Investor Stories 451: Why I Passed: Moving Too Slowly, Misreading Return Drivers, and Passing on Lyft (Banks, Tananbaum, Cohen)

The Full Ratchet (TFR): Venture Capital and Startup Investing Demystified · Jan 8, 2026 · 7m

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

Lara Banks of Makena Capital Management

Jim Tananbaum of Foresite Capital

David Cohen of Techstars

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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