Shawn Carolan of Menlo Ventures joins Nick on a special Crisis Coverage installment to discuss the Four Fundamentals of Investing; the Future of Micro Mobility; and Hunting Consumer Unicorns. In this episode, we cover:

• Tell us about your background and path to venture.
• What's the thesis at Menlo Ventures?
• Can you explain the "Four Fundamentals" framework for investing and give us a brief description of each?
• What are you looking for in terms of unit economics?
• You like to invest in technologies that change everyday life for the better.  Do you have a sense for the needed technologies and then find founders in those areas, or do you identify compelling entrepreneurs that then guide you to emerging technologies that will shape the future?
• Have you been in the situation where you identified the right consumer trend and technology required to deliver but you picked the wrong startup?
• Is there a priority of importance amongst the four?
• Which do you think investors most often get wrong? 
• Let's talk about consumer a bit...Many VCs think that consumers and consumer behaviors evolve quickly in unpredictable ways.  And b/c of that many VCs avoid consumer.  What's your response?
• We’ve seen an explosion in Cloud and SaaS recently, and some question whether there’s room for another big consumer company, what is your response to this and which areas do you see the biggest opportunities in?
• Before the pandemic, the future of scooter companies was murky with challenging unit economics and fleet maintenance... while governments were, (Read more...)

Shawn Carolan of Menlo Ventures joins Nick on a special Crisis Coverage installment to discuss the Four Fundamentals of Investing; the Future of Micro Mobility; and Hunting Consumer Unicorns. In this episode, we cover:

• Tell us about your background and path to venture.
• What's the thesis at Menlo Ventures?
• Can you explain the "Four Fundamentals" framework for investing and give us a brief description of each?
• What are you looking for in terms of unit economics?
• You like to invest in technologies that change everyday life for the better.  Do you have a sense for the needed technologies and then find founders in those areas, or do you identify compelling entrepreneurs that then guide you to emerging technologies that will shape the future?
• Have you been in the situation where you identified the right consumer trend and technology required to deliver but you picked the wrong startup?
• Is there a priority of importance amongst the four?
• Which do you think investors most often get wrong? 
• Let's talk about consumer a bit...Many VCs think that consumers and consumer behaviors evolve quickly in unpredictable ways.  And b/c of that many VCs avoid consumer.  What's your response?
• We’ve seen an explosion in Cloud and SaaS recently, and some question whether there’s room for another big consumer company, what is your response to this and which areas do you see the biggest opportunities in?
• Before the pandemic, the future of scooter companies was murky with challenging unit economics and fleet maintenance... while governments were, (Read more...)

1) Legalize all the vices. Quarantine brought us some relief on alcohol takeout in order to give local restaurants something else to sell—but that doesn’t nearly go far enough. Not every attempt to fill the city’s budget needs to come from increasing the taxes on things we already tax. The easiest new source of revenue for the city would be areas where there’s already lots of illegal economic activity that doesn’t get taxed at all, but where legalization would actually bring regulation and improvements—namely, vices.

Marijuana is an easy one. It’s already being mass-consumed tax-free. It’s been decriminalized in several ways. Now it’s time to run this thing into the end zone—and while we’re at it, throw away all of the previous convictions and records that go with it. That would save us money on incarceration on top of a windfall tax on sales.

Sports gambling is another easy one. New Jersey already allows it. Let’s stop PATH train riders hopping over to Jersey City to place their bets and let them keep their money and their taxes on our side of the river.

Sex work is one that fewer people might support—but over and above the tax potential, there’s a moral argument to be made here as well. Regardless of your opinion of it, sex work is a source of income for many people in NYC, especially immigrant populations. By keeping it illegal, it prevents those in the industry from coming forward when they (Read more...)

1) Legalize all the vices. Quarantine brought us some relief on alcohol takeout in order to give local restaurants something else to sell—but that doesn’t nearly go far enough. Not every attempt to fill the city’s budget needs to come from increasing the taxes on things we already tax. The easiest new source of revenue for the city would be areas where there’s already lots of illegal economic activity that doesn’t get taxed at all, but where legalization would actually bring regulation and improvements—namely, vices.

Marijuana is an easy one. It’s already being mass-consumed tax-free. It’s been decriminalized in several ways. Now it’s time to run this thing into the end zone—and while we’re at it, throw away all of the previous convictions and records that go with it. That would save us money on incarceration on top of a windfall tax on sales.

Sports gambling is another easy one. New Jersey already allows it. Let’s stop PATH train riders hopping over to Jersey City to place their bets and let them keep their money and their taxes on our side of the river.

Sex work is one that fewer people might support—but over and above the tax potential, there’s a moral argument to be made here as well. Regardless of your opinion of it, sex work is a source of income for many people in NYC, especially immigrant populations. By keeping it illegal, it prevents those in the industry from coming forward when they (Read more...)

On this special segment of The Full Ratchet, the following Investors are featured:

• Patrick Gallagher
• Sarah Tavel
• Byron Deeter
• Jim Kim

Each investor discusses sectors, drivers and/or trends that may have significant impact in the future and are potentially positioned for outsized-returns.

To listen more, please visit http://fullratchet.net/podcast-episodes/ for all of our other episodes.

Also, follow us on twitter @TheFullRatchet for updates and more information.

On this special segment of The Full Ratchet, the following Investors are featured:

• Patrick Gallagher
• Sarah Tavel
• Byron Deeter
• Jim Kim

Each investor discusses sectors, drivers and/or trends that may have significant impact in the future and are potentially positioned for outsized-returns.

To listen more, please visit http://fullratchet.net/podcast-episodes/ for all of our other episodes.

Also, follow us on twitter @TheFullRatchet for updates and more information.