Hard Truths About VC, Raising Advice, & Small Fund Limitations w/ Susan Su (Toba Capital)

Apr 18, 2023

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Today we were joined by Susan Su. Susan is a Partner at Toba Capital which differentiates from many funds in that it only has one LP. That LP invests across a range of spaces which allows the Toba team to get special insight into other areas of investing which could affect their investments and existing portfolio companies.

Susan has to be one of the most genuine people I've had on the show. She shared her career journey and how she went from being an operator to working with Sound Ventures (founded by Ashton Kutcher) and eventually ending up as a Partner at Toba Capital.

We discussed some details about being a VC specifically around doing follow-up rounds. We covered the differences of investing in Hardware vs Software. The limitations of smaller VCs are to get into deep tech or hardware tech. We spoke about how hard it is to be a VC. Breaking into VC. And probably one of the most valuable things is advice to founders about their fundraising process.

Many of the things she said especially around her advice to young people about patience and impatience, really struck accord with me.

Super glad that I can bring this episode to you. Enjoy!

Topics:

1:09 Intro and early Career
8:59 Hurdles to VC
12:43 VC & Profit Seeking
15:42 VC - Soft vs Hardware Investing
18:14 Toba Capital
22:29 New Ecosystems to Support Deep/Climate Tech DD
25:30 Follow on investing
31:16 Hardest Part of Job
34:51 Advice to Founders | Plan the Raise, then Raise
38:29 Obvious Prediction
40:12 Advice for Getting into VC | Meet Founders Now

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