Major Talent, Minor Ego: Why I Backed Suno at Pre-Seed

Last week, Mikey Shulman announced that Suno has surpassed two million paying customers and $300M in annual revenue.

I would love to say I had a grand theory about where AI was heading when I was the sole investor in their pre-seed round in 2022. The truth is I’m largely tone deaf to tech trends, but I do have a reasonably good eye for founders.

So far, much of the AI story has been about making engineers more efficient. Suno is about making music more experimental and accessible. That shift has a lot to do with Mikey.

He studied physics at Columbia, earned his PhD at Harvard, and later taught at MIT. That kind of academic pedigree can produce a prima donna. Mikey is the opposite, combining serious intellectual firepower with the creative instincts of a jazz band leader. (Fun fact: he’s also an accomplished bassist.)

As impressive as he is, I was encouraged by the chorus cheering him on. Hugo Van Vuuren and Nancy Zimmerman were emphatic in their praise. His co-founders and former Kensho colleagues, Martin Camacho, Georg Kucsko, and Keenan Freyberg, were similarly lauded by every reference I checked. When people you respect harmonize like that, it’s wise to listen.

In the early days, the team was experimenting with different ways to commercialize the engine that would become Suno. They were commercially ambitious, but also deeply committed to empowering creators, and early enthusiasm from creative customers gave confidence that they were on the right track.

Major talent and Minor ego is a rare combination, but in this case has produced one of the most consequential developments in music since MTV.