Mark Suster
Managing Partner, Upfront Ventures · 3 appearances on the record.
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investorfounderauthorexecutive@msuster ↗LinkedIn ↗bothsidesofthetable.com ↗Wikipedia ↗
Mark Suster is a Managing Partner at Upfront Ventures, where he leads early-stage investments in software and emerging technology. Before becoming a venture capitalist, he founded and sold two enterprise software companies, including Koral, which was acquired by Salesforce.
76statements → 29claims → 14claims resolved → 36%fully supported → 4.04/5average certainty → 2.21/5average debate potential → 4.4/5argument clarity · the sources → 82said about them ↓
5 supported 4 partly supported 5 contradicted 5 not yet assessed 10 not checkable as stated how the 29 claims stand · each chip opens the sources
16 predictions · 13 assertions · 3 opinions · 23 insights · 21 disclosures · every statement was checked. The predictions and assertions are the 29 claims: statements the public record can support or contradict. 14 are resolved, 5 are not yet assessed, and 10 name 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 Mark 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
Expressed certainty vs assessment result
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
Argument clarity: do they answer the question? how? →
4.4 / 5
directness 4.4 · coherence 4.6 ·
precision 4.5 · compression 3.8
redirected or did not address 4 of 38 assessed questions (11%). Watch them ▸
This is a score against a rubric. It is not a rank. Every host question → answer exchange is scored with names hidden on directness, coherence, precision and compression, 1–5 each, on meaning alone: disfluencies are ignored, and only raw unedited episodes count. This is the score that measures thought. Every scored exchange, scores shown → · The rubric and its checks →
How they sound: speaking style how? →
228 words/min while actually speaking · 11.5 um and uh per 1k words · 4.8 false starts per 1k · 22% of pauses land inside a clause
Measured by listening to the audio itself: 12,965 words across 2 episodes of raw-level tape, transcribed verbatim with every um and uh kept, each one attributed only where the alignment onto our timed stream is unambiguous. These are measurements of speaking style. We do not rank them: across this corpus, fluency and argument quality are nearly uncorrelated (ρ≈0.2), and smooth talking does not signal clear thinking. How it's measured →
How the interview went all their pushback → series average →
Across 3 rated episodes:
host pushback ▾ 3.7/10
setup questions received 45%
host pushback: the hardest questions Harry asked, tap to play ▶ 37:23“Do you not think everyone, though, sees that? Like, given the cadence of spin-outs from SpaceX and the amount of funding that's gone in, it's not really a contrarian thesis, is it?” ▶ 42:38“Respectfully, anyone who comes out of a great company now raises five on 25 from Andreessen. How do you do 11 or 12, and does that mean that you're getting different founders?” ▶ 10:13“And so actually do lemons really ripen early with LPs actually being scared to get off the fence.” ▶ 36:05“Do you not find the days of 20% ownership relatively over?” ▶ 15:22“Do you believe that this open for business, maybe marketing stance is true?” ▶ 10:35“Is survival the next milestone, or do we still need to see that growth to get to the A in your mind?”
when Mark pushed back ▶ 45:29“I'll just disagree.” ▶ 42:55“I don't agree with the premise. I don't believe that everyone raises five on 25 from Andreessen.” ▶ 13:37“Well, there are things we do know already, Harry. So I want to make that clear, which is we know already the size of the shift away from marketing dollars and ad dollars, for examp…” ▶ 36:17“Yes. In fact, I think it'll go up from 20%, not down.”
Everything Mark Suster said on 20VC that made the record, most notable first. Filter by type, assessment or year in the ledger →
Suster: Generative AI seed deals carry a 44% valuation premium
“If you want to do generative AI in 20, 23, 24, you're paying 44% premium to do a generative AI deal.”
Suster: Series B generative AI deals command a 200% valuation premium
“At the B round, it's like 200% premium to an enterprise software company.”
Suster: Upfront seed-invested in Ring after Shark Tank passed
“We were the seed investor in Ring. Everybody on Shark Tank passed on it. We wrote a check.”
