Here’s an interview with Paul Martino, one of the founding partners of Bullpen Capital, the venture firm that essentially pioneered post-seed investing. The interview was part of the new show CRT (no not critical race theory, but rather Culture, Religion & Technology). This show/podcast was borne out of the event Culture, Religion & Technology, which Paul helped spearhead in 2021 and 2024. Vator is a distributing partner, along with Voz Media, for the CRT events and now shows.
(Note: the words Covid and suicide are muted out to avoid being censored on certain platforms. The show is a take of the prior week’s news plus an interview. Paul’s interview starts around 36:00)
Here’s a little bit about the interview.
At the 2025 Sundance Film Festival, the first and second episodes of “Bucks County, USA,” a five-part episodic series premiered in front of the typical liberal Sundance audience. It was an ideal setting for a political show whose main stars, two 14-year-old best friends with opposing political views – Vanessa and Evi – demonstrate inspiring civil conduct that is an anachronism in today’s polarized society. Vanessa Martino is the daughter of Paul Martino, entrepreneur-turned-venture capitalist-turned conservative political activist. (Disclosure: he’s also one of my oldest friends in Silicon Valley as we met when he and Mark Pincus co-founded Tribe, one of the original social networks). The documentary, so far three years in the making, is co-produced and co-directed by accomplished filmmakers Robert May and Barry Levinson. May was the executive producer of The Fog of War, which won an Academy Award for Best Documentary. Levinson won the Academy Award for Best Director for Rain Man.
Doubtless this series is in good hands as the storytelling requires purposeful avoidance of politics itself in order to humanize both sides. It’s quite a departure from Michael Moore’s approach to political documentation with his films, such as Fahrenheit 11/9, which essentially demonizes conservatives.
“It’s the intentional decision by the filmmakers that you see them as friends and not as political rivals,” said Paul, in our conversation. “So far, what I’ve seen on film is their friendship because that is the literary device of the film,” he added.
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The next guest on CRT is Delian Asparouhov, Partner at Founders Fund.
