March 31, 2023

213: In the Middle | Patrick Pinschmidt and MiddleGame Ventures

213: In the Middle | Patrick Pinschmidt and MiddleGame Ventures
213: In the Middle | Patrick Pinschmidt and MiddleGame Ventures
MoneyNeverSleeps
213: In the Middle | Patrick Pinschmidt and MiddleGame Ventures

Patrick Pinschmidt is a General Partner and Co-Founder at MiddleGame Ventures, a financial technology venture capital fund focused on early-stage investments in Europe.

In this episode, Patrick riffs with Pete Townsend on the life experiences that delivered him to venture capital and what Patrick looks for in fintech founders in the context of MiddleGame Ventures’ Irish seed fund. Patrick and Pete also dive into Patrick’s lessons learned as an investor, investing in lines not dots, and the human focus of early-stage investing.

LINKS:

Learn more about MiddleGame Ventures on their website

Follow Patrick Pinschmidt on LinkedIn and Twitter

Episode title inspired by In the Middle by G-Eazy

Leave a review and subscribe on Apple Podcasts | Spotify

Check out our MoneyNeverSleeps website and email us at info@moneyneversleeps.ie

Follow us on Twitter: MoneyNeverSleeps | Eoin Fitzgerald | Pete Townsend

--- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/moneyneversleeps/support

1
00:00:10,800 --> 00:00:12,700
Hey there.
I'm Pete on said, in this is

2
00:00:12,700 --> 00:00:13,600
money.
Never sleeps.

3
00:00:13,600 --> 00:00:15,400
We look inside the minds of
entrepreneurs, and at the

4
00:00:15,400 --> 00:00:18,200
crossover of startups,
Enterprise Finance, technology

5
00:00:18,200 --> 00:00:20,200
and Life.
As we know it on the show this

6
00:00:20,200 --> 00:00:23,000
week, we've got Patrick pinch,
MIT, who is a general partner

7
00:00:23,000 --> 00:00:26,400
and co-founder at middlegame.
Ventures a financial technology,

8
00:00:26,400 --> 00:00:29,300
Venture Capital fund focused on
early stage investments in

9
00:00:29,300 --> 00:00:33,400
Europe, Previously Patrick was a
deputy assistant secretary at

10
00:00:33,400 --> 00:00:36,900
the US Department of Treasury,
re served as the first executive

11
00:00:36,900 --> 00:00:39,600
director of the financial
stability, oversight Council.

12
00:00:40,000 --> 00:00:42,800
Prior to his government service,
Patrick spent a decade as a sell

13
00:00:42,800 --> 00:00:44,300
side.
Financial institutions and

14
00:00:44,300 --> 00:00:47,500
capital markets analyst where he
was at lead Analyst at Morgan

15
00:00:47,500 --> 00:00:50,000
Stanley and Merrill Lynch for
the Brokers exchanges in

16
00:00:50,000 --> 00:00:53,100
financial technology sector.
He's a grad at Georgetown

17
00:00:53,100 --> 00:00:55,600
University's School of Foreign
Service and Columbia

18
00:00:55,600 --> 00:00:58,800
University's Graduate School of
Business in this episode.

19
00:00:58,800 --> 00:01:01,900
Patrick, and I dive into Life
experiences, it delivered him to

20
00:01:01,900 --> 00:01:04,500
venture capital for, we talked
through middlegame Ventures,

21
00:01:04,500 --> 00:01:07,100
Iris seed fund, and what he
looks for and fin Tech Founders.

22
00:01:07,600 --> 00:01:10,300
We also get into Patrick's
Lessons Learned as an investor,

23
00:01:10,600 --> 00:01:14,300
how he looks at deals investing
in lines, not dots and the human

24
00:01:14,300 --> 00:01:17,700
focus of early stage investing.
All right here on money.

25
00:01:17,700 --> 00:01:25,700
Never sleeps.
Thrilled to be having this chat

26
00:01:25,700 --> 00:01:29,000
with you.
And I look back in my calendar

27
00:01:29,200 --> 00:01:31,500
to see when you.
And I actually first met, and I

28
00:01:31,500 --> 00:01:34,100
knew it was at Matt, the
Threshers, which is on Pembroke

29
00:01:34,100 --> 00:01:38,100
Street in Dublin, but it was
actually September 3rd, 2018,

30
00:01:39,100 --> 00:01:42,600
nearly five years.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.

31
00:01:42,600 --> 00:01:44,000
No.
Well Pete, it is.

32
00:01:44,000 --> 00:01:47,100
It's great to be on and sorry
alone could enjoin, but yeah,

33
00:01:47,200 --> 00:01:50,100
that's right.
You and Owen were kind of there

34
00:01:50,100 --> 00:01:53,100
when I started making Footprints
in Dublin, kind of talking to

35
00:01:53,107 --> 00:01:56,400
different Some folks and I
guess, I guess what's typically

36
00:01:56,400 --> 00:01:59,200
done and so we should talk to
this other yank called Pete

37
00:01:59,200 --> 00:02:01,800
Townsend and I think that's how
I wondered ended up in your

38
00:02:01,800 --> 00:02:03,900
tracks.
Yeah, that was my Santa Maria.

39
00:02:03,900 --> 00:02:06,000
So shout-out to my thank you.
Maya Jackson.

40
00:02:06,000 --> 00:02:07,600
Thank you.
My she's awesome.

41
00:02:08,000 --> 00:02:13,700
So let's get started with just
give us a rundown an intro into

42
00:02:13,800 --> 00:02:17,200
and to patch up inch bit and how
you got to this point with what

43
00:02:17,200 --> 00:02:21,600
you're up to and what that is.
Okay, well that's a that's a

44
00:02:21,608 --> 00:02:24,800
broad way to begin but let me
let me give it a stab.

45
00:02:24,900 --> 00:02:29,700
So I'm with middlegame Ventures
for an early-stage content BC

46
00:02:29,700 --> 00:02:35,100
focusing on the European market
and I guess about five years ago

47
00:02:35,100 --> 00:02:38,300
I started scouting Europe for
another office for us.

48
00:02:38,300 --> 00:02:41,200
We were based in Luxembourg and
we were close to launching our

49
00:02:41,200 --> 00:02:44,800
first fund and I was spending
time in Ireland talking to

50
00:02:44,800 --> 00:02:48,800
potential LPS talking to folks
in the ecosystem talking to Art

51
00:02:48,800 --> 00:02:53,500
ups and for a host of reasons, I
decided to push forward with

52
00:02:53,500 --> 00:02:55,400
Ireland.
And that's kind of how I ended

53
00:02:55,400 --> 00:03:00,100
up here talking to you.
So I guess to give some context

54
00:03:00,100 --> 00:03:03,700
my entire career has been spent
in financial services.

55
00:03:03,700 --> 00:03:07,500
I've started out on the sell
side, research at Merrill Lynch

56
00:03:07,500 --> 00:03:11,900
and Morgan Stanley as a research
analyst covering Banks asset

57
00:03:11,900 --> 00:03:16,000
managers exchanges and financial
technology before it was called

58
00:03:16,000 --> 00:03:19,700
then Tech.
And you know, this Is pre-crisis

59
00:03:19,700 --> 00:03:23,200
and it was a very interesting
time, obviously a lot of growth

60
00:03:23,400 --> 00:03:27,900
and then a lot of pain with the
Advent of the crisis and I had

61
00:03:27,900 --> 00:03:31,100
an opportunity coming out of
that crisis to return to

62
00:03:31,100 --> 00:03:33,100
Washington.
I had gone to school in

63
00:03:33,100 --> 00:03:36,800
Washington DC and you know,
always had an interest and

64
00:03:36,800 --> 00:03:41,100
public policy and getting
involved at some stage and the

65
00:03:41,100 --> 00:03:43,700
Stars had never really aligned
for a host of reasons.

66
00:03:43,700 --> 00:03:47,100
Including I'm a Democrat and
there wasn't really a democratic

67
00:03:47,100 --> 00:03:50,400
Administration in the early
2000's, that makes a lot of

68
00:03:50,400 --> 00:03:52,700
sense.
So, what I wanted to ask you a

69
00:03:52,700 --> 00:03:56,300
bit about as well, is that your
role as Deputy, assistant

70
00:03:56,300 --> 00:03:58,400
secretary at the US Department
of Treasury?

71
00:03:58,700 --> 00:04:01,200
We served as a first executive
director of the financial

72
00:04:01,200 --> 00:04:03,700
stability, oversight Council.
That's a mouthful, right?

