E6: Chad Byers on Why Susa is Returning to Concentrated, Company-Building Seed Investing

What this episode covers

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. --- SPONSORS: 🧲 Learn why Craft, Bedrock, NEA and 100s more trust Harmonic’s data to source deals. Harmonic is the most complete startup database, finding new companies as soon as they incorporate and tracking them through IPO. Head to https://bit.ly/harmonicturpentine and make sure to mention Turpentine VC during your demo. Synaptic unifies over one hundred real-time company performance metrics across alternative datasets like user traffic, employee data, app downloads, product reviews, and more. It’s your all-in-one source for alternative data that helps you make better investment decisions. To learn how Synaptic can improve your sourcing, tracking, and due diligence, visit https://synaptic.com/turpentine --- RECOMMENDED PODCAST: LIVE PLAYERS Join host Samo Burja and Erik Torenberg as they analyze the mindsets of today’s most intriguing business leaders, investors, and innovators through the lens of their bold actions and contrarian worldviews. You’ll come away with a deeper understanding of the development of technology, business, political power, culture and more. LIsten and subscribe everywhere you get your podcasts: https://link.chtbl.com/liveplayers. --- Join our free newsletter to get Erik's top 3 insights from each episode every week: https://turpentinevc.substack.com/ --- RELATED SHOWS: If you like Turpentine VC, check out our show The Limited Partner with David Weisburd, where David talks to the investors behind the investors: https://link.chtbl.com/thelimitedpartner --- X / TWITTER: @chadbyers (Chad) @eriktorenberg (Erik) @SusaVentures @TurpentineVC --- 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? --- 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 [email protected].