Susa is a founder-first, sector-agnostic seed and pre-seed firm that backs 'spiky' founders building category-defining companies 12-36 months before the market sees them. They underwrite the quality of the person above all else, and prize compounding defensibility -- proprietary data, network effects, switching costs and economies of scale -- with a growing conviction that AI-native and AI-enabled-services businesses that 'integrate bits and atoms' are more defensible than ever.
A concrete, often unglamorous problem in a large, under-digitized industry that the founder has earned the right to see -- preferably one where labor is scarce and incumbents rely on legacy/manual workflows.
“Today most inspectors rely on clipboards, PDFs, and legacy systems. A few hours in the field can turn into days of desk work.” — Our Investment in Scope
“Modern security stacks are incredibly good at scanning broadly and incredibly bad at going deep.” — Chad Byers
“Accounting is one of the largest professional services industries in the world—yet, one of the least transformed by software.” — Chad Byers
Full-stack solutions (not thin wedges) that become the intelligence or data layer for an industry, fusing software with the physical world or operations so the product compounds in capability as it is used.
“In a world of AI, where software becomes increasingly easy to build, businesses like Stord that deeply integrate bits and atoms are more defensible than ever.” — Stord Raises a $250 Million Series F at a $3 Billion Valuation
“The Gigascale Founder is someone who can change an industry, do things previously considered impossible, and change the very way we live.” — Pratyush Buddiga
“more than 70% of AI projects never make it past the pilot phase” — Chad Byers
Large, often overlooked markets -- but Susa is wary of TAM theater; they believe great founders make a company bigger than any market-sizing model would predict, so insight and category-creation matter more than a headline TAM slide.
“great founders are the ones who can make the company bigger than what an Excel model or market sizing exercise can predict” — What Do You Invest in?
“Testing, Inspection, and Certification (TIC) is the $300B industry that ensures heavy asset companies are safe and compliant.” — Misha Gordon-Rowe
“The U.S. healthcare market represents a $5 trillion opportunity” — Chad Byers
At pre-seed/seed, evidence of a 'compounding machine' -- early but fast-accumulating usage, data, or customer love -- through early product-market-fit; they build independent conviction rather than waiting for traction to be obvious.
“We build independent conviction – we don't care who else is in the round.” — Susa Ventures V: $175M for Seed-Stage Founders
“over 50,000 users, millions of saved items, and 10,000 GitHub stars within one year” — Chad Byers
“Brands are cutting sourcing time from months to days, lowering production costs by up to 35%, and getting access to premium factories.” — Chad Byers
'Spiky' founders who are top-1-percentile on some trait, often 'hedgehogs' who obsessively compound deep expertise; the quality of the person outweighs every other part of the underwriting decision.
“Spiky founders building category-defining companies 12-36 months before it would appear on a market map” — What Do You Invest in?
“A well-rounded person is a mediocre person.” — Pratyush Buddiga
“The thing with Hedgehogs is that they never give up. They keep at it – and they don't ever get bored because they just love what they do.” — Pratyush Buddiga
“Bhavin, formerly an executive in Susa's portfolio, had the strongest references we've ever seen for a CTO” — Chad Byers
Models that fuse AI with services or a real-world network so the company captures both software margin and operational data; 'AI-enabled services' attacking large labor-scarce markets is a current favorite.
“AI-enabled services are opening a whole new market.” — Investing in Rivet
“brands that once relied on a single manufacturing hub are scrambling to diversify.” — Chad Byers
“the default memory layer for AI, enabling agents that remember you, learn from you, and get better over time” — Chad Byers
Compounding defensibility -- proprietary and compounding data moats, network effects, switching costs, economies of scale -- and category-defining companies that are 'the only one left standing a decade in.'
“The best companies define a category and are usually the only one left standing a decade in.” — What Do You Invest in?
“real incidents, real adversaries, and real stakes” — Chad Byers
“businesses like Stord that deeply integrate bits and atoms are more defensible than ever” — Chad Byers
A specific shift -- AI capability crossing a threshold, a retiring workforce, supply-chain or regulatory change -- that makes a previously-hard problem newly solvable; ideally 12-36 months before the category is obvious.
“intelligence is abundant, the limiting factor in cyberdefense is no longer whether you can collect signals—it's whether you can reason deeply over all of them, and at scale” — Our Investment in Asymmetric Security
“Spiky founders building category-defining companies 12-36 months before it would appear on a market map” — Pratyush Buddiga
“40% of technicians are expected to retire in the next 5-10 years.” — Misha Gordon-Rowe
A pre-seed/seed raise where Susa can lead with a $500k-$5M check and partner long-term; they position themselves as patient, founder-aligned capital that protects ownership and never forces founders out.
“We're founder-first – in 12 years, we've never voted a founder out of their business.” — Susa Ventures V: $175M for Seed-Stage Founders
“$500k-$5m at the pre-seed and seed-stage” — Chad Byers
“Susa founders are on average more successful and own more of their companies than industry peers.” — Chad Byers
“We're founder-first – in 12 years, we've never voted a founder out of their business.”
“Spiky founders building category-defining companies 12-36 months before it would appear on a market map”
“Testing, Inspection, and Certification (TIC) is the $300B industry that ensures heavy asset companies are safe and compliant.”