like, we can postpone the board meeting, man, like, I’ll post my flight. It’s fine. And he was like, no, no. Like, this, this comes above all else. Like, this is the most important thing. And he did it
3:41
unreal.
3:42
He did it that is a level of obsession and intensity that I think is in some ways, like the bar that now it’s now needs to be hit
3:50
unreal. Talk about priorities in life, you know, like, health and safety, family, like, this
3:56
is the hard thing right now. Like to, like to be at the cutting edge of this. Like, I think it requires a level of intensity that I think very few people have, or frankly, should have. Yeah, it’s not always healthy. But no, I guess the post script is, I’m pretty sure his kidney stone is cleared up at this point, thank goodness. But like, there is, it’s a good anecdote of, like, just a level of intensity.
4:22
This guy, you
4:22
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.
