Connect with David

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https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidjmort/

VC Uncovered's View

Meet David

Original Responses (Lightly Edited for Clarity and Flow)

Background and Personal Journey

Experiences Shaping My Investment Approach

I've always been drawn to the spirit of exploration; learning about the American West and reading about adventurers like Ernest Shackleton, Dick Proenneke, and Mel Fisher was a passion of mine growing up. In high school, I spent a summer building dog-sled trails in Denali National Park while attending a boarding school focused on the great outdoors. My wife jokes that one day, she'll send me on a gold prospecting trip, but in many ways, that's what I do in venture capital.

These early experiences taught me why people seek out the unfamiliar, push boundaries, and aim for a better life. I see that same drive in founders: the commitment to forge new paths, embrace risk, and create something transformative for their customers.

Moment Inspiring Venture Capital Career

I grew up in Milwaukee, where my parents worked for a regional bank. My dad was a foreign exchange trader, so we had a Reuters terminal in our house, and the market never slept. That constant hum of finance inspired me early on and motivated my early career aspirations.

At the University of Wisconsin–Madison, I majored in finance, aiming to follow in my dad's footsteps. As graduation approached, after more than a week of interviews in Chicago and New York, I realized the difficulties of finding the ideal role in high finance.

Stepping back, I was only two classes short of double majoring in entrepreneurship. I didn't apply to graduate. Instead, I took an extra semester to immerse myself in entrepreneurial finance and interned at a micro VC fund in Madison. That decision changed my life. I dove into an area of the economy I wasn't naturally exposed to. I began reading about the history of startups and venture capital. I recall books like The Startup Game that talked about the early days of VC, similar to other exciting times in the American West that I was earlier fascinated by.

After graduating, I headed west for a role at Silicon Valley Bank. My first trip to California was for an interview. Once I got the offer, I packed my car and drove.

Unconventional Belief

I can't point to a single factor, but here are a few unconventional perspectives that shape my approach:

• Money touches everything—and "fintech" undersells it. Finance isn't just about transactions or banking apps. It's integral to how people earn a living, feed their families, and build wealth. We must think more broadly about where, how, and why money changes hands and where technology can accelerate, enable, and deliver a better experience or outcome.
  

• Future-of-finance opportunities can easily be overcapitalized. There's enormous potential in reshaping finance, but these ideas often require longer timelines, more nuanced execution, and taking advantage of compounding. For example, a wealth management business may be an ok ten-year investment but an incredible 15 or 20-year investment, benefiting from all things compounding (net dollar retention, market growth, etc.). These opportunities tend to be flooded with venture dollars too early.
  

• In-person company building is critical for outlier success. Even a modest dip in efficiency from remote work, compounded over years, can erode a team's competitive edge. If you aim for a venture-backed outlier outcome, you don't want to start at a disadvantage.
  

• The opportunity cost of entrepreneurship matters. Top-tier founders aren't interested in small problems, so understanding their backgrounds, motivations, and opportunity costs is essential. Focusing on the founder rather than a specific sector makes it easier to spot opportunities.

Balancing Intuition with Data

Before I moved into investing, my professional experience was heavily data-driven. I worked at SVB, where I helped identify high-potential companies earlier in their life cycles by analyzing data from multiple business units. That work sparked my interest in using data to make investment decisions outside SVB.

My early investing career focused on the Series B through D stages, when we invested in companies like Coinbase, DocuSign, Personal Capital, Taulia, SumUp, and Earnest. I leaned heavily on my quantitative background, crafting lengthy memos and dissecting any available metrics to help rebuild competitor KPIs. This rigorous approach was valuable at later stages because more operational data was available.

The need for this is very stage-dependent and likely served me well in the early years; however, this type of analysis is not as relevant at the Seed and early Series A stages. I'd like to think there's something valuable in it, even if it's thinking through how something could extrapolate or where businesses can gain operational leverage in the longer term.

Philosophy and Insights

Investment Philosophy

I invest in founders who can attract the customers, talent, and capital to win. Not all founders are equally great in all areas, but they typically excel in at least two of these places, allowing them to piece the other together. While great product ideas and technological innovations are undoubtedly important, the sustained growth of an early-stage company ultimately hinges on its people—and their ability to combine these three elements is key.

Values When Working with Founders

I believe every founder–investor relationship is unique. However, I'm consistently drawn to opportunities to collaborate closely with the team, stay informed about what's happening, and be genuinely helpful. My week feels more fulfilling when I hear from portfolio company founders seeking advice on a tricky customer situation, previewing new product releases, discussing a new hire, or sharing important updates. That level of engagement isn't just more enjoyable but fosters a deeper understanding of the business, enabling me to provide more targeted support.

Because of this, I look for founders who want a partner, not just a check. Writing the check is easy; the value lies in rolling up my sleeves to connect them with the right people, provide strategic guidance through challenges, and stand by them through the highs and inevitable tough times.

Ultimately, this type of engagement makes the work more purposeful and creates the long-term connections I value in my career.

Measuring Success Beyond Returns

Relationships mean a lot to me. I am delighted to see financial or career success in the people I work with at portfolio companies.

Trends and Future Vision

Misconception About VCs

Compared to the necessary ingredients to create an outlier outcome, too much credit is given to venture capital firms for their contributions. While a capital infusion can speed up hiring or product development, it simply can't manufacture the passion, grit, and perseverance that make a company successful. Over the past decade, VCs have excelled at building their brands, which has led to, or been fueled by, raising billions in new funds. As a result, they've become big companies in their own right.

Yet this heightened visibility sometimes overshadows the true heroes of innovation: the entrepreneurs themselves. Founders are the ones who make ridiculous and often unfair compromises - enduring financial risk and sacrificing time with family—to bring groundbreaking ideas to life. While venture capital is a crucial accelerant, the founder's unwavering commitment and vision shape a company's fate.

All the ingredients are essential, but all things equal, I'd prefer the industry to inspire the next generation of entrepreneurs instead of the next generation of venture capitalists.

Improving the VC Ecosystem

I would channel more capital into harder-to-solve, non-cookie-cutter businesses that take significant risks with equally big rewards. The term "venture capital" has lost much of its meaning in many ways, with funds gravitating towards incremental businesses that seem safer and easier to scale. While nothing is inherently wrong with financing proven concepts, it can create an environment where founders with more ambitious, less conventional visions find securing the resources they need challenging - or discourage these attempts altogether. The essence of venture capital should be embracing complexity and uncertainty - funding ideas so difficult that they offer transformative impact and outsized returns if they succeed.

Challenges for Early-Stage Founders

I'd point to two challenges: one that has existed forever and that VCs can proactively help solve, and another that is more daunting and less straightforward.

First, there's the universal challenge of driving sales. Whether you're a seed-stage startup trying to land your first design partner or a later-stage company looking to upsell existing customers, sales become the primary focus as soon as founders have secured funding. For the next round, having a great pitch deck or a compelling vision is no longer enough; the company must show tangible traction. This is where engaged VCs can make a real difference. By leveraging their networks and expertise, investors can effectively serve as an extension of a startup's business development team. They can introduce founders to relevant prospects or potential new hires and provide mentorship on sales strategies.

The second challenge is the escalating competition fueled by AI. While the internet lowered barriers to entry, AI has effectively raised the stakes for execution. It's becoming a 'knife fight,' where startups must move quickly to build, iterate, and differentiate themselves in a crowded marketplace. New AI-driven solutions emerge daily, promising faster, more innovative, and cheaper ways to solve existing problems. This speed and saturation can be overwhelming for founders, especially when it's not just about competing on product features but also on talent—finding specialized engineers and data scientists to push the technology forward.