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Eva Ho, General Partner at Susa Ventures, has been a serial entrepreneur for 15 years. Through her experience at companies like Applied Semantics, Factual and Google/YouTube, she has seen LA's tech scene grow tremendously.
WHAT WAS YOUR PATH TO BECOMING A VC?
I was on the founding executive teams of companies like Applied Semantics, Navigating Cancer and Factual. In between, I spent five years at Google/YouTube (2003-2008) which allowed me to get a bird’s eye view into how companies scale, attract top talent and continuously build great products. In all these experiences, I worked in various functional roles from marketing to operations to sales/BD. This helped me build extensive operating experience that has proven useful for other entrepreneurs who are starting down this path.
I decided to build my own fund last year with a few like-minded friends when I finally felt I could be really be helpful to the next generation of creators and builders.
WHAT WAS YOUR FIRST JOB?
It was as a waitress (and accountant and GM at times) at my family’s small Chinese restaurant in Boston when I was 11. As immigrants who never ran a restaurant before, it taught me some strong lessons on work ethic, persistence, teamwork and importance of customer service. While I didn’t necessarily realize it then, it has come to serve as my often unconscious selection criteria/bias when spotting founders, teams and colleagues.
HAVING WORKED AT COMPANIES, SUCH AS FACTUAL, AND THE VC SIDE, WHAT HAS BEEN YOUR FAVORITE ASPECT AT EACH SIDE OF THE TABLE?
In an operating capacity at a company like Factual, I most enjoyed the part of transforming an idea into a real working product that is used and valued by customers, and building the team to make that happen. I was driven to be an entrepreneur (a few times over) because I derived such deep satisfaction from creating and iterating on something that has the potential to be essential to many.
As an investor, I feel privileged to apply all my years of practical and often gritty experiences to assess a founding team’s capabilities and character, a product’s market potential and appeal, and the overall value and impact of the company’s vision. Every day, I get to talk to (and hopefully support) some of the brightest, most driven creators – that remains fun and inspiring for me.
WHAT'S THE BEST CAREER ADVICE YOU'VE RECEIVED?
Always live on the edge and never settle for being comfortable. You won’t know how much you can achieve until you drive towards the seemingly impossible.
WHO ARE YOUR MENTORS?
I don’t have any direct mentors but I feel many of my colleagues, investors and board members have been people I admire, respect and continue to learn a great deal from.
WHAT EXCITES YOU MOST ABOUT DATA?
Having been part of several datacentric startups (e.g. Applied Semantics, Factual), I have become increasingly obsessed with the role data will play in every facet and industry of our society. As the talent and tools for harnessing the ever increasing amount of data become more readily accessible, I believe most of the world’s biggest problems and challenges will have a better fighting chance of being solved.
WHAT IS YOUR BIGGEST CHALLENGE ON A DAILY BASIS?
Hands down, it’s saying “no” to investing in entrepreneurs. There are so many great founders and ideas, and we can only choose a handful. While I know it is par for the course, it is still the least favorite part of my job.
Also, I constantly battle being aware of my biases and figuring out how to use my past experiences/history/context as guidance while not letting them constrain my thinking and decision-making.
DO YOU HAVE ANY ADVICE FOR WOMEN STARTING OUT IN THE TECH WORLD?
While I don’t really subscribe to the gender lens, my main advice for anyone starting out is find a company and team that you are inspired by. There is so much great innovation out there – but only a handful will really get under your skin, and gain a hold of your heart. When you find yourself thinking about it at 2 a.m., gushing about it to anyone who will listen, and obsessively tinkering and improving it, then you have hit the goldmine. And this has little to do with money, but rather finding a role that enables you to be the best and most passionate version of yourself.
WHAT THREE APPS/SITES ARE YOUR LIFESAVERS?
Uber, Hotel Tonight, Waze.