Suster: Combining hardware and software produces differentiated VC returns
“Hardware plus software is incredibly valuable. So the hardware actually provides you with a differentiated return if you also have a services business.”
Suster: Too many VCs lack real startup operating experience
“Too many investors that I had come across didn't have real startup operating experience. And I didn't feel like I always got the advice that I could have used at the time I could have used it.”
Sustained unemployment will cause widespread spending declines outside grocery and pharma
“If seventeen million people are out of work for six months or more, Spending is going to go down everywhere across almost every category, maybe other than grocery and pharma.”
Ad spend saw a 40% quarter-over-quarter drop in Q2 2020
“40% decline right now in quarter over quarter for second quarter. And we're already seeing it in the data of people starting to cancel marketing orders that we know are being canceled.”
Upfront Ventures is closing deals entirely remotely without meeting founders
“We funded a company today. We submitted the term sheet two weeks ago, and I've never met the founder in person. We greenlit another term sheet last Monday. It'll fund early to middle of next week. I've never met the founder in person. We are going to our partn…”
VCs without follow-on reserves risk being wiped out to zero
“And don't forget that in that eighty million dollar round that gets cut back to a forty million dollar, if you don't participate, sometimes you get flushed down to zero. And so if you don't have reserves and you're playing in a game where big checks are being …”
Suster passed on Uber and Box due to personal biases
“The obvious example, Harry, is Uber, where having lived in London and seen the taxi lobby and how strong the taxi lobby was in London, that clouded my vision for what was possible. Having lived in Los Angeles and seeing how few people ever use taxis, that clou…”
Suster: Prospective Entrepreneurs Should Start Their Startup Journeys Earlier
“Entrepreneurship's not cut out for everybody, but if you want to give it a try, it's infinitely better to start earlier.”
Suster: Every Tech Leader Needs a Fundamental Understanding of Programming
“You need to take some programming course, even if you want to be the CEO or the head of sales or the head of marketing or the head of biz dev, Understanding, having a fundamental understanding of how systems work is critical to being in the business.”
Suster: Telesales and Direct Sales Experience Are Essential for Tech Careers
“Is to get some sales experience, and usually the best way to do that is telesales, and even if you want to be in marketing, even if you are in customer support, even if you want to do biz dev, ask the CEO if you can, you know, just do an hour a week of sales c…”
Suster: Prior founder experience gives VCs a key coaching advantage
“I feel like you're at a great advantage if you've been an entrepreneur, because so much about being a good coach, being a good mentor, is really understanding the journey that the entrepreneur is going through psychologically, physically, emotionally, and what…”
Suster: Excess capital breeds startup laziness while constraints force creativity
“A certain amount of constraint actually forces creativity, and when you have a little too much capital, you can take shortcuts, or you can throw money at problems, and it masks certain problems as well. So I'll just give you an example for anyone who's ever wo…”
Suster: VCs should evaluate founders over time using 'lines, not dots'
“But probably the best known post I've ever done was a post I wrote saying I invest in lines, not dots. And the metaphor is an x-axis is time, and a y-axis is your performance. And on any given day, I'm judging your performance on that day. How well did you pre…”
Suster: VCs who chase hot market trends late will lose
“Investors are like lemmings, and when an idea works, everyone chases the same idea. By definition, if you're chasing a hot idea, and you weren't early in that market, you're gonna lose.”
Mark Suster: Upfront's 2012 fund will return over 5x cash-on-cash
“That 2012 fund for us, I think is going to be a phenomenal success. By any measure, it'll, it should return north of five X capital cash on cash.”
Suster: Doubling fund size to $100M doesn't change core strategy
“50 to 500 fundamentally changes your strategy. 50 to a hundred, you're still playing in the same ballpark.”
Suster: Institutional LPs re-commit to future funds far more than friends and family
“Institutional money is way more likely to be in fund two and fund three and fund four. Whereas friends and family money's not as likely to repeat.”
