Matias Zorrilla brings structured finance experience from Goldman Sachs and late-stage transaction expertise from Bank of America to early-stage defense and critical-tech investing at Black Flag and Harpoon Ventures, where he serves as the first-look gatekeeper reviewing founder applications and applies a quantitative, capital-structure-aware approach to venture investing. Operating from Harpoon's San Diego office with proximity to major defense ecosystems, he functions as both a traditional VC and accelerator partner, offering founders a full-stack relationship that spans initial application review through follow-on venture engagement while sharing fundraising guidance through content and podcast appearances.
Video Interview
On what actually matters in a pitch deck
"There's namely two things I look for. It's founders and market... I want to understand what is the fundamental problem or bottleneck that you saw. Why is it that no one is addressing this in an effective way? And I want to see what is it with this technology that you're building that is such a fundamental unlock or game changer to address that issue."
On the most common team slide mistake
"The biggest mistake is having just your image, your name, and your title, and then two or three logos of places that you worked at. It might be, okay, directionally, it does tell us some sense of your work experience or your background, but I feel like you're leaving so much on the table."
On what he looks for in a first meeting
"It's hard to find yourself personally motivated to want to present a company to your investment committee or your team if you don't feel like there's a reciprocating enthusiasm from the founder in what they presented. To as a founder you need to show that excitement about what you're building."
On being transparent when your round is oversubscribed
"Shooting each an individual email saying, look, this is a situation I'm in. I'd ideally love to have X, Y, and Z all on my cap table. Is there any chance you would be willing to reduce your check, take slightly a little bit less ownership so that I can have all of you guys... I think that level of transparency gives us the feeling that you actually are thinking of the best interest not only for yourself but of the partners involved."
On thinking about fundraising as a lifelong process
"If you think about fundraising as this sequential thing that essentially never ends as a company, even once you're a public company you have to raise your IPO which is in and of itself another fundraising round... don't just think of the fundraise as an isolated case. Really think about the money and the capital you're trying to raise in terms of what it means to get to this next goal."
About their Fund
Black Flag
Sectors
Defense, Deeptech / Hardware, Energy, Climate, Cybersecurity, Materials, AI, Chips, Biotech, Robotics
Rounds
Pre-Seed - Seed
Avg Check Size
$100k - $1M
Notable Investments
Black Flag is a virtual accelerator that gives founders building critical technologies for national security $250k-$1M investments plus direct access to government buyers like DARPA and defense networks, positioning itself as "the first check in" rather than typical tech investing. When founders apply to Black Flag, their application is simultaneously reviewed by three specialized defense investors (Black Flag, Shield Capital, and In-Q-Tel) through a single submission, while the program's "no surrender" pirate-themed culture attracts founders comfortable tying their companies to U.S. national security missions.
Other partners at the fund
No items found.
Notable Fund
Investments
No items found.
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Popular Investors
investor name
Active in
Rounds
Avg. Check
Links
Deeptech / Hardware
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Robotics
Biotech
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12
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Unknown
Pre-Seed - Seed
Unknown
$400K - $2M
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7
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Pre-Seed - Series A
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$100K - $5M
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Defense
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7
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$100K - $5M
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2
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Pre-Seed - Seed
Unknown
$250K - $2M
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Climate
Deeptech / Hardware
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4
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Pre-Seed - Seed
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$400K - $1.5M
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Deeptech / Hardware
Robotics
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7
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Unknown
Pre-Seed - Seed
Unknown
$400K - $2M
Unknown
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Deeptech / Hardware
Robotics
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+
2
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Unknown
Pre-Seed - Seed
Unknown
~$750K
Unknown
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2
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