The Investor With Joel Palathinkal

Guest: Evan Schlossman, SuRo Capital

Date: January 10, 2026

Overview

In this episode, Dr. Joel Palathinkal sits down with Evan Schlossman of SuRo Capital, a venture investor specializing in AI infrastructure and late-stage technology companies. The conversation traverses Evan's origin story, his unique path from consulting to venture, insights on AI investing, SuRo’s novel public structure, career pivot advice, and best practices for investors in emerging tech. The episode is rich in practical guidance for both aspiring allocators and seasoned professionals.

Key Topics & Discussion Points

1. Evan Schlossman’s Background & Career Journey

• Origin Story and Early Influences
  • Started pre-med but migrated toward the administrative/business side of medicine due to a stronger interest in economics and business (03:31).
  • Found consulting at Deloitte an ideal launchpad—fast-paced, diverse, skill-building, and iterative project exposure.
  • Quote:

    "It's kind of a winding, circuitous path that leads us here. I started off actually pre-med … but always an econ major… Realized that I was spending more and more time sort of on that business and finance side versus the actual medicine." (03:36–04:19, Evan)

2. Skillsets from Consulting to Venture Capital

• Value of Curiosity and Adaptability
  • Consulting trained him to learn new industries rapidly—a critical VC skill given the relentless evolution in tech and AI.
  • Quote:

    "You have to want to keep changing and adapting a bit, which is, I think, uncomfortable at first, and then you sort of get more comfortable with that." (06:55, Evan)

• Importance of Sales
  • Both agree that sales ability—pitching LPs, founders, teammates, or even selling oneself—is fundamental in venture (07:43–10:59).

3. Navigating Career Pivots

• Strategic Rebranding and Transferable Skills
  • Don’t try to switch everything at once when pivoting; leverage one deep area of expertise.
  • Domain operators who understand a particular sector can stand out, especially as many VCs become more thesis-driven and focused (10:59–14:04).
  • Quote:

    "Figure out what is the skill set that you have and what knowledge do you have that is valuable to the market, and how do you leverage that … in venture specifically." (12:34, Evan)

  • Authentic interest in a sector makes pitching and transitions easier.

4. Investment Approach in the AI Ecosystem

• Segmenting AI Market and Finding Signal in Noise (14:04–18:02)
  • SuRo sorts into three buckets:
    1. Application layer (customer-facing uses of AI)
    2. Model/LLM layer (companies like OpenAI, Anthropic)
    3. Infrastructure (compute, data centers—e.g., CoreWeave)
  • Early focus on infrastructure due to insatiable demand for AI compute.
  • Quote:

    "Such a supply demand imbalance in terms of compute ... that was our largest investment at cost in the firm's history is a company called CoreWeave, which is data centers for AI." (16:22, Evan)

5. SuRo Capital’s Public Structure—Democratizing Late-Stage Venture

• How SuRo Works
  • Publicly traded vehicle giving retail investors access to late-stage, high-growth private companies, with full transparency and liquidity (19:03–21:12).

  • "So the idea behind SuRo Capital was … how do we provide retail investors access to innovative late stage, private companies?" (19:03, Evan)

  • Portfolio is visible and marked-to-market quarterly.

6. Investment Criteria & Portfolio Construction

• Selection Metrics
  • Focused on late-stage companies, typically with $1B+ enterprise value, but have gone lower for promising earlier companies (22:06–24:31).
  • Traction, product-market fit, revenue growth, and market leadership are key.

  • "We really target that probably billion dollar plus is our, I would say standard typical investment." (24:31, Evan)

• Founder vs. Professional CEO at Late Stage
  • Many late-stage companies still led by passionate founders, but management shifts do occur, especially approaching IPO (27:29–29:13).

  • "One of the characteristics… these founders are extremely passionate … they live and breathe these companies…" (28:16, Evan)

7. Exit Strategies & Success Metrics

• Benchmarks Vary by Stage
  • Later-stage deals focus on de-risked growth and expected exit events (IPO or M&A).
  • SuRo considers public market multiples for potential exits, even while investing privately (30:04–32:03).
  • Emphasis on liquidity via distributions and awareness of portfolio concentration (33:05–34:53).

8. Career & Networking Advice

• Breaking Into VC or PE Without Traditional Pedigree
  • Be bold about reaching out; the “cold email” is underutilized but effective if personal and concise.
  • Follow up (thoughtfully), be persistent, but avoid spam.
  • Add value by taking a point of view or directly referencing a fund’s activities.

  • "If you have a valid reason for reaching out to someone, you know, there's a real impetus there. The response rate … is very low for negative replies." (35:51–37:19, Evan)

• Best Practices for Communication
  • Be concise—short, direct, and clear requests get higher responses (38:38–39:36).
  • Personalization (e.g., short videos or specific comments) stand out compared to generic templates (40:05–42:24).
  • “Kindness costs nothing”—personal touches (e.g., wishing a happy birthday on LinkedIn) can forge genuine connections.

9. Running Diligence and Investment Committees Efficiently

• Balancing Speed and Diligence
  • Rely on thesis-driven, top-down filtering and clear communication to companies about process and status (45:01–47:18).
  • Stay disciplined about focus areas but allow for opportunistic investments.
  • Honest, frequent updates are valued—even if passing, relationships can pay off in the future.

10. Closing Wisdom & Memorable Insights

• Momentum is Critical
  • "Momentum is critical in all processes and certainly in financial processes and investments and deals. … That speed and cadence is … really important in sort of that execution and getting things to the final step.” (47:47, Evan)
• Zoom Out to the Macro
  • "Make sure to ground yourself and take a step back in sort of the macros and the news, what's going on. … It's really hard to fight against broader macro movements." (48:19, Evan)

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• "You have to want to keep changing and adapting a bit … uncomfortable at first, and then you sort of get more comfortable with that." (06:55, Evan)
• "If you have a point of view, even if it's wrong, that's interesting to me. … Take a stance, take an opinion." (41:25, Evan)
• "Kindness costs nothing." (42:24, Joel, quoting a prior podcast guest)
• "Momentum is critical … speed and cadence is one of the things you don't think about as often, but really is important in execution." (47:47, Evan)

Key Timestamps

• Origin Story: 03:31–05:10
• Curiosity & Skills: 05:27–07:43
• Career Changing & Advice: 10:59–14:04
• AI Investment Segmentation: 14:41–18:02
• SuRo Capital Structure: 19:03–21:12
• Portfolio Criteria & Construction: 22:06–25:21
• Founder/CEO Dynamics Late Stage: 26:44–29:13
• Exit Metrics: 30:04–32:03
• Secondary Market & Liquidity: 33:05–34:53
• Career Advice—Breaking Into VC: 35:51–39:16
• Outreach Best Practices: 40:05–42:24
• Diligence Best Practices: 45:01–47:18
• Final Wisdom & Macro Focus: 47:47–49:06

Tone & Takeaways

The episode is practical, encouraging, and transparent. Evan provides candid advice for those looking to break into or grow within venture and private investing—emphasizing curiosity, adaptability, authenticity, and relationship-building. The discussion also demystifies late-stage venture investing and the unique SuRo Capital model, providing rare insight into trends shaping institutional allocation, particularly in AI.