VC Corner Q&A: Chad Byers
Chad Byers is co-founder & General Partner at Susa Ventures, where he focuses on investments in marketplaces, fintech, and healthcare. Chad led Susa’s seed investments in Robinhood ($7.6B), Andela ($800M), Newfront Insurance and Stord. Raised in Silicon Valley, Chad was exposed to entrepreneurship and venture capital at an early age. He was named to the Forbes 30 Under 30 for VC in 2015. Prior to Susa Ventures, Chad was the senior director of platform at Integrate.com and held various marketing and product roles at Silver Spring Networks, Bloom Energy, and Electronic Arts. Chad chased his love for skiing, mountains, and the outdoors, led him to live in Boulder, Colorado where he mostly did those things but also received a bachelor’s degree in Environmental Science.
— What is your / your fund’s mission?
We believe that entrepreneurs are the lifeblood of progress, and we exist to help them realize their visions for a better world.
— What is one thing you are excited about right now?
Computer vision applied to various healthcare applications, such as CT scans for diagnosing and triaging strokes (we invested in Viz.ai, which is working on this).
— Who is one founder you think we should watch?
Spike Lipkin, CEO of Newfront Insurance
— What are the 3 top qualities of every great leader?
- Charisma
- intelligence
- storytelling
— What and when was your very first investment? What struck you about them?
Robinhood — the founders had a unique insight that no one was building great mobile-first fintech products for the upcoming generation
— What is one question you ask yourself before investing in a company?
Would I work for this founder?
— What is one thing every founder should ask themselves before walking into a meeting with a potential investor?
Have I done the work to know whether this is a good use of my time?
— What do you think should be in a CEO’s top 3 company priorities?
- Fundraising
- Hiring
- Vision-setting
— Favorite business book, blog or podcast?
High Growth Handbook by Elad Gil
— What is your favorite thing to do when you’re not working?
Skiing
— Who is one leader you admire?
Scott Cook, Founder of Intuit
— What is one interesting thing most people won’t know about you?
I’m an introvert in an extraverted business
— What is one piece of advice you’d give every founder?
Only work on something worth spending 10 years of your life on.
Startups interested in an opportunity to pitch Susa Ventures can apply here.
