E6: Chad Byers on Why Susa is Returning to Concentrated, Company-Building Seed Investing
"Turpentine VC" | Venture Capital and Investing
Introduction
Chad Byers of SUSA Ventures discusses the firm's evolution, from initial success to a relaunch with a new vision and strategy, as well as their goals for the future.
10 years after their initial launch, Susa is relaunching the firm with a new vision and strategy, which Susa General Partner, Chad Byers, tells us about in this episode of Turpentine VC. If you’re looking to improve your sourcing, tracking, and due diligence, check out: https://synaptic.com/turpentine
We're hiring across the board at Turpentine and for Erik's personal team on other projects he's incubating. He's hiring a Chief of Staff, EA, Head of Special Projects, Investment Associate, and more. For a list of JDs, check out: eriktorenberg.com.
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X / TWITTER:
@chadbyers (Chad)
@eriktorenberg (Erik)
@SusaVentures
@TurpentineVC
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TIMESTAMPS:
(00:00) Episode Preview
(00:56) How does Susa see themselves within the venture ecosystem?
(01:54) The history and next evolution of Susa Ventures
(8:29) Why Susa isn't becoming multi-stage and the trade-offs of their new vision
(11:59) What does Susa look like 5-10 years from now?
(14:07) Chad's thoughts on Thrive
(15:39) Sponsor: Synaptic
(16:38) On incubations and whether Susa would want to pursue them in the future
(17:47) On LP strategy
(20:31) The trade-offs of investing in platform as a fund
(23:21) The sweet spot of where Susa invests in relation to product-market fit
(26:16) How has Susa thought about partner recruiting?
(29:18) Why doesn't Susa pursue the maximal AUM game?
(33:03) The unique ways Susa adds value to founders
(36:29) How Chad thinks about seeds firms evolving to multistage firms and competing against Sequoia, Founders Fund, etc.
(39:10) Pattern-matching the best founders Chad has backed
(42:18) Chad on Sam Lessin's theory on seed investing
(46:24) Predictions for the next 3-5 years of venture
(48:47) Diving deeper into why Susa decided to double-down to become specialists in seed
(50:15) Thought experiment: how would Chad launch Susa in 2023?
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This show is produced by Turpentine: a network of podcasts, newsletters, and more, covering technology, business, and culture — all from the perspective of industry insiders and experts. We’re launching new shows every week, and we’re looking for industry-leading sponsors — if you think that might be you and your company, email us at erik@turpentine.co.
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