How do you go from being on the inside of five major Silicon Valley exits to picking the next generation of winners? We sit down with Suman Talukdar, a rare breed of investor who has been in the trenches as a venture-backed operator and now sits on the other side of the table as a Founding Partner at AiSprouts.

Suman pulls back the curtain on what it really takes to build a category-leading company, drawing from his firsthand experience with massive wins like the Cloudflare and Anaplan IPOs and the $400M sale of Clearwell. With his portfolio companies having already raised over $100M, he reveals the patterns he looks for in founders and the hard-earned lessons from his own journey that he now uses to guide entrepreneurs.

This is a masterclass in company-building from an investor who has not only seen success but has lived it—multiple times over.

Key Takeaways:

• The operator's mindset: How experiencing five back-to-back exits (including IPOs and acquisitions) shapes his investing philosophy.
• Behind the scenes of building a venture fund: From a successful first vehicle to investing out of his second.
• The patterns and signals that separate a good startup from a category-defining, fund-returning venture.
• Lessons from legendary mentors like Burt McMurtry and Felda Hardymon on navigating the highs and lows of building companies.
• A look at the future: What sectors and technologies are catching the eye of a proven investor and operator.