Mat Vogels (Harpoon Ventures) / VC Breakdown & Contact

About Mat Vogels

Mat Vogels is a designer-founder-investor who actively builds and ships multiple products while investing (including VC Sheet, Pineapple List, and Pitch Colorado), positioning him as an operator-investor with hands-on product experience rather than a former founder who moved on from building. He focuses on creating infrastructure tools that benefit the entire startup ecosystem and brings deep design expertise to help founders craft clear, conversion-focused narratives for their products and pitches.

Where they've Worked

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Mat Vogels's Interests

What they've been talking about across their social media accounts

Champions deep tech and hard engineering, specifically companies tackling industrial challenges, national security, or reindustrialization. He frequently refers to these types of founders as pirates and actively promotes resources to help them hire talent and build for the national interest.
Fascinated by frontier resource extraction, ranging from asteroid mining in space to harvesting minerals from the ocean floor. He has shared detailed statistics about the massive economic potential of specific asteroids like Psyche and frequently discusses how the ocean is an under-tapped resource compared to space.
Strong interest in personal and humanoid robotics, particularly regarding how they will eventually integrate into the home. He expressed excitement about the release of an affordable open-source humanoid robot by K-Scale and has discussed the need for domestic robots to take design cues from movies to feel more friendly and familiar.
Focus on the intersection of weather data, climate prediction, and national security. He views weather forecasting as a critical technology that goes beyond convenience, affecting global safety and logistics, and has hosted discussions with founders building atmospheric intelligence platforms.
Prioritizes narrative and storytelling as a vital skill for technical founders. He argues that even deep tech companies need to master branding to succeed, citing conversations with experts on how authentic storytelling helps complex startups gain traction.
Observes developments in energy independence and defense technology. He actively tracks news regarding nuclear energy initiatives and startups working on modern warfare technologies, such as electromagnetic spectrum dominance, viewing these as essential components of a broader manufacturing renaissance.

Video Interview

On why most founder ideas aren't actually unique

"I can't even remember the last time that I sat with somebody for the first time, it was pitching me an idea that I hadn't already seen a dozen times before. That's another thing that founders don't understand. Their idea is very rarely unique, very rarely, especially because so many startups today are in stealth. You don't know how many competitors you actually have. You have a lot of them and you don't even know it."

Mat Vogels

Investor, Harpoon Ventures

On AI now screening pitch decks before any human sees them

"I am reading less and less pitch decks every day. Many VCs will have AI read pitch decks that come our way first... we've trained it on all of the things that we look for. And it's very good these days at knowing what we're looking for."

Mat Vogels

Investor, Harpoon Ventures

On the 60/30/10 split of VC value on your cap table

"Let's say that 60% are a net zero. I'd argue that another 25 to 30% are a net negative and then only 10% are actually a net positive. So very few are actually gonna be net positives for you. Your goal should be not to have any of the net negatives and be okay with net zeros or neutrals. And then of course, find the net positives."

Mat Vogels

Investor, Harpoon Ventures

On the real post-raise mistake nobody talks about

"You've spent maybe two years at this point being so frugal and you're not spending any money and you're trying to do it cheap. Now you have money, especially if you've raised a meaningful round, you need to start spending it... The companies that win are the ones that spend all the money that they were given in all the right ways."

Mat Vogels

Investor, Harpoon Ventures

On why VCs say no for reasons founders almost never guess

"It's very rarely for the reasons that the founders think. Founders take it very personal. Sometimes it's not that your business is bad or they don't like you. A lot of times it's that maybe they have another portfolio company that's doing something similar... it's not what the company is doing now, but maybe 10 years from now, they're probably going to be competitors."

Mat Vogels

Investor, Harpoon Ventures

About their Fund

Harpoon Ventures

Sectors

Defense, Deeptech / Hardware, Energy, Climate, Cybersecurity, Materials, AI, Chips, Biotech, Robotics

Rounds

Pre-Seed - Series A

Avg Check Size

$100K - $5M

Notable Investments

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Harpoon Ventures is led by Larsen Jensen, a former Navy SEAL and Olympic swimmer, who brings a "warrior ethos" to investing in what the firm calls the "Freedom Stack"—foundational technologies like AI, autonomy, cyber, space, and energy that are critical to American national security.

The firm specializes as a bridge between early-stage startups and complex government buyers, with a team of former national security operators and acquisition experts who help founders navigate procurement and dual-use commercialization beyond typical venture capital support.

Other partners at the fund