Matt Ocko has been a deep-tech native since childhood, starting programming at age seven and founding his first company at fifteen, then running his own firm focused on highly technical enterprise technologies since the early 1990s—well before deep tech became fashionable among VCs. He uses a structured life-or-death filter for investments, backing only mission-critical products where customers face existential risk without them, and builds an external guild of domain experts into his investment process to help source deals and pressure-test complex technologies.

• A strong focus on national security and defense technologies that protect American interests. He actively champions portfolio companies working on biodefense and tools that give soldiers a combat edge, viewing these innovations as essential for civilizational safety and honoring veterans.
• Enthusiasm for deep tech and hard science solutions rather than incremental software improvements. He frequently highlights companies using AI for complex drug discovery or radical medical breakthroughs, such as eliminating specific viral infections, and tends to critique traditional biotech for not being ambitious enough.
• Appreciation for AI hardware, semiconductor efficiency, and infrastructure. He pays close attention to the physical constraints of computing, such as power consumption in data centers or battery life for drones, and celebrates startups that solve these engineering bottlenecks.
• Respect for technical mastery and engineering history. He occasionally geeks out over vintage processor architecture and assembly language, suggesting a fondness for founders who have a deep, hands-on understanding of the low-level technology they are building.
• Support for the commercial space sector and planetary defense. He praises companies like Starlink and Rocket Lab for their engineering reliability and capability to replace outdated systems, viewing space technology as critical for both communication and long-term survival.