Andy Bartlett brings a rare technical depth to early-stage investing, holding a PhD and working in engineering design automation at MathWorks after years in model-based development for companies like Chrysler, which shapes his focus on founders with grit, strong patent protection, and real social benefit—an interest first sparked by a personal family medical experience that led him to invest in diagnostics company Savran Technologies. He also traces his investing roots back to a Mayflower ancestor, Richard Warren, giving his approach to early-stage investing an unusually long family history behind it.