159. The Pioneer of Post-Seed (Paul Martino)

Paul Martino of Bullpen Capital joins Nick to discuss the emergence of the Post-Seed round. In this episode, we cover: Why Paul passed on joining Mike Maples at Floodgate in order to start Bullpen The product/market fit algorithm he developed for Mike If the stages of funding are moving out or if there are just more of them How Bullpen is differentiated The metrics they require to engage with startups How his quant background has helped make this subjective discipline more objective The hardest aspect of developing new, young VCs We discuss lack of innovation in the asset class Why herd mentality is pervasive Other contrarian principles he and Bullpen embrace If it's harder to get A or B round funding for the non-traditional founders or industries that he invests in How Private Equity is impacting exits the differences in sourcing at post-seed and we wrap up w/ Paul's thoughts on how branding and investment focus helps drive opportunity for Bullpen   To listen more, please visit http://fullratchet.net/podcast-episodes/ for all of our other episodes. Also, follow us on twitter @TheFullRatchet for updates and more information.