Software revenue multiples hit 24.6x in late 2021 versus 9.6x average
“Public stock markets in November of 2021 software was trading at 24.6 times NTM next 12 month revenue, 24.6. If you look at the ten-year average, the ten-year average public market, 9.6. The twenty-year average, 6.2.”
Mark Suster limits secondary sales to 40% maximum during market run-ups
“Usually, in a run-up, I'll usually sell 33 to 40% maximum.”
The other half of the tape: Mark Suster's own voice is left out of every number here. Other people bring the name up 77 times in 47 episodes on 20VC. 5 statements on the record name them. every mention, with the transcript →
Who brings them up most Harry Stebbings 41Miles Dieffenbach 4Parker Thompson 3Kara Nortman 3Samir Kaji 2Sam Corcos 2Rob Go 2Nav Athwal 2
Statements about Mark Suster, by other people (5)
Mark Suster's 'always be raising' advice distracts founders from execution
“There is a headset that has become the norm, which is always be raising. I don't know if that's always right. I think it's where we are, but I don't think that's necessarily the right thing for all founders. I think it's often very distracting and very, and ma…”
Mark Suster Aggressively Sold Portfolio Stakes During the 2021 Market Peak
“Mark Suster, I give him all the credit in the world. He's been in the game for a long time and upfront. He saw 20, 21 as an insane period. And he strip sailed like majority of his portfolios and his funds. For a very good price. DPI in the pocket. Like I, all …”
Kim: Party rounds are the absolute worst early-stage financing structure
“Now, the absolute worst scenario, and Mark Suster actually talks about it in his recent post on both sides of the table, are these party rounds. I don't think these party rounds are happening as often, but these party rounds are where 20 plus individuals, you …”
Every mention by year
tap a year for its mentions
2025 4 mentions in 1 episode
2024 10 mentions in 6 episodes 2 per episode
- Jason Lemkin: PluralSight S*** the Bed & The Next IPO Candidates | E1160 · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
- Jason Citron, Co-Founder/CEO @Discord: The Untold Story Behind Scaling to 200M Users | E1230 · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
- David Frankel, MP @Founder Collective: Investing Lessons from Seeding Coupang, Pillpack & Suno|E1214 · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
- Michael Eisenberg: How China Could Overtake the US in the AI Race | E1167 · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
- Dan Siroker: Second-Time Founders Are More Investable & Why Not To Hire People Out of College |E1153 · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
- Ryan Akkina: How MIT Builds Their Venture Fund Portfolio & How MIT Approach Direct Investing | E1109 · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
- every mention in 2024, scene by scene →
2023 6 mentions in 4 episodes 2 per episode
- Sam Corcos: Why Founders Should Take as Many VC Meetings as Possible | E1093 · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
- Rob Go: The Ultimate Guide to Raising a Venture Fund | E1029 · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
- Chris Paik: How I Raised $400M; Substack's Broken Business Model; Music on TikTok vs IG | E1011 · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
- David Tisch: The 3 Most Important Variables When Raising Your Seed Round | 20VC #983 · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
- every mention in 2023, scene by scene →
2022 3 mentions in 2 episodes 2 per episode
2020 1 mention in 1 episode
2018 3 mentions in 3 episodes 1 per episode
- 20VC: The Mindset The Best Investors Assume When Assessing Opportunities, Why So Many Hardware Startups Fail Today & The Right Way To Think About Employee Retention with Andrew Farah, Founder & CEO @ Density
