Venture Unlocked: The playbook for venture capital managers · Samir Kaji

Betting on Founders Who Build the Real World

·38 min·4 clips

I'm like a purpose build without the strategy—agriculture, defense, hardware, manufacturing.

Lior Susan from Eclipse Ventures reflects on building a conviction-driven VC firm for physical industries. Starting from $125M in 2015, Eclipse now manages $600M+ by maintaining core principles while adapting to market opportunities. Lior's unconventional path (kibbutz → military → hardware → manufacturing) informed his thesis: 85% of global GDP is physical industry, yet VC largely ignores it. He discusses how Eclipse scales through: (1) operator-to-investor hiring, (2) high-conviction/high-involvement portfolio management, (3) compound capital strategy with later-stage returns, and (4) treating fund management as a business. Key tension: balancing stable culture with adaptive strategy as the world changes. Pierre Lamond, co-founder (now 95), exemplifies the old-school operator-investor mentorship model.

As heard by us

A practical look at how venture firms earn durability by rethinking talent, conviction, and founder selection.

This episode traces Lior Susan's path from building companies to launching his own venture capital firm nearly 10 years ago, and uses that shift to examine what changes when an operator becomes an investor.

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A venture-firm founder reflects on how durable firms are built, not just funded.

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