Funding the Future: Susan Liu, Partner at Uncork Capital

Welcome to another episode of Category Visionaries — Funding the Future. In today's episode, we're speaking with Susan Liu, Partner at Uncork Capital, a seed-stage venture capital firm investing out of a $200 Million fund.

Here are the most interesting points from our conversation:

• Shift to Seed-Stage Investing: Susan transitioned from later-stage investing at Scale Venture Partners to focusing on seed-stage at Uncork Capital, driven by her passion for working with founders at the earliest stages of their journey.
• State of Enterprise Software: The current enterprise software market is challenging, with traditional SaaS seeing budget constraints. However, AI-driven solutions are gaining traction, often backed by separate AI budgets within enterprises.
• AI Investment Strategy: While there’s a surge in AI startups, Susan emphasizes the importance of founder-market fit and differentiation, as many companies are tackling similar problems in the AI space.
• Evaluating Early-Stage Startups: Susan looks for a strong founding team with market experience, a large addressable market, and a compelling product wedge when evaluating seed-stage opportunities.
• Traits of Successful Founders: Founders with deep industry experience, grit, and the ability to learn quickly tend to have a higher success rate, particularly in B2B markets.
• Advice for Series A: For seed-stage founders preparing for Series A, Susan advises demonstrating strong revenue growth and capital efficiency, as these are key factors that attract investors in the current market.

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