BettingStartups Capital on what makes them write a check—and what sends them away

Three months after launching BettingStartups Capital, Jesse Learmonth and Paris Smith spent an hour fielding live questions from founders during a Defy the Odds Office Hours session—on due diligence, AI, founder qualities, and where they think the current investment climate is getting ahead of itself.

The fund targets checks of $100K to $250K into early-stage founders across sports betting, iGaming, B2B infrastructure, and adjacent categories. At the time of the session, the pair said they'd reviewed close to 100 deals, and closed five.

On what actually moves them at the earliest stage, Learmonth was direct: you can't run a fundamental business analysis when there's no revenue and no KPIs. What you can evaluate is the person. "Betting on the jockey, not the horse is what I always like to say," he said.

The framework he and Smith apply borrows from Smith's Pinnacle-era hiring philosophy—hungry, humble, smart, and passionate—with Learmonth naming humility as the most important of the four. Not passive humility, but the kind that coexists with conviction.

"You have to have a deep level of conviction to the point where it's almost like delusional conviction around your idea," he said, "but you also have to leave yourself open to letting the market and people give you feedback."