Investor Stories 444. The Biggest Misses in VC: Passing on Airbnb, Overlooking Skype, and Arriving Hours After Postman Closed (Maples, Okike, Mohapatra)

The Full Ratchet (TFR): Venture Capital and Startup Investing Demystified · Dec 4, 2025 · 6m

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

Mike Maples Jr. of Floodgate

Nnamdi Okike of 645 Ventures

Hemant Mohapatra of Lightspeed India

Each investor highlights a situation where they decided not to invest, why they passed, and how it played out.

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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