73
00:04:04,100 --> 00:04:08,200
That very topical experience in
light of what's happened in the

74
00:04:08,200 --> 00:04:12,600
u.s. in the last few weeks.
Any insights from your prior

75
00:04:12,600 --> 00:04:15,000
rolls on on, what you see going
on over there right now.

76
00:04:15,400 --> 00:04:19,300
So when Obama was elected and
you had the financial There was

77
00:04:19,300 --> 00:04:22,700
kind of the moment was right for
me to sort of, take the plunge

78
00:04:22,700 --> 00:04:26,900
and try and do something in DC
and not as fortunate, enough to

79
00:04:26,900 --> 00:04:29,700
land at Treasury and help stand
up an office called the

80
00:04:29,707 --> 00:04:32,200
financial stability, oversight
Council, which is basically

81
00:04:32,200 --> 00:04:35,000
charged with connecting.
All the dots across the US

82
00:04:35,000 --> 00:04:37,700
Financial system among the
different regulators and among

83
00:04:37,700 --> 00:04:39,700
the different data that's
provided by companies.

84
00:04:39,700 --> 00:04:44,200
And across different markets, to
make sure systemic risks, do not

85
00:04:44,200 --> 00:04:47,600
fall beneath the cracks and
clearly that was one of the core

86
00:04:47,600 --> 00:04:51,200
lessons of the Financial crisis.
So that the US has very much a

87
00:04:51,200 --> 00:04:54,700
balkanized regulatory system,
and you weren't going to create

88
00:04:54,700 --> 00:04:57,200
an Uber regulator in charge of
everything, you're going to kind

89
00:04:57,200 --> 00:05:00,000
of keep all the Regulators in
place because, you know,

90
00:05:00,000 --> 00:05:02,400
Congress wasn't going to back
the significant regulatory

91
00:05:02,400 --> 00:05:05,300
restructuring.
So the compromise was creating

92
00:05:05,300 --> 00:05:08,200
this entity in the US, Treasury
Department called the financial

93
00:05:08,200 --> 00:05:11,500
stability, oversight Council.
And so to your question on sdb,

94
00:05:11,500 --> 00:05:14,800
I mean, yes, certainly the last
few weeks have brought back

95
00:05:14,800 --> 00:05:20,000
memories of my time in DC.
I, I love My role in DC, but I

96
00:05:20,000 --> 00:05:22,700
feel certain amount of empathy
for my colleagues who are sick,

97
00:05:22,900 --> 00:05:25,200
who are there right now, because
I can imagine they're not

98
00:05:25,200 --> 00:05:28,100
getting a lot of sleep and
they're dealing with a whole lot

99
00:05:28,100 --> 00:05:29,900
of different issues.
And, you know, I think when you

100
00:05:29,900 --> 00:05:33,600
look at SV B, it's certainly a
teachable moment for, you know,

101
00:05:33,600 --> 00:05:35,400
Bank management, team
regulators.

102
00:05:35,400 --> 00:05:38,000
And of course, shareholders.
And I think there's a lot of

103
00:05:38,000 --> 00:05:39,800
work to be done.
Yeah, yeah.

104
00:05:39,800 --> 00:05:42,800
There definitely is.
And you know, there was SV B and

105
00:05:43,400 --> 00:05:46,900
obviously Silver Gate before
them and then Signature Bank and

106
00:05:46,900 --> 00:05:49,900
First Republic almost went under
And it's just been, it's been

107
00:05:49,900 --> 00:05:53,800
one after the other but it's,
you know, I think covid just

108
00:05:53,800 --> 00:05:57,500
changed the world not only from
a health and human perspective.

109
00:05:57,500 --> 00:06:00,400
But from a financial perspective
it's just been so many

110
00:06:00,400 --> 00:06:07,700
unexpected bumps and troughs and
just injections of capital and

111
00:06:07,700 --> 00:06:10,800
interest rates and everything
that have just created this.

112
00:06:10,800 --> 00:06:14,700
This macroeconomic Quagmire
almost around the world and it's

113
00:06:14,700 --> 00:06:15,800
going to take awhile to get out
of it.

114
00:06:15,800 --> 00:06:18,500
But listen, you know, wanted to
really hear more.

115
00:06:18,600 --> 00:06:22,700
From you about the fund as well.
When you and I first met Patrick

116
00:06:22,700 --> 00:06:27,800
back in 2018, I had just parked
the second of four Venture

117
00:06:27,800 --> 00:06:31,600
Capital fund launch but I had
been involved with between 2016

118
00:06:31,600 --> 00:06:37,100
and 2021 and was unknowingly
moving on to my third

119
00:06:37,200 --> 00:06:41,400
unsuccessful project to get a
fun launched, you guys have done

120
00:06:41,400 --> 00:06:45,200
well, in getting your foothold
into the Irish market with the

121
00:06:45,200 --> 00:06:48,500
Irish focus on, maybe tell us a
bit about the strategy for

122
00:06:48,600 --> 00:06:51,500
Staying in Ireland, and how
you've gone about that and what

123
00:06:51,500 --> 00:06:53,900
some of the learnings are.
Yeah, yeah, no great.

124
00:06:53,900 --> 00:06:59,300
Obviously foundational question.
So we, as I as I noted at the

125
00:06:59,300 --> 00:07:04,000
onset here, when we set up the
fund we we all got together in

126
00:07:04,000 --> 00:07:07,100
2017.
My two partners that came out of

127
00:07:07,100 --> 00:07:10,500
a fairly large fun, but through
a family office structure.

128
00:07:10,500 --> 00:07:13,400
So they kind of came out this
with a significant track record

129
00:07:13,400 --> 00:07:18,100
and had some strong operational
experience and my background was

130
00:07:18,100 --> 00:07:22,000
a little Morkul obviously on the
regulatory side as well as on

131
00:07:22,000 --> 00:07:26,200
the incumbent Financial Services
side and I think as you know,

132
00:07:26,200 --> 00:07:31,100
Pete when you're setting up a
fund its you know that you

133
00:07:31,100 --> 00:07:35,000
couldn't kind of dream and a lot
is possible and it's only when

134
00:07:35,000 --> 00:07:37,800
you get the capital you can kind
of actually do things.

135
00:07:37,800 --> 00:07:41,000
And so at that stage you know,
through talking and getting to

136
00:07:41,000 --> 00:07:45,500
know my partner's, you know, we
decided to make a run at it and

137
00:07:45,500 --> 00:07:48,200
you know I joined up with them
in 2017 and then you know fast

138
00:07:48,200 --> 00:07:51,300
forward Word 23 years.
And after a lot of fundraising,

139
00:07:51,300 --> 00:07:55,800
we set up the fund and we decide
to have a European fintech Focus

140
00:07:55,800 --> 00:07:58,600
because we believed we could
have three partners that would

141
00:07:58,600 --> 00:08:01,900
maximize our kind of Leverage in
the European market.

142
00:08:01,900 --> 00:08:05,700
Given our touch points in the US
as well as across Europe and you

143
00:08:05,700 --> 00:08:08,200
know, being fintech specialist
to that would be something

144
00:08:08,200 --> 00:08:10,500
differentiated we thought would
be welcomed.

145
00:08:10,900 --> 00:08:14,200
And initially, you know, coming
to Ireland, you know, clearly

146
00:08:14,200 --> 00:08:17,200
there's some interesting
fintechs we had a supportive,

147
00:08:17,200 --> 00:08:21,700
Enterprise Ireland, and Some
other LPS and and generally

148
00:08:21,700 --> 00:08:24,200
speaking, obviously, Dublin
Airport, CZ the rest of the

149
00:08:24,200 --> 00:08:26,700
continents, but relatively easy
to get to it's a good

150
00:08:26,800 --> 00:08:28,500
jumping-off point to the rest of
the continent.

151
00:08:28,500 --> 00:08:31,400
But yeah.
I think what has surprised us is

152
00:08:31,400 --> 00:08:35,700
the amount of activity and the
quality of a lot of the startups

153
00:08:36,200 --> 00:08:39,500
and we've done six Investments
through the fund, that was

154
00:08:39,500 --> 00:08:42,799
launched in 2019 and the, you
know, kind of through those

155
00:08:42,799 --> 00:08:45,700
touch points.
We realize, well, there's a way

156
00:08:45,700 --> 00:08:49,100
here to get involved, actually
earlier and the Legacy C fund

157
00:08:49,100 --> 00:08:52,300
more a series, a focus fund, and
we decide well, yeah, we should

158
00:08:52,300 --> 00:08:55,900
start talking to people at the
see stage level and, and really

159
00:08:55,900 --> 00:08:57,600
kind of get in on the ground
floor.