- 20VC: Why Vulnerability Is A Strength In VC, 3 Core Components That Make The Most Successful VCs & How VCs and Entrepreneurs Can Build Meaningful Relationships Pre-Investment with Brian Garrett, Founding Partner @ Crosscut Ventures
- 20VC: LinkedIn's Head of Corp Dev on Why and When Startups Should Start Relationship Building With Corp Dev, What The Structure of M&A Traditionally Looks Like & How To Mitigate The Biggest Risk of M&A, Integration Risk
- every mention in 2018, scene by scene →
2017 6 mentions in 5 episodes 1 per episode
- 20VC: Why Founders Should Not Focus On Top Line Valuation, Why Capital Efficiency Is Key To Returns And Investment Success & Why Despite Popular Thought, $100m Is An Exciting Exit For VC with Micah Rosenbloom, Managing Partner @ Founder Collective
- 20VC: Accel GP, Rich Wong on When Is The Right Time To Scale A Startup, Optimising Initial vs Follow-On Investment Decision-Making & The Globalisation of VC In Recent Years
- 20VC: What Does It Take To Raise A Venture Fund Today, An Analysis of The Explosion of Seed Financing & Why IRR No Longer Takes Centre Stage with Samir Kaji, Senior Managing Director @ First Republic Bank
- 20VC: Jason Calacanis on The 4 Questions Investors Must Ask Founders, Whether YC Have Scaled Their Process Successfully & Why Early Founder Liquidity Is Good Not Bad
- 20VC: How Startups & VCs Can Build Relationships with Potential Corporate Acquirers? The Challenge Of Operating Both A B2B & B2C Business Model & Why Fundraising Is The One Element Founders Cannot Control with Gautam Gupta, Founder & CEO @ NatureBox
- every mention in 2017, scene by scene →
2016 38 mentions in 20 episodes 2 per episode
- 20VC: How To Assess Founder Psychology, Why Talking About Financial Returns In The First Meeting Is Always Wrong & How To Allocate Time Amongst A VC Portfolio with Kara Nortman, Partner @ Upfront Ventures
- 20VC: Upfront Ventures' Greg Bettinelli on Testing For Founder 'Grit' & What It Takes To Build A Successful Consumer Brand Today
- 20VC: Rob Go @ NextView on WTF Is Seed Investing Today and Why Raising Too Much Money Can Harm Your Startup
- 20VC: AngelList's Parker Thompson on How He Evaluates Startup Founders & Why The Move To Series A Is Harder Than Ever?
- 20VC: Why Market Is More Important Than Team, The 4 Key Roles of A Board Member & Why Founders Get Market Sizing So Wrong with Rory O'Driscoll, Founding Partner @ Scale Venture Partners
- 20VC: Why Adaptability Is Key To Fundraising, Why Supply Is Always The First Priority In Marketplaces & Why Sometimes You Have To Hire Fast & Fire Fast with Nav Athwal, Founder & CEO @ RealtyShares
- 20VC: X.ai's Dennis Mortensen on Why There Is No Incumbency Advantage in Artificial Intelligence
- 20VC FF: Hiten Shah on VC Funded vs Bootstrapped Businesses and How He Decides Which Startups To Advise
- 12 more episodes that year, every mention in 2016 →
2015 6 mentions in 5 episodes 1 per episode
- 20 VC 083: 500 Startups Week: New Funds, Startup Mentoring and Dave's Masterplan with Marvin Liao, Partner @ 500 Startups
- 20 VC 093: Where Is The Micro VC Market Going with Samir Kaji @ First Republic Bank
- 20 VC FF 021: From TechCrunch to Founder to TechCrunch with the legend, Steve O'Hear
- 20 VC FF 20: Shaking Up The Food Industry With Willie Biggart @ Spoonfed
- FF 013: 'Make Bets And Believe In What You Are Doing' with James Borow @ Shift & Brand Networks
- every mention in 2015, scene by scene →
Appearances (3)
| Episode | Date | Speaking time |
|---|---|---|
| Mark Suster: Why Private Equity Will Replace IPOs and M&A as the Exit Path | E1147 · 20VC | May 1, 2024 | 44m |
| 20VC: Upfront's Mark Suster on COVID Redefining What A Great Company Looks Like and What V | Apr 20, 2020 | 35m |
| 20 VC 085: Mark Suster @ Upfront Ventures on Being A Super Entrepreneur Driven VC | Nov 4, 2015 | 20m |