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Ilya Sukhar

General Partner, Matrix · 1 appearance on the record.

computed by AI from the episodes · how this works → · full disclaimer →

investorfounderexecutive@ilyasu ↗is.org ↗

Sukhar co-founded the mobile backend platform Parse, which was acquired by Facebook, and later worked as a partner at Y Combinator. At Matrix, he focuses on early-stage AI and developer infrastructure investments, having backed companies such as Flock Safety and Fivetran.

12statements → 3claims → 2claims resolved → 4/5average certainty → 2/5average debate potential → ≈4.5/5argument clarity, estimated → 2said about them ↓

1 supported 1 partly supported 0 contradicted 1 not checkable as stated how the 3 claims stand · each chip opens the sources

3 assertions · 1 opinion · 6 insights · 1 disclosure · 1 what if · every statement was checked. The predictions and assertions are the 3 claims: statements the public record can support or contradict. 2 are resolved, and 1 names no date, number or outcome precise enough to check. Everything else (opinions, insights, what ifs, disclosures) can never be settled by the record, so it carries no assessment.

The record, in short

What the tape says about how Ilya argues and how the claims held up. Everything they said, and everything said about them, is in the tabs below.

Their most notable supported claim

Assertion Supported
Matrix Partners does not invest in Series B or later rounds
“At least at Matrix, we have a very We really don't do any Series Bs at this point, and certainly nothing later, and so we don't have the luxury of buying up ownership over, like, four or five rounds. We're not going to really increase our ownership dramaticall…”
Ilya Sukhar Sep 9, 2019 ▶ 18:28 20VC: Matrix's Ilya Sukhar on How The Seed Ecosystem Could Be Optimised, Why The Bar For The Break-Out Series A Has Risen & The Art of Effective Referencing

Expressed certainty vs assessment result

none yet certainty 1
none yet certainty 2
none yet certainty 3
50% certainty 4
100% certainty 5

weighted support: a fully supported claim counts one, a partly supported claim counts half. Each filled bar is clickable and opens exactly those claims; "none yet" means nothing said at that certainty level has resolved yet

How they sound: speaking style how? →

260 words/min while actually speaking · 0.7 um and uh per 1k words

No argument clarity score for Ilya Sukhar: no usable question→answer exchanges on raw tape (a fair score needs 8+). We do not score a sample that small. Roundtable and news formats yield far fewer direct exchanges than interviews. Their coarse estimate from 23 exchanges on the produced feed is ≈4.5/5, shown at half point precision because the sample is small and produced tape scores higher.

Measured by listening to 5,335 words across 1 episode, but every recording we have of Ilya Sukhar is the aired feed, and an editor cleaned that audio before release. Some of the hesitation was cut before we ever heard it, so read these as floors: the true rates are at least this high. These are measurements of speaking style, not scores. How it's measured →

How the interview went all their pushback → series average →

Across 1 rated episode:

host pushback ▾ 3/10
pushed back at the host ▾ 2/10
setup questions received 85%

Everything Ilya Sukhar said on 20VC that made the record, most notable first. Filter by type, assessment or year in the ledger →

