26: Leo Polovets, General Partner at Susa Ventures

As software eats the world, the idea of moats and the power of compounding have taken a new turn of influence. I chatted with Leo Polovets, General Partner at Susa Ventures on the importance of these two fundamental concepts and why they are so powerful, but yet still so counterintuitive in 2019. In this episode, Leo expanded on his experience from being one of the first dozen employees at LinkedIn to experiencing hypergrowth at Google and how this has enabled him to find and support the next set of generational companies, e.g. Robinhood, Flexport, Andela and LendUp. He expanded on Susa's investment thesis in funding entrepreneurs that are building highly defensible companies that leverage data, economies of scale, and network effects to build value and achieve longevity. We also touched on nuanced philosophical concepts in company creation such as "position vs. momentum" and "ego vs. perception." It was a pleasure to have Leo on the show. He's one of the most thoughtful venture investors I've had the privilege of getting to know.