160
00:08:57,900 --> 00:09:02,200
And and that's what motivated us
to pursue a seed fund again with

161
00:09:02,200 --> 00:09:03,600
the support of Enterprise
Ireland.

162
00:09:03,600 --> 00:09:06,500
And that were in the process of
doing a final close for the

163
00:09:06,500 --> 00:09:10,000
coming months.
And we've already made for small

164
00:09:10,000 --> 00:09:11,300
Investments, through that
thought.

165
00:09:11,300 --> 00:09:14,200
And then we have two or three
more in the pipeline.

166
00:09:14,700 --> 00:09:19,500
But again, I think where we sit
we're in the Fortunate position

167
00:09:19,500 --> 00:09:24,400
of being a detect, specific fund
that can help startups scale

168
00:09:24,400 --> 00:09:28,000
commercially, whether it's
across Europe and into the u.s.

169
00:09:28,100 --> 00:09:31,200
through a strategic Partnerships
or help with subsequent funding

170
00:09:31,200 --> 00:09:34,200
rounds or even the current
funding round by bringing in

171
00:09:34,200 --> 00:09:35,800
other investors.
That, you know, we there either

172
00:09:35,800 --> 00:09:38,300
within the Irish Market or
outside the Irish Market, but

173
00:09:38,300 --> 00:09:41,700
you often tag is a little bit of
a different animal and I think

174
00:09:41,700 --> 00:09:45,900
sometimes it helps to have an
investor on board who can help

175
00:09:45,900 --> 00:09:48,300
validate and help you know,
really take a Hands-On.

176
00:09:48,500 --> 00:09:51,700
Roll and and helping bring other
investors in and then help that

177
00:09:51,700 --> 00:09:54,700
business scale as it moves
forward, definitely definitely.

178
00:09:54,700 --> 00:09:58,200
And what are some of the basic
metrics in terms of check size

179
00:09:58,200 --> 00:10:00,500
and you know, the kind of
traction that you look for and

180
00:10:00,500 --> 00:10:04,900
those types of things.
So we'll invest from seed

181
00:10:04,900 --> 00:10:08,700
through Series be across both
fun Vehicles, specifically at

182
00:10:08,700 --> 00:10:10,500
the seed level so it's not
there.

183
00:10:10,500 --> 00:10:14,200
You know at the sort of the more
mature level will put in you

184
00:10:14,200 --> 00:10:17,500
know we'll go up to seven
million but at the seed level we

185
00:10:17,500 --> 00:10:22,400
can go Low as 250 300 and will
probably max out of it a little

186
00:10:22,400 --> 00:10:26,400
over 1 million and you know
obviously as you know P that the

187
00:10:26,400 --> 00:10:31,300
seed level it's really all about
team and technology and product.

188
00:10:31,300 --> 00:10:35,000
You know traction is great but
it's sort of optional but you

189
00:10:35,008 --> 00:10:36,900
know if there's some evidence of
traction.

190
00:10:36,900 --> 00:10:39,600
Yeah we'll take that but yeah,
we're really trying to

191
00:10:39,600 --> 00:10:44,000
understand.
Is this a you know back a couple

192
00:10:44,000 --> 00:10:48,200
team and ab a couple solution
and you know, is there something

193
00:10:48,200 --> 00:10:51,700
we can Can kind of help move
along and I think that the one

194
00:10:51,700 --> 00:10:54,400
metric we we try to hit it here
too in terms of our engagement

195
00:10:54,400 --> 00:10:57,100
as just have as many meetings as
possible, get to know the

196
00:10:57,100 --> 00:11:01,000
founder and the founding team
and you know, really understand

197
00:11:01,000 --> 00:11:02,500
what vertical they're going
after.

198
00:11:02,800 --> 00:11:06,000
And you know, if everything adds
up then let's try and move

199
00:11:06,000 --> 00:11:07,500
forward together.
I got you.

200
00:11:07,600 --> 00:11:08,600
Yeah.
And that was one of the big

201
00:11:08,600 --> 00:11:11,300
lessons learned that Owen.
And I talked through when he

202
00:11:11,300 --> 00:11:14,500
asked me about what I thought
from the first thousand deals

203
00:11:14,500 --> 00:11:17,600
that I've looked at through
techstars and it was investors

204
00:11:17,600 --> 00:11:19,100
invest in lines.
Dots.

205
00:11:19,300 --> 00:11:21,900
And like you said, have as many
engagements interactions you can

206
00:11:21,900 --> 00:11:24,000
with people, right?
Yeah, yeah.

207
00:11:24,000 --> 00:11:27,500
I mean that that that's
absolutely right and I think you

208
00:11:27,500 --> 00:11:31,300
know you'll never regret taking
another meeting in a start-up,

209
00:11:31,300 --> 00:11:34,800
you're interested in because you
always learn something more and

210
00:11:34,800 --> 00:11:38,700
I think it's not just the
founder and the CEO, it's who

211
00:11:38,700 --> 00:11:41,700
does that person's around him or
herself with, you know, what's

212
00:11:41,700 --> 00:11:43,300
the quality of their better
team?

213
00:11:43,300 --> 00:11:47,200
What's the interaction?
Like and it's you know, it's a

214
00:11:47,208 --> 00:11:48,900
learning journey.
I mean we're not trying to

215
00:11:48,900 --> 00:11:51,900
torture people but you do need
to invest the time and it's

216
00:11:51,900 --> 00:11:55,500
frankly, it's that the founder
needs to invest the time also

217
00:11:55,500 --> 00:11:59,100
because when a seed investor
comes on, I mean that's

218
00:11:59,100 --> 00:12:02,100
generally going to be kind of a
long relationship and they'll be

219
00:12:02,100 --> 00:12:05,200
many twists and turns and
they'll probably be, you know,

220
00:12:05,200 --> 00:12:07,600
hopefully good times but they'll
be some uncomfortable

221
00:12:07,600 --> 00:12:11,800
conversations and some difficult
choices along the road and and

222
00:12:12,100 --> 00:12:14,600
ideally, if you're in a position
where you can pick your

223
00:12:14,600 --> 00:12:17,400
investors, and it's important
that the startup does that due

224
00:12:17,400 --> 00:12:20,800
diligence also be Because, you
know, while you know capitals

225
00:12:20,800 --> 00:12:23,700
capital and that's important,
you also want a strategic

226
00:12:23,700 --> 00:12:26,600
Capital to help, you know really
be a partner as the founder

227
00:12:26,600 --> 00:12:28,100
grows the business.
Yeah.

228
00:12:28,300 --> 00:12:31,000
Definitely at what you just said
there is, critically important

229
00:12:31,000 --> 00:12:34,500
pick your investors, right?
And that is what I say to

230
00:12:34,508 --> 00:12:37,700
Founders is you need to go out
and do the research on your

231
00:12:37,700 --> 00:12:42,000
Market in the same degree or
with the same degree of

232
00:12:42,000 --> 00:12:46,200
voracious as the craziest sales
person you've ever met research

233
00:12:46,200 --> 00:12:48,900
is their Target customers.
Right.

234
00:12:48,900 --> 00:12:52,400
And that you need to understand,
investors need to understand, is

235
00:12:52,400 --> 00:12:55,200
it, you know, do they even vast
in my stage?

236
00:12:55,200 --> 00:12:56,500
Are they writing the checks
eyes?

237
00:12:56,800 --> 00:13:00,000
Are they investing in this
thematic that I'm involved with

238
00:13:00,400 --> 00:13:03,300
and there's so many things that
go into this that a lot of

239
00:13:03,308 --> 00:13:06,600
Founders, sometimes when they're
new to fundraising, they think

240
00:13:06,600 --> 00:13:08,100
well, although they must not
like me.

241
00:13:08,200 --> 00:13:11,100
They must not like me at all.
And usually, we as, from an

242
00:13:11,100 --> 00:13:15,100
investor perspective, it's me.
It's not you, you know, and that

243
00:13:15,100 --> 00:13:16,800
you've got investors behind you,
right?

244
00:13:16,800 --> 00:13:19,300
That you've signed up.
And That they've agreed to

245
00:13:19,300 --> 00:13:22,600
certain covenants and
requirements in terms and so on

246
00:13:22,600 --> 00:13:25,100
and so forth that when you
talked about the check size and

247
00:13:25,100 --> 00:13:27,200
what rounds you're going to
invest in that's because you've

248
00:13:27,200 --> 00:13:29,200
made some representations
investors, right?

