Challenges transitioning operators into investors

Follow me @samirkaji for my thoughts on the venture market, with a focus on the continued evolution of the VC landscape.

Welcome back to another episode of Venture Unlocked, the podcast that takes you behind the scenes of the business of venture capital.

In this episode, I sit down with Lior Susan from Eclipse to explore his journey from building companies in the physical world to founding and scaling a unique venture firm. We discuss the importance of high-conviction investing, assembling elite teams from operator backgrounds, and staying adaptable in a rapidly shifting market shaped by technology and AI. Lior shares lessons on discipline, honesty, and the realities of venture investing, offering actionable insights for anyone interested in building resilient companies or understanding what it takes to succeed in today’s venture landscape.

Thanks for listening to another episode of Venture Unlocked. We hope you enjoyed our conversation with Lior. If you’d like to get Venture Unlocked content straight to your inbox, go to ventureunlocked.substack.com and sign up, or go to Apple Podcasts or Spotify and subscribe. Thanks again for listening.

About Lior Susan

Lior Susan is the founder and managing partner of Eclipse, a venture capital firm focused on backing entrepreneurs who are building companies to transform physical industries. He began his career as a co-founder of Intucell, a software-defined networking startup that was acquired by Cisco in 2012. After that, he led the hardware investment platform Lab IX at Flextronics, deploying capital across energy storage, additive manufacturing, robotics, and wireless infrastructure. In 2015, Lior launched Eclipse to invest in startups transforming critical industries like manufacturing, logistics, supply chain, transportation, energy, and on. He draws on experience as an operator, investor, and former Israeli special forces serviceman to support founders tackling complex, real-world problems.

Eclipse is a firm headquartered in Palo Alto (with a New York presence) that partners with entrepreneurs building category-defining companies in physical industries. The firm builds and invests in companies at all stages, combining hardware, software, and systems to modernize “bits and atoms.” Since its founding in 2015, Eclipse has built and backed over 100 companies and helped accelerate startups like Bedrock, VulcanForms, True Anomaly, and Cerebras — companies driving innovation in construction, digital manufacturing infrastructure, defense capabilities, and AI infrastructure.

During the conversation, we discussed:

* Lior’s Career Path and Founding Eclipse (3:38)

* Reflecting on the Fund’s Origins and Initial Fundraising (6:46)

* Adjusting Firm Size and Strategy as Opportunities Grow (9:49)

* High-Conviction, High-Ownership Investment Approach (12:45)

* Decision-Making Process and Team Dynamics (14:57)

* Patterns Among Founders of Large Companies (17:27)

* The Evolution of Eclipse’s Value Proposition (20:23)

* Operator-to-Investor Transitions and Internal Training (24:49)

* Market Shifts and Macro Changes in Venture Capital (27:07)

* Exit Challenges, IPOs, and Long-Term Private Markets (30:27)

* Alignment Between LPs and Managers Around Exits (33:44)

* Lior’s Investment Lessons and Reflections on Power Law (35:17)

* Thoughts on Deglobalization and Future Predictions (36:32)

I’d love to know what you took away from this conversation with Lior. Follow me @SamirKaji and give me your insights and questions with the hashtag #ventureunlocked. If you’d like to be considered as a guest or have someone you’d like to hear from (GP or LP), drop me a direct message on X.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit ventureunlocked.substack.com