Investor Stories 480: The Traits of Visionary Founders: Customer Obsession, Self Disruption, and Why Love Can Be a Competitive Advantage (Dillon, Patnam, Ries)

**Nick Moran** (0:00)
Today's episode of TFR is brought to you by.Tech Domains. I review thousands of startup decks each year, and small branding decisions signal how founders think. That's why more startups are choosing.Tech. It's simple, modern, and clearly communicates what you build.
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**SPEAKER_2** (0:25)
Welcome to the podcast about Venture Capital, where investors and founders alike can learn how VCs make decisions and reach conviction. Your host is Nick Moran, and this is The Full Ratchet.

**Nick Moran** (0:42)
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 Natalie Dillon of Maveron. Natalie, can you tell us about an exceptional founder you've worked with in the specific thing they do that's unique?

**Natalie Dillon** (1:08)
The story that comes to mind and the person that comes to mind is Jessica Rolfe at Love Every. She's built an amazing kids play essential brand. And when she came in and pitched our team, she turned off all the lights, which also was very unique, and had us for about five minutes just read customer reviews of what parents and grandparents had said about the Love Every product. And it doesn't sound like much, but five minutes in the dark, just reading these reviews was so powerful, but it was just a tiny glimpse into who Jessica was as a founder, who is absolutely customer obsessed and product obsessed. And you could see that both in reviews of how much parents love these products, but then getting to work with her. I mean, the detail of every coloring, the shape, the feel, I mean, every product has been iterated 10, 15, you know, many, many times. And I just, I so admire that quality of staying incredibly close to your customer and being customer obsessed, but also showing up for your customer and your product.
And she has that in stripes.

**Nick Moran** (2:27)
On today's special segment, we have Sandesh Patnam of Premji Invest. Sandesh, tell us about an exceptional founder you've worked with and the specific thing they do that's unique.

**Sandesh Patnam** (2:36)
You know, a great founder is all of them. Like, I feel like for me, the sort of the resonance on product and their view of the world and how they think about mission orientation goes a long way. But I call out Ariel Cohen at Nivan as an exceptional founder. I think the thing about Ariel is that he is maniacally focused in ways that I think he lives and breathes for business. But I'd say a manifestation of everything he does is he's always trying to figure out how to disrupt himself. There's always an incubation team in turn saying, what does Nivan look like five years from now? If there is a Nivan disruptor, I want to disrupt myself. He always invests in that in some ways and you wonder what first principle is thinking. You have to protect the team, you've got to think about product, you've got so many things that go in there and since the day I met him, he always said, if there's going to be a disruptor, I'm going to disrupt myself. So I need to know what's coming. I'm going to separate the team, going to build a Nivan inside a Nivan. So that's going to be the next Gen Nivan and no matter what happens, I want to be the winner of that category. I think it's a very unique capability in my mind and because he's a view of the world and a vision of the world that made the world not see yet and I kind of think that he is first principle based and incredibly maniacally focused. So I absolutely enjoy working with him across every dimension here. Amazing.

**Nick Moran** (3:58)
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And this episode of TFR is brought to you by Dot Tech Domains. I review thousands of startup decks every year, and I'm always paying attention to the way founders think.
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To me, a clean and deliberate domain signals clarity and conviction. That's why I'm seeing more builders choose Dot Tech Domain. Companies like Nothing.Tech, 1X.Tech, and Aurora.Tech are part of a growing wave of technology brands using Dot Tech to keep their identity clean and category clear. If you're building a tech startup, align your brand early. Secure your Dot Tech Domain from any registrar today. Now back to the episode. On today's special segment, we have Eric Ries, founder of the Long-Term Stock Exchange and author of The Lean Startup and Incorruptible. Eric, tell us about an exceptional founder you've worked with and the specific thing they do that's unique.