249
00:13:29,300 --> 00:13:32,400
Yeah yeah I mean yeah and so
going through your first funding

250
00:13:32,400 --> 00:13:35,500
round can be quite painful and
emotional experience for all

251
00:13:35,900 --> 00:13:39,000
involved because the lawyers
tend to take over and you know

252
00:13:39,000 --> 00:13:42,400
obviously key goal of both
parties is to you know kind of

253
00:13:42,400 --> 00:13:45,800
limit that the pain and time and
money that's spent on that

254
00:13:45,800 --> 00:13:48,100
process.
But you know, that that is

255
00:13:48,200 --> 00:13:52,200
Steaks for taking institutional
money and I think that's the

256
00:13:52,200 --> 00:13:54,500
first question.
The founder should ask him or

257
00:13:54,508 --> 00:13:57,800
herself is do I need Venture
Capital, you know?

258
00:13:57,800 --> 00:14:00,500
Because you know they're frankly
a lot cheaper ways to fund your

259
00:14:00,500 --> 00:14:03,600
business and luck.
Lot less dilutive and some

260
00:14:03,600 --> 00:14:08,100
businesses, you know, main that
may not be the right choice and

261
00:14:08,200 --> 00:14:13,000
you know, so that's kind of like
that threshold question and the

262
00:14:13,000 --> 00:14:17,500
other thing is you know, don't
necessarily wait to your need

263
00:14:17,500 --> 00:14:19,800
capital All to start talking to
investors.

264
00:14:19,800 --> 00:14:23,200
And it's, you know, I think of
their a lot of Founders out

265
00:14:23,200 --> 00:14:25,400
there.
And I think these are just as

266
00:14:25,400 --> 00:14:30,000
guilty of this is, you know,
waiting until a startup is in

267
00:14:30,000 --> 00:14:34,000
the market and then the outbound
and inbound, you know, I think

268
00:14:34,000 --> 00:14:36,500
the most valuable thing is, you
know, having a conversation with

269
00:14:36,500 --> 00:14:39,300
the founder a year before
they're raising capital and,

270
00:14:39,300 --> 00:14:42,500
and, you know, not to give away
kind of our secrets.

271
00:14:42,500 --> 00:14:45,000
As you know, you get a lot from
that conversation.

272
00:14:45,100 --> 00:14:49,200
You understand, you kind of
develop a This in terms of what

273
00:14:49,200 --> 00:14:52,100
they're trying to do with the
business and you have a much

274
00:14:52,100 --> 00:14:54,600
more productive follow-up
conversation but in that six

275
00:14:54,600 --> 00:14:58,700
months later, 12 months later
and you kind of have your check

276
00:14:58,700 --> 00:15:02,300
marks in your in your map to
kind of gauge that conversation

277
00:15:02,300 --> 00:15:03,800
with.
And you know I've peed I'm

278
00:15:03,800 --> 00:15:08,000
actually reminded of you know
back in the pre covid dance.

279
00:15:08,000 --> 00:15:10,900
When I was over here, I think
you introduced me to a great

280
00:15:10,900 --> 00:15:15,200
founder at the other Keith CEO
circuit and I can't say it was

281
00:15:15,200 --> 00:15:19,600
2018 or 2019.
So I 2019 Yeah, I met with him

282
00:15:19,600 --> 00:15:24,400
and, you know, obviously circuit
very impressive in terms of what

283
00:15:24,400 --> 00:15:28,800
they're creating confirmation
platform for the audit space and

284
00:15:28,800 --> 00:15:32,200
and much more now today.
But, you know, frankly it was

285
00:15:32,200 --> 00:15:37,000
very early days and, you know, I
didn't necessarily understand or

286
00:15:37,000 --> 00:15:41,300
appreciate, you know, the market
opportunity but in and we, you

287
00:15:41,300 --> 00:15:43,000
know, we didn't invest at that
stage.

288
00:15:43,000 --> 00:15:47,300
But, you know, he came back and
we talked, you know, a year ago

289
00:15:47,600 --> 00:15:50,400
and You know, he acts appearing
on everything.

290
00:15:50,400 --> 00:15:54,300
He said he would three years
prior and then some and you know

291
00:15:54,300 --> 00:15:58,900
it made it a very easy decision
to decide to co-lead the series

292
00:15:58,900 --> 00:16:03,600
a when that hit the market early
last year because we kind of had

293
00:16:03,600 --> 00:16:06,200
that reference point for from 23
years prior.

294
00:16:06,200 --> 00:16:09,300
And again, this is somewhat of
an extreme example because there

295
00:16:09,300 --> 00:16:12,900
was a three year gap between
conversations but you know again

296
00:16:12,900 --> 00:16:17,100
it's you know, just getting in
the conversation and you know,

297
00:16:17,100 --> 00:16:19,700
if nothing else.
Else be selfish about that.

298
00:16:19,700 --> 00:16:22,600
You know, obviously this is the
VC is being selfish in the sense

299
00:16:22,600 --> 00:16:25,900
of wanting to know you and you
know, quote unquote, develop a

300
00:16:25,900 --> 00:16:28,600
cheat sheet for follow-up
conversations but the startup

301
00:16:28,600 --> 00:16:31,800
founder should be selfish to in
terms of testing the decease,

302
00:16:31,800 --> 00:16:34,000
getting a sense for what they
can do in terms of

303
00:16:34,008 --> 00:16:37,800
introductions, what can they do?
Terms of how will, you know, and

304
00:16:37,800 --> 00:16:40,100
and kind of, you know, getting
your pitch together.

305
00:16:40,200 --> 00:16:42,200
Yeah, yeah, definitely.
David is great.

306
00:16:42,200 --> 00:16:43,900
Founder.
Shout out to David Heath,

307
00:16:44,000 --> 00:16:46,300
absolutely.
He's close enough to me

308
00:16:46,300 --> 00:16:49,500
neighborhood wise but I know
he's And quite intensely focused

309
00:16:49,500 --> 00:16:53,700
on even scaling circuit to, you
know, to a huge degree recently.

310
00:16:53,700 --> 00:16:57,600
So I, you know, the one of the
interesting things about I think

311
00:16:57,600 --> 00:17:01,000
thinking back a few years is
that it was a different

312
00:17:01,000 --> 00:17:04,900
landscape back then, pre covid.
And I remember, reading

313
00:17:04,900 --> 00:17:09,500
something on your website on the
middlegame ventures website that

314
00:17:09,500 --> 00:17:13,900
I'm like I totally identified
with and I saw some of, you

315
00:17:13,900 --> 00:17:17,800
know, what circuit was doing in,
what you guys were interested

316
00:17:17,800 --> 00:17:20,300
in.
In investing in and, you know,

317
00:17:20,300 --> 00:17:22,400
there's a lot to that name
middle game.

318
00:17:22,599 --> 00:17:24,599
Right?
And I know, I think it's Pascal

319
00:17:24,599 --> 00:17:27,099
your partner.
Who is a big fan of Chess is

320
00:17:27,099 --> 00:17:30,300
any, but that's, right, that's
right at the middle game, is a

321
00:17:30,300 --> 00:17:32,900
chest turn, and not a gaming
term?

322
00:17:33,100 --> 00:17:35,300
Exactly, exactly.
There's the beat, there's the

323
00:17:35,308 --> 00:17:37,800
beginning game.
There's the endgame in chess and

324
00:17:37,800 --> 00:17:39,700
it's how you execute in the
middle game.

325
00:17:39,700 --> 00:17:42,900
That is critically important.
And, you know, I think that

326
00:17:42,900 --> 00:17:47,300
resonates with both the stage of
where you're investing in that,

327
00:17:47,300 --> 00:17:49,500
you've got to get them.
To the middle game, you know,

328
00:17:49,500 --> 00:17:53,600
and that at that point they're
raising capital from instead of

329
00:17:53,600 --> 00:17:56,100
the, you know, up to seven
million range, they're raising

330
00:17:56,100 --> 00:18:00,400
it up to 50 to 100 million range
but also then, you know, looking

331
00:18:00,400 --> 00:18:02,700
at the financial markets and
fintech and how all that's

332
00:18:02,700 --> 00:18:07,100
unfolded and seeing that there's
so much opportunity in what

333
00:18:07,100 --> 00:18:09,700
happens in the middle of
Finance, right?

