Bullen: VCs are reversing fund stage-creep to specialize in early rounds
Hale Bullen · Investing in AI-Driven B2B SaaS, FinTech, and HealthTech: Inside PS27 Ventures · Jul 1, 2025 · at 29:52
Hale Bullen, Investment Manager at PS27 Ventures, describes a macro shift where venture funds are returning to stage specialization rather than escalating fund sizes.
0:00 / 0:37exact quote · 37.6s
720p mp4 · rendered on demand · StarZero watermark
“We've actually seen almost a reversal in that cycle where family offices and VC firms are re looking at these overinflated valuations and going backwards and saying, Hey, you know, maybe this traditional life cycle of a firm doesn't make as much sense as it used to. And we're seeing specialization, not just in specific verticals, But in specific, hey, we're going to out there and specialize in seed rounds. We're now going to specialize in just pre-series A rounds, wherever it might be, just because we have different firms now seeking out those better deals instead of having to pay a premium.”
quote is from the automated transcript, cleaned for reading: filler sounds and stutters are removed, nothing is rephrased. names can be misheard (the analysis reads context, assessments check outside sources). how →
More from Hale Bullen
Bullen: $500M VC funds are oversaturated and harvest fees for bloated teams
“Oftentimes at that point you have a team that's just oversaturated, way too large, and you're paying ultimately harvesting fees to kind of feed that large ecosystem and team that's been built out.”
Bullen: PS27 Targets Deeply Embedded 'Sticky Plumbing' Enterprise Software
“And those are the kinds of software companies that we like to invest in. You're never going to know their name outside of the announcement that we've invested. They're just going to go ahead and keep doing their thing year in and year out as employees churn, a…”
PS27 Ventures sets initial investment threshold at $240K to $300K ARR
“And typically we like to call that about 240,000 to 300,000 in ARR. That's kind of our initial threshold outside of, hey, does it fall categorically into what we're looking to invest in?”
Bullen: Founders building software companies without software backgrounds raise red flags
“If someone's op creating a software company, they have no software background whatsoever. It's kind of a bit of a red flag.”
Bullen: Verbose founder pitches signal less attractive investment opportunities
“Typically, the longer and more verbose that story is initially, the less attractive of an investment it is for us.”
Bullen: PS27 grades founders on 40 traits using AI after every call
“We use AI every single step in our process from the initial call that we have with the founder To, we actually do have kind of a proprietary trading or not trading, but rather a proprietary grading formula that we have for the founders that we run after every …”