Our Guest: Pat McGovern is a Principal at Bowery Capital, an early-stage B2B fund investing primarily at pre-seed. He focuses on vertical AI and writes the newsletter Capital Efficient.

Episode Topics:

How Bowery approaches pre-seed in 2026 and what “first institutional capital” looks like today.
The shift from “SaaS contracts” to outcome-driven and services-driven models.
Pat’s vertical AI playbook.
Case study on Enata and how voice-first AI gives field sellers time back while improving CRM quality and sales insights.
Why more startups may compete directly for industry spend rather than selling tools to incumbents.
What Pat wants in founders.
The new definition of technical in the AI era.
How to run customer pilots well, including shorter timelines, mid-point check-ins, proof-of-value gates, and prioritizing referenceable logos.

Resources:

https://x.com/pw_mcgovern?lang=en
https://www.linkedin.com/in/pwmcgovern
https://bowerycap.com/
https://capitalefficient.substack.com/

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Cloud Ratings is a customer outcomes-focused, data-driven software research analyst firm. We exist to allow organizations to make more confident, lower-risk software purchasing decisions.

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Pat McGovern - Bowery Capital - Where Vertical AI Wins