334
00:18:09,700 --> 00:18:13,400
And that there's so many
opportunities to provide new

335
00:18:13,400 --> 00:18:16,300
Solutions in there.
They can just make the Global

336
00:18:16,300 --> 00:18:17,900
Financial system operate
smoothly.

337
00:18:18,000 --> 00:18:20,700
Either.
And, you know, it's always hard

338
00:18:20,700 --> 00:18:23,400
when you're trying to invest in
things that are, you know,

339
00:18:23,400 --> 00:18:25,700
bringing costs down rather than
creating new Revenue.

340
00:18:25,700 --> 00:18:28,000
But if you have the right
approach and you've got people

341
00:18:28,000 --> 00:18:30,500
who are experienced in that
space, they could tell the ones

342
00:18:30,500 --> 00:18:33,500
that are really going to make a
difference in the middle game

343
00:18:33,600 --> 00:18:36,200
versus those that will just be
afterthoughts, right?

344
00:18:36,400 --> 00:18:40,400
Yeah, that that's very
articulate and well-stated.

345
00:18:40,400 --> 00:18:44,000
Yeah, we should have you help us
with our coffee, on our website.

346
00:18:46,200 --> 00:18:47,900
You can pull these things out of
thin air or something.

347
00:18:48,100 --> 00:18:51,000
Patrick.
So that's all that for what it's

348
00:18:51,000 --> 00:18:53,500
worth.
But but thinking it thinking

349
00:18:53,500 --> 00:18:57,000
about, you know, as I mentioned
earlier, Owen and I did have

350
00:18:57,000 --> 00:18:59,000
that chat.
We talked about the Lessons

351
00:18:59,000 --> 00:19:03,000
Learned, we talked about
Investors investing in lines,

352
00:19:03,000 --> 00:19:05,900
not dots and you're clearly
speaking to that in this

353
00:19:05,900 --> 00:19:07,600
conversation, we're having right
now.

354
00:19:08,100 --> 00:19:13,300
Are there any models that you
apply yourself in terms of the

355
00:19:13,300 --> 00:19:16,500
first conversations that you're
having with Founders?

356
00:19:16,500 --> 00:19:19,700
And what are some of the, the
The signals that you look for,

357
00:19:19,700 --> 00:19:21,600
obviously not giving it all
away, right?

358
00:19:21,600 --> 00:19:26,200
You don't want people, you know,
acting to, to cover off what you

359
00:19:26,200 --> 00:19:28,100
and I are talking about right
now in terms of the

360
00:19:28,100 --> 00:19:29,600
conversations going to have with
you.

361
00:19:29,600 --> 00:19:34,000
But I have this, you know, Team
market traction product that I

362
00:19:34,000 --> 00:19:36,800
work into every conversation and
I try to take all four of those

363
00:19:36,800 --> 00:19:38,700
boxes and make it a natural
conversation.

364
00:19:38,700 --> 00:19:40,900
We have that natural
conversation, things tend to

365
00:19:40,908 --> 00:19:43,800
come out of the wash anything
that you try to follow to keep

366
00:19:43,800 --> 00:19:45,500
things moving smoothly when
you're chatting with with

367
00:19:45,500 --> 00:19:46,500
Founders.
Yeah.

368
00:19:46,500 --> 00:19:50,600
Yeah, that was I think you Your
framework is spot-on.

369
00:19:50,600 --> 00:19:55,800
I mean, the earlier, the
company, the more focus on team

370
00:19:55,800 --> 00:20:00,500
and Technology the later stage,
the company, the more focus on

371
00:20:00,500 --> 00:20:05,400
on the market fit, and, and the
ability to scale and and then

372
00:20:05,400 --> 00:20:08,200
kind of anything in between
comes in between.

373
00:20:08,300 --> 00:20:12,800
And, you know, I think that the
challenge is when you're in the

374
00:20:12,800 --> 00:20:16,000
market and you're investing
across Europe and you're looking

375
00:20:16,000 --> 00:20:19,100
at an early stage startups,
you're going to talk a lot of

376
00:20:19,100 --> 00:20:24,500
people and the the challenge is
to kind of arrive at some quick

377
00:20:24,500 --> 00:20:29,200
nose and and that also be able
to decide which are the ones you

378
00:20:29,200 --> 00:20:32,600
want to follow up with and spend
more time on because I think the

379
00:20:32,608 --> 00:20:36,400
biggest challenge for an
investor is it is prioritizing

380
00:20:36,400 --> 00:20:41,400
one's time and in order to help
do that and not saying we always

381
00:20:41,400 --> 00:20:44,800
get it right is to, you know,
have a view on kind of, you

382
00:20:44,800 --> 00:20:48,600
know, what are the sectors that
are most promising and Stan,

383
00:20:48,600 --> 00:20:52,500
which startups are operating and
that environment and you know,

384
00:20:52,500 --> 00:20:56,300
try and get in front of them
earlier than you need to to

385
00:20:56,300 --> 00:20:59,300
develop a relationship to become
smarter on that sector but also

386
00:20:59,300 --> 00:21:02,500
to understand what individual
startups are doing.

387
00:21:02,500 --> 00:21:06,000
And then you know, obviously
when you have that first

388
00:21:06,000 --> 00:21:09,700
conversation, it's really
getting a sense for that founder

389
00:21:09,700 --> 00:21:12,700
and you know, particularly at
the seed level because, you

390
00:21:12,708 --> 00:21:15,700
know, whenever they show you on
your deck, you know, we talked

391
00:21:15,700 --> 00:21:19,600
about reference points and, and
kind of Building a map, whatever

392
00:21:19,600 --> 00:21:22,200
they show you on that deck.
If it's really going to come to

393
00:21:22,200 --> 00:21:24,500
fruition whether it's a
financial statement, with the

394
00:21:24,500 --> 00:21:26,600
business plan, they're going to
be a lot of pivots.

395
00:21:27,000 --> 00:21:30,800
The the, the hockey stick will
be flattened a little bit and,

396
00:21:30,900 --> 00:21:34,100
you know, that's just a given
but it's understanding kind of

397
00:21:34,100 --> 00:21:38,200
the resilience of the founder
and the ability to kind of Bob

398
00:21:38,200 --> 00:21:42,100
and weave as the market, you
know, punches you in the face or

399
00:21:42,300 --> 00:21:47,300
or things happen, and you have
to put it and yeah, I think you

400
00:21:47,300 --> 00:21:52,400
know the whole Grail of
Founders, is that, that Vision,

401
00:21:52,400 --> 00:21:58,000
that strategic Vision to sort of
Sierra Market opportunity, and

402
00:21:58,000 --> 00:22:02,000
then develop the technology of
the solution to take advantage

403
00:22:02,000 --> 00:22:04,900
of that opportunity.
But but that's just one part of

404
00:22:04,900 --> 00:22:07,900
it.
The other part, which is not as

405
00:22:07,900 --> 00:22:12,700
sexy as, you know, having that
operational discipline to build

406
00:22:12,700 --> 00:22:17,300
a team and to set near term and
medium term and longer term

407
00:22:17,300 --> 00:22:19,800
goals.
And hold people accountable day

408
00:22:19,800 --> 00:22:22,900
in and day out and that's more
of a grind.

409
00:22:23,000 --> 00:22:26,200
And and that's the lonely part
of the founders journey and

410
00:22:26,500 --> 00:22:29,600
that's very difficult to assess
based on our first meeting.

411
00:22:29,600 --> 00:22:32,400
And, you know, obviously that's
where kind of comes into play.

412
00:22:32,400 --> 00:22:36,600
Well, does the CEO certain
strengths and art and does, does

413
00:22:36,600 --> 00:22:39,700
he or she have certain
weaknesses and how does the team

414
00:22:39,700 --> 00:22:43,800
complement or exacerbate that?
And I think, frankly they're,

415
00:22:43,800 --> 00:22:46,700
you know, there's been a few
times where I think we talked to

416
00:22:46,700 --> 00:22:49,900
a very interesting Very
promising founder and then you

417
00:22:49,900 --> 00:22:52,800
talk to the rest of the team and
you're wondering well, what kind

418
00:22:52,800 --> 00:22:55,600
of team is this person building?
So you know there can be some,

419
00:22:55,700 --> 00:22:58,300
you know, false positives, and
negative positive is a positive

420
00:22:58,300 --> 00:23:01,000
negatives or however you want to
phrase that but you know, you

421
00:23:01,000 --> 00:23:05,000
get that with discussions but
the the initial sort of fork in

422
00:23:05,000 --> 00:23:10,200
the road is, you know, trying to
make quick decisions as to is

423
00:23:10,200 --> 00:23:12,900
this a start-up or a vertical
you want to spend more time

424
00:23:12,900 --> 00:23:16,500
online and and then don't be shy
about following up and having as

425
00:23:16,500 --> 00:23:20,800
they touch points as possible.
Do you guys do default to and

426
00:23:20,800 --> 00:23:24,200
fall back on specific areas
within fintech where you know

427
00:23:24,200 --> 00:23:27,100
that you're going to be able to
necessarily contribute the most

428
00:23:27,100 --> 00:23:29,400
but at least stay on top of
things.

