269. Discovering the Next Sectors of Opportunity, The Impact Platform, & The Exit Discussion (Sach Chitnis)

The Full Ratchet (TFR): Venture Capital and Startup Investing Demystified

Sach Chitnis of Jump Capital joins Nick to discuss Discovering the Next Sectors of Opportunity, The Impact Platform, & The Exit Discussion. In this episode, we cover:

• Walk us through your background and path to VC
• What’s the thesis at Jump Capital?
• Talk about developing a thesis on a specific market opportunity — can you give us the broad strokes on your process of how you dissect emerging markets and identify where existing offerings are lacking?
• How do you determine who will be the winner? Is it common that, of the existing set of players, none will emerge as the winner and you need to wait for a fresh approach?
• Having a portfolio support platform is unusual for your size — how are you able to make it work at your fund size and what all does it entail?
• In what areas do you find a Series A funded company needs the most help?
• How do you advise a founder that's in a hot space, doesn't need capital but has inbound interest and large investment offers, maybe at inflated valuations, from tier 1 coastal investors?
• Let's talk about exits a bit... you've been around for 8 years, I noticed the good news of both 4C and Personal Capital's recent large exit, where are you finding most of the exit discussions begin... do they start w/ the founder considering it, do you discuss it as an option, or do meetings/partnerships start coming from strategics that get the process rolling?
• How do you advise founders on negotiation and getting the right offer, not just any offer?
• What is "swing time" and how do you systematically build that into your schedule?