Susa Ventures Pitch Deck Breakdown: All 33 Slides

Introduction and Brand Identity

Slide 1: Title Slide

The deck opens with a high-resolution image of a misty rainforest, establishing the visual theme. The text identifies the two vehicles being raised: Susa Ventures IV & Susa Opportunities II . The date is listed as Q1 2021.

Slide 2: The Susa Origin Story

Susa Ventures defines its culture through its namesake. The slide explains that the firm is named after a mountain gorilla family in Rwanda known as the Susa Family . The core message is that these gorillas were among the first to organize into strong family groups, which serves as the genesis for the fund’s community-centric investment philosophy.

The Team and Founder Experience

Slide 3: Operations Team

This slide introduces the non-investment leadership. Natalie Arora , Head of Operations, is noted as having 10 years of experience at three startups, including Eat Just. Rachel Coffman is listed as EA & Operations with expertise in fundraising and investor relations (IR). The slide emphasizes that the team consists of proven operators and managers.

Slide 4: Susa Ops | The Susa Founder Experience

Susa presents a compelling metric: a 96 Founder NPS . The slide uses a collage of photos to illustrate their value-add services, including onboarding swag, Susa Bootcamps, Family Dinners, a Mountain Tech Summit, and Holiday Giving events. This is designed to prove to LPs that Susa has a proprietary 'right to win' deals through founder affinity.

Fund Strategy and Structure

Slide 5: The Raise

A simple transition slide stating the firm is raising two new funds: a $100M seed fund and a $200M opportunity fund .

Slide 6: The Barbell Strategy

This is the most critical strategic slide in the deck. It visualizes the 'barbell approach' as the winning strategy for Susa. On the left (Seed), they aim to source and win the best deals. In the middle (Series A), they do pro-rata alongside top-tier funds. On the right (Series B), they use the Opportunity Fund to lead or co-lead rounds in their best-performing companies. This explains why they are raising two different vehicles simultaneously.

Slide 7: Susa II Performance (Redacted)

This slide focuses on the Susa II ($50M, 2016 Vintage) . While the specific financial metrics (DPI, TVPI, IRR) are redacted with placeholders like "$.##", the slide lists high-potential companies including Stord, Viz.ai, Stedi, Sundae, Newfront Insurance, Pex, and Workramp . It also lists the lead investors for the current rounds of these companies, such as Bond, Insight Venture Partners, Stripe, and Meritech.

Slide 8: Susa IV Fund Model

Susa outlines the mechanics for the $100M seed fund. The target is 40 investments with an average check size of $1.25M . Notably, they plan for a 1:1 reserve ratio specifically for pro-rata participation in their best companies, ensuring they don't get diluted before the Opportunity Fund kicks in.

Portfolio Traction and Validation

Slide 9: Aggregate Portfolio Value

Susa highlights the scale of their 'Family.' The slide claims 115+ backed companies have created $19B+ in aggregate enterprise value . These companies have raised over $5B in capital and employ 7,000 people. Logos at the bottom include Expanse, Fast, Flexport, Robinhood, and Stord.

Slide 10: Top-Tier Follow-on Investors

To validate their seed picking ability, Susa shows that over 50% of Series A rounds in their portfolio are led by top-tier firms. The slide features logos from Founders Fund, Sequoia, NEA, Kleiner Perkins, Benchmark, Spark, USV, Index Ventures, Accel, and Andreessen Horowitz, listing specific Susa companies each firm has backed.

Slide 11: The Hit Rate

A timeline from 2013 to 2020 shows the 'hit rate' of seed investments. Companies are color-coded: Green stars represent $500M+ valuations (e.g., Robinhood, Flexport, Expanse, Newfront), while yellow stars represent $150M+ valuations (e.g., Policygenius, Human Interest, Stedi, Sundae). This visualizes a consistent ability to find 'winners' across every vintage year.

Slide 12: The Power Law Analysis

Susa provides an honest look at venture returns, stating that 20% of Susa seed investments drive 90% of returns . A bar chart of Susa Ventures II illustrates the distribution of fair value, showing a few massive winners and a long tail of smaller outcomes. This transparency justifies the need for an Opportunity Fund to concentrate capital in that top 20%.

The Opportunity Fund Evidence

Slide 13: Back-Testing the Strategy

Susa presents a hypothetical model to prove the Opportunity Fund concept. They back-tested the strategy against every Series B round in a Susa company where the Series A was led by a top firm. The chart shows a significant jump from Invested Capital to Fair Market Value (FMV) of Positions , suggesting that leading Series B rounds in their own winners would have yielded high MOIC and TVPI.

Slide 14: Mid-Stage Access

A transition slide asserting that Susa has demonstrated the ability to get allocation in competitive mid-stage deals.

Slide 15: Opportunity Fund I Deployment

This slide tracks the deployment of the first $50M Opportunity Fund I (2019) . It lists 14 investments, including Whoop, Omio, and Nova Credit as 'New investments to Susa.' Other follow-on investments include Stord, Sundae, and Viz.ai. The slide lists co-investors like KKR, Temasek, and Stripe, proving Susa can play in the same rounds as global institutional giants.

Conclusion and Terms

Slide 16: Summary Terms

The final business slide provides the 'Ask.' Susa seeks $100M for Fund IV and $200M for Opportunity II , with a required 1:2 ratio for simultaneous commitments. The term is 10 years plus two extensions. Contact info is provided for Seth Berman, Chad Byers, and Leo Polovets .

Slide 17: Closing Slide

A 'Thank You' slide featuring a group photo of the six-person team in Susa-branded long-sleeve shirts, reinforcing the 'Family' brand identity established at the beginning.

What Works / What is Missing / What to Copy

What Works: The 'Barbell Strategy' is a masterclass in fund positioning. By raising two funds at once, Susa solves the 'lifecycle' problem where seed funds often lack the capital to maintain ownership in their best winners. The use of the 96 NPS score is a brilliant way to quantify 'founder friendliness,' which is usually a vague qualitative claim. Furthermore, the transparency regarding the power law (Slide 12) builds immense trust with sophisticated LPs.

What is Missing: The deck is light on specific sector theses. While it mentions 'Frontier Tech' and 'FinTech' in the catalogue, the slides themselves focus almost entirely on stage and 'picking' ability rather than a specific view on where the world is going. There is also no detailed breakdown of the 'Susa Bootcamps' or the specific curriculum that drives that high NPS, which would have added more weight to their operational claims.

What a Founder Should Copy: Founders should emulate the way Susa uses third-party validation . Slide 10 doesn't just say 'we are good'; it says 'the best firms in the world buy what we sell.' If you are a founder, don't just list your features—list the world-class customers or partners who have already vetted you. Additionally, the clear visual distinction between 'Seed' and 'Series B' strategy on Slide 6 is a great example of how to communicate a complex business model simply.