429
00:23:29,400 --> 00:23:31,900
The most and being able to point
people in the right direction

430
00:23:31,900 --> 00:23:34,800
and make introductions for them
after the investment.

431
00:23:34,800 --> 00:23:37,500
Yeah.
And so that's, you know, the

432
00:23:37,500 --> 00:23:41,000
good thing about fintech.
It's a very broad space and

433
00:23:41,000 --> 00:23:42,800
there are multiple different
verticals.

434
00:23:42,800 --> 00:23:49,200
Yeah, I think, as a Practice and
they all sort of consistent with

435
00:23:49,200 --> 00:23:52,500
our investment themes.
We're very much be to be focused

436
00:23:52,500 --> 00:23:56,100
and I don't think we've done
anything direct-to-consumer

437
00:23:56,300 --> 00:23:59,900
there, maybe a little bit of
that, but it's not a primary

438
00:24:00,000 --> 00:24:03,300
driver of any of the businesses
we've invested in which is not

439
00:24:03,300 --> 00:24:06,500
to say there aren't big b2c
companies out there, it's just

440
00:24:06,600 --> 00:24:08,700
that's less core to our
expertise.

441
00:24:08,700 --> 00:24:11,100
I mean we come from be
institutionalized world and

442
00:24:11,100 --> 00:24:14,800
financial services but you know,
I think generally speaking, you

443
00:24:14,800 --> 00:24:20,400
know, We want to dust and and
and and Founders and teams

444
00:24:20,400 --> 00:24:22,900
where, you know, we can be
involved.

445
00:24:22,900 --> 00:24:25,400
We can roll up our sleeves, we
can take a board seat.

446
00:24:25,400 --> 00:24:30,000
We can leverage your network and
you know, our, you know, our

447
00:24:30,600 --> 00:24:33,600
core areas of expertise or
another incumbent space

448
00:24:33,600 --> 00:24:35,300
obviously in the regulatory
space.

449
00:24:35,700 --> 00:24:40,100
And that's the the the thing to
remember here is fintech is a

450
00:24:40,100 --> 00:24:43,100
lot different than some of these
other Tech verticals.

451
00:24:43,100 --> 00:24:46,300
It's been a late relatively Late
Bloomer and and I think you

452
00:24:46,300 --> 00:24:48,800
talked about that that
middleware and you know, when

453
00:24:48,800 --> 00:24:52,700
you're talking about middle game
and and that's, you know, back

454
00:24:52,700 --> 00:24:58,800
in the late 90s, the BET back in
the late 2009. 2010 2011, you

455
00:24:58,800 --> 00:25:01,900
saw that ConEd being digitized.
Now, we're kind of in that

456
00:25:01,900 --> 00:25:06,000
middle, we're being digitized
and and then and we're slowly

457
00:25:06,000 --> 00:25:11,100
starting to see it in the core.
And the way I like to kind of

458
00:25:11,300 --> 00:25:15,600
explain that is again, sort of
using my old cell site research.

459
00:25:15,800 --> 00:25:17,900
Out here.
When, you know, I was used to

460
00:25:17,900 --> 00:25:23,000
cover the exchange space and and
it was going electronic and the

461
00:25:23,000 --> 00:25:27,600
then sort of the life cycle of
taking an instrument that was

462
00:25:27,600 --> 00:25:30,700
traded.
Let's say on the nymex or on the

463
00:25:30,708 --> 00:25:32,700
floor of the New York Stock
Exchange.

464
00:25:32,800 --> 00:25:36,000
And putting that on a screen is
very compelling because you're

465
00:25:36,000 --> 00:25:40,300
essentially digitizing it and
you're making it, you're taking

466
00:25:40,300 --> 00:25:44,100
out the friction, you're
reducing the costs and so

467
00:25:44,100 --> 00:25:49,200
therefore you get more Hume you
you rewire it, you expand access

468
00:25:49,400 --> 00:25:53,400
and and you lower costs and
those are all the factors were

469
00:25:53,400 --> 00:25:56,600
seeing and financial services.
As we think about it.

470
00:25:56,600 --> 00:26:00,100
Being digitized taking out the
friction, reducing the costs

471
00:26:00,100 --> 00:26:03,700
expanding access and you know,
out of that hoping to become a

472
00:26:03,700 --> 00:26:07,000
host of new products and you see
they have a companies like way

473
00:26:07,000 --> 00:26:08,200
flyer.
You see that with companies,

474
00:26:08,200 --> 00:26:12,200
like circuit, the startups that
are able to sort of connect the

475
00:26:12,200 --> 00:26:16,100
dots and build digital,
ecosystems in new models, Didn't

476
00:26:16,100 --> 00:26:20,100
exist previously.
And and that to us is is the

477
00:26:20,100 --> 00:26:23,500
real big opportunity and you can
kind of start going down some of

478
00:26:23,500 --> 00:26:26,400
the different verticals whether
it's in capital markets asset

479
00:26:26,400 --> 00:26:30,900
management or open finance, open
banking but that to us is what

480
00:26:30,900 --> 00:26:34,700
gets really excited.
And the opportunity here is, is

481
00:26:34,700 --> 00:26:38,600
immense because unlike other,
you know, if you're talking

482
00:26:38,600 --> 00:26:43,800
about a Google or Microsoft or
even a meta, those aren't the

483
00:26:43,800 --> 00:26:47,200
same type of companies in terms.
As of their ability to innovate,

484
00:26:47,200 --> 00:26:50,800
its banks and banks are very
poor innovators.

485
00:26:50,900 --> 00:26:55,300
They can't attract the talent.
They can't retain the talent and

486
00:26:55,600 --> 00:26:58,900
even if they had the technology,
they wouldn't necessarily be

487
00:26:58,900 --> 00:27:01,400
able to Pioneer it so that they
had the assets.

488
00:27:01,400 --> 00:27:04,600
But they're always going to look
for a partner on the outside to,

489
00:27:04,800 --> 00:27:08,900
to sort of implement and drive
that technology forward and and,

490
00:27:08,900 --> 00:27:12,500
and it's great for us as
investors and participants in

491
00:27:12,500 --> 00:27:16,500
the context space because, you
know, there's a partner And and

492
00:27:16,500 --> 00:27:19,500
there's an investor there and
there's a potential exit there.

493
00:27:19,700 --> 00:27:23,800
And, you know, I our role is
driven a lot by helping, you

494
00:27:23,808 --> 00:27:26,400
know, particularly countries in
Ireland where, you know, that

495
00:27:26,400 --> 00:27:29,200
the local incumbent
infrastructure isn't as

496
00:27:29,200 --> 00:27:33,500
developed and let's say the UK
or the u.s. is providing them.

497
00:27:33,500 --> 00:27:37,600
The touch points to help test
their product and help scale

498
00:27:37,600 --> 00:27:39,600
their product with other
weapons.

499
00:27:40,400 --> 00:27:41,400
Yeah.
Yeah.

500
00:27:41,400 --> 00:27:44,500
And you you touched on a
critical point there in that,

501
00:27:45,000 --> 00:27:48,400
you know, Looking at the
financial systems and seeing

502
00:27:48,400 --> 00:27:53,200
opportunities to improve the
killer word there.

503
00:27:53,200 --> 00:27:57,100
Her killer phrase, you use is
increased volumes and grow

504
00:27:57,100 --> 00:28:02,000
volumes increased throughput and
the ability to just unlock and

505
00:28:02,000 --> 00:28:05,900
remove this friction, allows
Revenue to be created.

506
00:28:05,900 --> 00:28:10,600
And it's not just, okay, we're
making the machine work better.

507
00:28:10,600 --> 00:28:13,800
It's that what you can build on
top of that, better version of

508
00:28:13,800 --> 00:28:17,300
the machine in order to Sell
more, right?

