Investor Stories 482: Key Advice from a Top Investor and Two Unicorn Founders: Why Companies Pick Investors, Authentic Leadership, and Loving the Game (Austin, Schlacks, Demaree)

**Nick Moran** (0:00)
This episode is brought to you by Ramp, the spend management platform we use here at TFR. They're offering listeners $150 just to take a demo. We've never had an offer quite like this. Claim your $150 before this offer is gone at our partner link, ramp.com/partners/tfr.
Now, on to the episode.

**SPEAKER_2** (0:24)
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** (0:40)
Welcome back to TFR.

**Nick Moran** (0:42)
On today's special segment, we ask guests for the most important piece of advice that they can share with folks early in their venture career. Here's the segment called Key Advice.

**Nick Moran** (0:57)
On today's special segment, we have Ethan Austin of Outside VC.

**Nick Moran** (1:02)
If you could share one piece of advice with a young new investor, what would you tell them?

**Ethan Austin** (1:05)
I think it's fine you're swimmeling. I think there's so many firms out there today, and there's 3,000 venture capital firms out there, is why is someone going to choose you? And I think unless you can find a reason why a founder is going to choose you, it's really hard, and I think we tend to think that it's about picking the companies, and I think it's really about the companies picking you.

**Nick Moran** (1:29)
On today's special segment, we have Willy Schlacks from EquipmentShare. Willy, if you could share one piece of advice with a young new founder, what would you tell them?

**Willy Schlacks** (1:36)
I probably reinforce what I was saying before. It said, stop and meet yourself, approach, ask the questions, let yourself not have answers, be really okay with just the person who doesn't have to have to be right. Because when you're right, it simply means that your brain doesn't learn anything. Because the brain just everything that's right in your brain just trucks it out because we don't need to remember that we already know it. So the only way your brain really is enhanced and evolves and expands and when you're wrong. And even the word wrong has a poor impression in our language.
And it shouldn't like the misalignment of I thought it was this, but it was that should be a celebration, not a shit, I was wrong. So lean into that celebration when you when you go, I thought it was something but it wasn't like, dude, you just that's the gold mine.

**Nick Moran** (2:23)
How does how does the founder of the leader help their employees and help their peers and in others that are on the journey, you know, evolve and be open and take that ride as well?

**Willy Schlacks** (2:34)
A lot of people probably have a lot more insights and better answers than I would. But I think based on my observation and the things that inspire me, it is when I observe somebody living and they don't know they're being observed, like there's no intention behind their living as far as wanting to be observed or thinking that's somehow special. But watching the raw reality of a human live is it's emotional. It's inspired. It's like, that's what I want to be. So I would say that instead of feeling like you have to manufacture your behaviors or be a certain thing, like the more you live that thoughtless expression, that's probably not the right word because that could be so misunderstood. But you get what I'm saying as far as there isn't a facade. Authentic. Yeah, exactly. The authentic.
Everyone knows it when they encounter it. So then it's inspiring to be that and you get that when you start letting go. At the end of the day, how your employees and people around you live and act and think, not in your control, probably not your responsibility either. Absolutely within your influence. So you are highly influenced. Anybody just we are far more influential than we realize. The zone of influence happens when we stop trying to be.

**Nick Moran** (3:51)
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**Nick Moran** (4:24)
Grant Demaree joins us today from the Bay Area. He's the CEO and founder of Onebrief, the defense company building operating system for military planning.