What-if
Parse sold to Facebook too early and would have survived independently
“Yeah, we sold early. I think we had a lot of momentum, something great going. One thing I think people don't realize is the venture market actually really didn't appreciate the type of thing we were doing in the same way that it appreciates it now. You look at…”
Ilya Sukhar Sep 9, 2019 ▶ 28:35 20VC: Matrix's Ilya Sukhar on How The Seed Ecosystem Could Be Optimised, Why The Bar For The Break-Out Series A Has Risen & The Art of Effective Referencing
Insight
Early-stage valuation matters far less than power-law company selection
“Taken in the last, I don't know, maybe year or so is at the very early stage. It doesn't really matter. I care a lot more about ownership that I get. I mean, you know, when I look at my angel portfolio, which is finally starting to bloom, I don't know, seven y…”
Ilya Sukhar Sep 9, 2019 ▶ 17:36 20VC: Matrix's Ilya Sukhar on How The Seed Ecosystem Could Be Optimised, Why The Bar For The Break-Out Series A Has Risen & The Art of Effective Referencing
Insight
Mark Zuckerberg resets Facebook's top priorities every six months
“I think working with Mark, the thing that really struck me about him and how he runs his organization and what he pushes down through the ranks is we can only do so many things at once. And he's set up his company in a way that, you know, roughly every six mon…”
Ilya Sukhar Sep 9, 2019 ▶ 30:37 20VC: Matrix's Ilya Sukhar on How The Seed Ecosystem Could Be Optimised, Why The Bar For The Break-Out Series A Has Risen & The Art of Effective Referencing
Insight
Angel investors are rarely a founder's primary contact
“I really enjoy angel investing, but you know, sometimes you're one of many and you're not necessarily that one call that the founder has for any given thing.”
Ilya Sukhar Sep 9, 2019 ▶ 4:56 20VC: Matrix's Ilya Sukhar on How The Seed Ecosystem Could Be Optimised, Why The Bar For The Break-Out Series A Has Risen & The Art of Effective Referencing
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Matrix Partners does not require formal votes or consensus for investments
“We have a pretty nice setup at matrix where we don't really have a formal vote and we're not oriented around consensus decisions.”
Ilya Sukhar Sep 9, 2019 ▶ 8:20 20VC: Matrix's Ilya Sukhar on How The Seed Ecosystem Could Be Optimised, Why The Bar For The Break-Out Series A Has Risen & The Art of Effective Referencing
Insight
Simple MVPs no longer work in crowded software categories
“The bar has moved, you know, dramatically higher. You can't just launch with that very simple, rough nugget of value because you're competing against 15 other things that look roughly like you, users have tried a bunch of them.”
Ilya Sukhar Sep 9, 2019 ▶ 13:51 20VC: Matrix's Ilya Sukhar on How The Seed Ecosystem Could Be Optimised, Why The Bar For The Break-Out Series A Has Risen & The Art of Effective Referencing
Assertion Partly supported
Tripled VC fund sizes have raised the Series A bar
“Their fund size are triple the size they were, I don't know, seven years ago. And they want to wait until they can write a 12 to fifteen million dollar check in the Series A, but that means the bar is higher.”
Ilya Sukhar Sep 9, 2019 ▶ 16:51 20VC: Matrix's Ilya Sukhar on How The Seed Ecosystem Could Be Optimised, Why The Bar For The Break-Out Series A Has Risen & The Art of Effective Referencing
Opinion
Paul Graham's key innovation was backing young hackers rejected by others
“Paul Graham's fundamental innovation and how he changed our entire world is he bet on folks that others weren't willing to, the kind of young hacker who can build and learn everything else. And I really just believe in that.”
Ilya Sukhar Sep 9, 2019 ▶ 19:12 20VC: Matrix's Ilya Sukhar on How The Seed Ecosystem Could Be Optimised, Why The Bar For The Break-Out Series A Has Risen & The Art of Effective Referencing
Insight
Hiring candidates who fail to leave a trail of respect is risky
“A lot of really ambitious people can break some glass, so to speak, on their journey. They step on some toes, they have disagreements, whatever. I think that's actually typically a good sign, at least in moderation, but they always leave a trail of respect alo…”
Ilya Sukhar Sep 9, 2019 ▶ 22:12 20VC: Matrix's Ilya Sukhar on How The Seed Ecosystem Could Be Optimised, Why The Bar For The Break-Out Series A Has Risen & The Art of Effective Referencing
Insight
Investors risk bad decisions by over-rotating on single negative references
“While I think most investors don't do enough referencing, it is a dangerous trap to hear the loudest voice and over-rotate on it.”
Ilya Sukhar Sep 9, 2019 ▶ 23:44 20VC: Matrix's Ilya Sukhar on How The Seed Ecosystem Could Be Optimised, Why The Bar For The Break-Out Series A Has Risen & The Art of Effective Referencing
Disclosure
Matrix Partners targets 20% to 25% ownership in early-stage deals
“At the end of the day, just like any other fund, we're shooting for 20 to 25% ownership”
Ilya Sukhar Sep 9, 2019 ▶ 16:04 20VC: Matrix's Ilya Sukhar on How The Seed Ecosystem Could Be Optimised, Why The Bar For The Break-Out Series A Has Risen & The Art of Effective Referencing
Assertion Supported
Matrix Partners does not invest in Series B or later rounds
“At least at Matrix, we have a very We really don't do any Series Bs at this point, and certainly nothing later, and so we don't have the luxury of buying up ownership over, like, four or five rounds. We're not going to really increase our ownership dramaticall…”
Ilya Sukhar Sep 9, 2019 ▶ 18:28 20VC: Matrix's Ilya Sukhar on How The Seed Ecosystem Could Be Optimised, Why The Bar For The Break-Out Series A Has Risen & The Art of Effective Referencing

The other half of the tape: Ilya Sukhar's own voice is left out of every number here. Other people bring the name up 2 times in 2 episodes on 20VC. every mention, with the transcript →

Who brings them up most Harry Stebbings 2

Every mention by year

Appearances (1)

EpisodeDateSpeaking time
20VC: Matrix's Ilya Sukhar on How The Seed Ecosystem Could Be Optimised, Why The Bar For T Sep 9, 2019 22m
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