509
00:28:17,300 --> 00:28:20,300
It's all more financial products
and it's, yeah, I love the way

510
00:28:20,300 --> 00:28:24,500
that you pull that all together.
It's thinking about Patrick the,

511
00:28:24,600 --> 00:28:29,500
you know, your journey itself,
or your journey yourself that

512
00:28:29,600 --> 00:28:31,500
you.
And I talked about this once is

513
00:28:31,500 --> 00:28:35,700
that, you know, stepping into
Venture Capital that, you know,

514
00:28:35,700 --> 00:28:39,700
they're all different ways that
you can find a reference point

515
00:28:39,700 --> 00:28:41,800
for the world that you are
stepping into.

516
00:28:41,800 --> 00:28:44,900
And whether that's podcast,
whether that's reading whether

517
00:28:44,900 --> 00:28:49,200
that's Whatever there are, there
are ways to do it.

518
00:28:49,200 --> 00:28:52,800
But I think what you said to me,
that time, is that only way to

519
00:28:52,800 --> 00:28:55,300
really learn?
It is to do it, right?

520
00:28:55,400 --> 00:28:58,900
Have there been some surprises
to you about what you thought?

521
00:28:58,900 --> 00:29:01,600
The world of venture capital was
going to look like before you

522
00:29:01,600 --> 00:29:03,900
got into it based upon what
you've seen over the last few

523
00:29:03,900 --> 00:29:08,400
years?
Yeah no I mean it's a as you

524
00:29:08,400 --> 00:29:14,100
know that there really is no
manual to being a good early

525
00:29:14,100 --> 00:29:18,100
stage investor and I think, you
know, obviously the table Stakes

526
00:29:18,100 --> 00:29:22,500
or understanding the markets
you're investing in and, and

527
00:29:22,500 --> 00:29:29,000
then, you know, having that
Compass to, you know, prioritize

528
00:29:29,000 --> 00:29:31,200
your time.
But I, you know, looked I think

529
00:29:31,200 --> 00:29:35,800
in terms of kind of the the
Lessons Learned is, I think you

530
00:29:35,800 --> 00:29:37,800
have to constantly be curious,
you know?

531
00:29:37,800 --> 00:29:41,000
You have to, you know, you have
to constantly be talking to

532
00:29:41,000 --> 00:29:42,900
people.
You have to constantly be

533
00:29:42,900 --> 00:29:46,500
challenging your assumptions.
And it's also, Good to surround

534
00:29:46,500 --> 00:29:50,400
yourself with Partners who kind
of look at the world, maybe

535
00:29:50,400 --> 00:29:54,000
through a different lens.
And you know, so you kind of you

536
00:29:54,000 --> 00:29:58,300
know the sum is greater than the
the individual Parts in terms of

537
00:29:58,300 --> 00:30:01,900
you know making a decisions and
challenging different areas of

538
00:30:01,900 --> 00:30:06,000
where to play and then you know,
I think that that's in finding

539
00:30:06,000 --> 00:30:09,600
deal flow and and it making the
decision decision there but, you

540
00:30:09,600 --> 00:30:13,600
know, frankly, you know if we're
doing our job and we're

541
00:30:13,600 --> 00:30:18,400
succeeding as a dusters ninety
percent of the time will be just

542
00:30:18,400 --> 00:30:22,400
a supporting actor and as
startups journey and, you know,

543
00:30:22,700 --> 00:30:26,000
it's the founder that's driving
that and we just have to make

544
00:30:26,000 --> 00:30:30,300
sure that that person and that
team, you know, has all the

545
00:30:30,300 --> 00:30:34,000
tools that they might need or
might not know, they need to in

546
00:30:34,000 --> 00:30:37,500
order to be successful and I
think we'll, you know, what,

547
00:30:37,500 --> 00:30:42,000
what I learned is, you know, a
lot of your your best performing

548
00:30:42,000 --> 00:30:46,000
companies from a, I guess
returns perspective to LPS, Are

549
00:30:46,400 --> 00:30:49,300
are not always the ones you
spend the most time on means.

550
00:30:49,300 --> 00:30:52,600
It's the ones that, you know,
have to engineer pivot.

551
00:30:52,600 --> 00:30:56,400
Or, you know, have have really
hit up against the wall in terms

552
00:30:56,400 --> 00:30:58,900
of their product or their
Marketplace.

553
00:30:59,300 --> 00:31:02,200
And, you know, a lot of
gratification at least from the

554
00:31:02,208 --> 00:31:04,100
investor side.
You know, it's also a lot of

555
00:31:04,100 --> 00:31:07,800
pain on both sides but you know,
helping that founder kind of

556
00:31:07,800 --> 00:31:11,100
navigate that journey and
hopefully you know, finding a

557
00:31:11,108 --> 00:31:15,100
way out of particular
predicament and securing some

558
00:31:15,100 --> 00:31:18,500
sort of Ask that gives that
start up some momentum that

559
00:31:18,500 --> 00:31:21,100
wasn't there before.
I mean, there's a lot of

560
00:31:21,100 --> 00:31:23,800
satisfaction on that.
So so when I look back on kind

561
00:31:23,800 --> 00:31:25,800
of what we've been able to
accomplish over the last three

562
00:31:25,800 --> 00:31:28,900
or four years, I mean sure you
know you'd love every investment

563
00:31:28,900 --> 00:31:33,300
to be a 10x and more but you
know, they're ones that are less

564
00:31:33,300 --> 00:31:35,400
than that.
But would have been a lot less

565
00:31:35,400 --> 00:31:39,400
had we not been able to help and
there's a lot of satisfaction

566
00:31:39,400 --> 00:31:43,200
from that and, you know, I just
from a personal standpoint.

567
00:31:43,300 --> 00:31:45,400
Yeah, I've been lucky to spend
mine.

568
00:31:45,600 --> 00:31:47,500
Entire career in financial
services.

569
00:31:47,600 --> 00:31:50,300
Doing it from the research
analyst side and then the

570
00:31:50,300 --> 00:31:52,800
regulatory side.
But, you know, when you're

571
00:31:53,100 --> 00:31:56,700
investing it's basically you're
wearing a different hat every

572
00:31:56,700 --> 00:32:00,500
day and you know, every hour of
the day, it's a different hat.

573
00:32:00,500 --> 00:32:03,800
And, you know, you have to
transition very quickly from

574
00:32:04,100 --> 00:32:07,300
looking at startups to you know,
helping with the board to

575
00:32:07,600 --> 00:32:11,300
dealing with lawyers and it's
not always fun and exhilarating

576
00:32:11,300 --> 00:32:15,400
but the Arc of it is extremely
gratifying and you know getting

577
00:32:15,400 --> 00:32:18,800
too Different touch points along
the founders Journey because at

578
00:32:18,800 --> 00:32:22,100
the end of the day, I made that
what you asked, what surprised

579
00:32:22,100 --> 00:32:25,000
me, and I'm kind of down about
this in a long roundabout way.

580
00:32:25,000 --> 00:32:30,800
I have so much admiration and
offer for, for a start-up

581
00:32:30,800 --> 00:32:32,400
founder.
Yeah, I've never been a Founder.

582
00:32:32,400 --> 00:32:35,700
So, I mean, I'm like, yeah,
that's probably not a great

583
00:32:35,700 --> 00:32:39,600
thing, but I've done other
things and, you know, I think

584
00:32:39,600 --> 00:32:42,600
being a Founder takes a lot of
guts, it takes a lot of

585
00:32:42,608 --> 00:32:47,900
persistence and, you know, and
And it's quite a lonely journey,

586
00:32:47,900 --> 00:32:50,700
in the sense that, you know,
there aren't that many other

587
00:32:50,700 --> 00:32:54,100
people who you can talk to and
kind of bounce ideas off of.

588
00:32:54,100 --> 00:32:58,500
And, you know, if we can kind of
be a resource along that road, I

589
00:32:58,500 --> 00:33:02,200
think we're doing a good job.
And that's, that's been a key

590
00:33:02,200 --> 00:33:04,200
learning.
Yeah, yeah, absolutely.

591
00:33:04,200 --> 00:33:07,900
And, you know, empathy and
Humanity can go a long way,

592
00:33:08,400 --> 00:33:12,900
right?
And that it it's It's crazy with

593
00:33:12,900 --> 00:33:17,000
this investment process.
This investment framework that

594
00:33:17,000 --> 00:33:20,500
it's hey, we're investing in
people right at the earliest

595
00:33:20,500 --> 00:33:21,600
stages, you're investing in
people.

