Jacob Mullins brings an unusual 360° background to venture capital, having worked across tech media at VentureBeat, led startup marketing at Microsoft's BizSpark program, invested at Shasta Ventures, and founded Exitround, an anonymous M&A marketplace for startups. He applies a philosophy called mushin no shin—over-preparing through deep market research so he can move quickly on instinct when the right opportunity appears—and recently founded VC Mastermind, a private network for venture capital managing partners running $50M-$5B funds.

• A heavy focus on the operational mechanics of running a venture capital firm. He frequently shares insights from his VC Mastermind community and podcast, discussing the "business of VC" including how managers differentiate themselves, fund construction, and hiring talent. For instance, he shared takeaways from a conversation with Deciens Capital about the strategy of high concentration over diversification to generate better returns.
• Deep interest in applied Artificial Intelligence, particularly in autonomy and security. He looks for companies using AI to solve physical-world problems, evidenced by his enthusiasm for Overland AI’s off-road ground autonomy technology and Deep Sentinel’s AI-driven home security cameras. He compares the current AI shift to the early, opaque days of the mobile revolution.
• Conviction in Web3 infrastructure and blockchain utility beyond speculation. He has specifically highlighted interest in identity solutions and data workflows—such as labeling, provenance, and auditing—rather than just trading. He recently shared these specific theses while speaking at an event with Constellation Network.
• Support for underrepresented investors and the globalization of the startup ecosystem. He actively promotes the success of Latinx investors and diverse emerging managers, often celebrating milestones for organizations like LatinxVCs. He also pays close attention to global capital flows, noting the ambition and scale of cross-border investments during his time at the FII9 conference in Riyadh.
• Perspective shaped by personal experience as a founder. He emphasizes that timing is a critical component of success, referencing his own history co-founding Exitround in 2013. He shared an anecdote about building an early machine-learning graph for M&A that was technically sound but perhaps too early for the market.