596
00:33:21,600 --> 00:33:24,600
Like you said, you know, a
little while ago and that it's

597
00:33:24,600 --> 00:33:28,400
that when one of these fails,
it's heartbreaking because

598
00:33:28,400 --> 00:33:31,700
you're so emotionally involved.
Because not only are you trying

599
00:33:31,700 --> 00:33:35,300
to be an advisor and you are an
investor but you're also a fan,

600
00:33:35,700 --> 00:33:37,100
right?
You really want this Founders

601
00:33:37,100 --> 00:33:41,000
succeed on the other end, when
you see someone just killing it.

602
00:33:41,300 --> 00:33:44,800
Over and over and over again.
It's like how can I help?

603
00:33:45,200 --> 00:33:47,700
You know?
And sometimes it's just, it's

604
00:33:47,700 --> 00:33:50,300
not what, you know, it's not.
Have you been through this

605
00:33:50,300 --> 00:33:52,700
before?
It's not how have you dealt with

606
00:33:52,700 --> 00:33:54,800
this challenge.
It's that, who can you introduce

607
00:33:54,800 --> 00:33:57,800
me to?
And that's not always the hey,

608
00:33:57,800 --> 00:34:00,500
an investor and, you know,
another investor help me build

609
00:34:00,500 --> 00:34:03,600
out this round is just like you
said, someone else that, you

610
00:34:03,600 --> 00:34:06,400
know, that's been through this
because you've got that Network,

611
00:34:06,400 --> 00:34:10,400
you've got that experience, that
can be have a incredibly helpful

612
00:34:10,400 --> 00:34:12,900
conversation with One of the
founders you invested in, you

613
00:34:12,900 --> 00:34:16,900
know, and and that Humanity that
empathy for people is what makes

614
00:34:16,900 --> 00:34:18,600
all the difference for me in the
space, you know.

615
00:34:18,900 --> 00:34:22,900
Yeah.
Yeah and and, and that's a key

616
00:34:22,900 --> 00:34:26,199
thing because you're going to
see Founders in a lot of

617
00:34:26,199 --> 00:34:28,800
different positions in terms of
what they're going through.

618
00:34:28,800 --> 00:34:33,600
And it's the euphoria that first
check in the door, whether it's

619
00:34:33,600 --> 00:34:37,400
a funding round or your first
big commercial costumer and and

620
00:34:37,400 --> 00:34:40,900
then they'll be, you know, other
twists and turns and and just

621
00:34:41,500 --> 00:34:47,300
You know, being able to devote
the time and being a resource.

622
00:34:47,300 --> 00:34:51,300
And, you know, creating actually
a space where you can have that

623
00:34:51,300 --> 00:34:54,400
dialogue with a Founder.
There are founders who don't

624
00:34:54,400 --> 00:34:57,900
like to say anything negative
and and and, and want to kind of

625
00:34:57,900 --> 00:35:00,800
keep everything Rosie even when
the opposite is happening behind

626
00:35:00,800 --> 00:35:03,000
the scenes.
So, you know, obviously we're

627
00:35:03,000 --> 00:35:06,400
not doing our job at if we can't
have that open honest

628
00:35:06,400 --> 00:35:08,800
communication.
Because I think that's the best

629
00:35:08,800 --> 00:35:11,900
for all parties, definitely.
And, and Sincerely Patrick.

630
00:35:11,900 --> 00:35:14,600
That's why you make such a great
mentor on the techstars web

631
00:35:14,600 --> 00:35:17,000
three program, because you've
got that, you know, that

632
00:35:17,000 --> 00:35:20,600
Humanity in that empathy.
So thank you for all that you do

633
00:35:20,600 --> 00:35:21,500
for us.
Thank you.

634
00:35:22,400 --> 00:35:25,200
Listen, we're at the point of
the chat where I know that if

635
00:35:25,300 --> 00:35:29,900
Owen was here, he would ask his
favorite final famous question

636
00:35:29,900 --> 00:35:31,700
that we asked everybody on this
podcast.

637
00:35:31,800 --> 00:35:35,500
Patrick, pinch, MIT, what is one
thing that people would not

638
00:35:35,500 --> 00:35:39,400
expect to know about you?
Well II guess Pete firm from one

639
00:35:39,400 --> 00:35:44,000
American to another.
Erica and I guess I think but I

640
00:35:44,008 --> 00:35:47,600
meet a lot of people in town
that they sort of assumed.

641
00:35:47,600 --> 00:35:50,800
I was kind of air-dropped into
Dublin several years ago.

642
00:35:51,400 --> 00:35:55,600
But the truth is I you know I'm
actually half Irish and my

643
00:35:55,600 --> 00:35:58,900
parents live in a small village
in County Limerick.

644
00:35:58,900 --> 00:36:02,300
So yeah, take that.
I I knew that.

645
00:36:02,400 --> 00:36:05,700
I knew that but most most people
did not and it's the name pinch

646
00:36:05,700 --> 00:36:08,300
mid that would would not give
that away.

647
00:36:09,200 --> 00:36:13,100
Yeah, it's Patrick O'Dwyer
catchment if we're going to use

648
00:36:13,100 --> 00:36:16,400
my mom's maiden name, alright.
Alright.

649
00:36:16,400 --> 00:36:21,700
And know and you know, there's a
good good crew of folks that you

650
00:36:21,700 --> 00:36:25,700
know over the years have dropped
into Ireland that and I mean

651
00:36:25,700 --> 00:36:28,600
it's just what makes this
community here of people coming

652
00:36:28,600 --> 00:36:31,400
at things from all different
angles, including our friend

653
00:36:31,400 --> 00:36:34,000
Kurt Pittman, shut out to Kurt.
He's at he's from New Zealand,

654
00:36:34,300 --> 00:36:36,900
right?
So there's you know a good bunch

655
00:36:36,900 --> 00:36:38,300
of people anyway.
Listen.

656
00:36:38,900 --> 00:36:41,800
Patrick, thank you so much for
coming out to the show.

657
00:36:41,800 --> 00:36:44,200
We got into such a great chat
here.

658
00:36:44,200 --> 00:36:46,200
This is one that we could keep
going and I know we'll keep

659
00:36:46,200 --> 00:36:47,600
going with, you know, over the
years.

660
00:36:47,600 --> 00:36:50,400
So thank you again and it really
appreciate you doing this with

661
00:36:50,400 --> 00:36:52,800
us.
Thank you Pete for having me on

662
00:36:52,800 --> 00:36:55,100
and look forward to catching up
again soon.

663
00:36:55,300 --> 00:37:00,500
Thank you.
That does it for this week,

664
00:37:00,500 --> 00:37:02,100
folks.
Thanks to Patrick pinch made for

665
00:37:02,100 --> 00:37:04,100
opening up his mind, to help us
figure out why he does what he

666
00:37:04,100 --> 00:37:05,900
does.
You can learn more about Patrick

667
00:37:05,900 --> 00:37:08,200
and middlegame ventures in the
show, notes on our website money

668
00:37:08,200 --> 00:37:10,200
never sleeps.
That IE, if you like what you

669
00:37:10,200 --> 00:37:13,400
heard, please leave us a rating
and a review on Apple podcast or

670
00:37:13,400 --> 00:37:15,300
Spotify.
Is it helps others to find the

671
00:37:15,308 --> 00:37:17,100
show?
Thanks to Conan, Brophy, from

672
00:37:17,100 --> 00:37:18,500
create sound for mixing and
editing.

673
00:37:18,500 --> 00:37:21,200
This episode Conan is an
excellent medium and to get in

674
00:37:21,200 --> 00:37:22,700
touch with when you're thinking
about launching your own

675
00:37:22,707 --> 00:37:25,300
podcast.
As for me, I'm an early stage,

676
00:37:25,300 --> 00:37:27,600
startup investor focused on
where fintech meets crypto and

677
00:37:27,600 --> 00:37:30,700
crypto meets web 3 and I run the
Starts with three accelerator

678
00:37:31,000 --> 00:37:32,800
there are plenty of links in the
show notes on money, never

679
00:37:32,800 --> 00:37:34,500
sleeps die and how to get in
touch.

680
00:37:34,500 --> 00:37:37,800
So don't hesitate to reach out
finally till next time, thanks

681
00:37:37,800 --> 00:37:39,000
for listening.
See you

Patrick Pinschmidt Profile Photo

General Partner and Co-Founder, MiddleGame Ventures