The Twenty Minute VC

Oren Zeev: How I Raised $1 BILLION in 12 Months | 20VC #888

Oren Zeev is the Founding Partner @ Zeev Ventures and one of the OGs of solo capitalism. Oren has an incredible portfolio including investments in Audible, Houzz, Chegg, Riverside, Tipalti, TripActions, and Firebolt to name a few. Oren is also very unlike any other VC firm, he does not employ any associates, principals, or staff. He doesn’t have partners or partner meetings. No LP meetings. No processes. No investment committees or memos. Nada. Oren is doing it differently. Prior to starting Zeev Ventures, Oren spent 12 years as a GP @ Apax Partners where he c-headed their technology practice in their Silicon Valley office. ------------------------------------ Chapters: 0:00 Origins into Venture 5:38 Deployment Pace 18:00 Ownership 24:45 Diversification 33:50 Price Sensitivity 40:44 Biggest Miss 47:55 Oren Zeev: AMA ------------------------------------ In Today’s Episode with Oren Zeev You Will Learn: 1.) Origins into Venture: How did Oren make his way into venture over 20 years ago? How does the crash of today compare to the dot com and 2008? What is the same? What is different? Why did Oren decide to leave Apax and start Zeev Ventures on his own? 2.) Deployment Pace: Why does Oren believe that the benefits of temporal diversification are overstated? Oren raised 3 funds and over $1BN in a year, how does this current environment impact how Oren thinks about deployment pace? Will he change anything? How does Oren explain deployment pace to LPs who question him? 3.) Ownership: How central a role does ownership play for Oren in terms of his investor psychology? Does Oren believe it is possible to increase your ownership in subsequent rounds, in your best companies? What are the biggest mistakes that big funds make with regards to ownership requirements? Why is there a misalignment between GP and LP when it comes to increasing ownership vs markups? 4.) Price Sensitivity: How does Oren evaluate his own relationship to price today? What have been some of Oren’s biggest lessons on price from his biggest wins and losses? What mistake do the majority of investors make when it comes to price? 5.) Diversification: Why does Oren believe that both GPs and LPs are wildly over-diversified in their portfolios? What is the right amount of companies for GPs to have in their portfolio? How does Oren advise LPs on the right amount of funds for them to be invested with? 6.) Oren Zeev: AMA: What does Oren know now that he wishes he had known when he started his career in venture? What elements of the world of LPs would Oren most like to change? Why does Oren feel that the concept of pro-rata is a lazy one? ------------------------------------ #OrenZeev #20VC #HarryStebbings #VentureCapital

Harry StebbingshostOren Zeevguest

May 23, 20221h 1mWatch on YouTube ↗

WHAT IT’S REALLY ABOUT

Solo VC Oren Zeev Explains Billion-Dollar Fundraising And Contrarian Strategy

Oren Zeev, a solo GP with a long track record in venture, discusses how he raised roughly $1.5B across multiple funds in rapid succession while ignoring conventional portfolio-construction dogma. He contrasts today’s downturn with the dot-com bust and 2008, arguing current pain is largely valuation-driven rather than business-fundamental driven. Zeev explains his opportunistic, founder-first investing style: no pacing targets, no ownership targets, minimal diversification, and aggressive follow-ons when his conviction exceeds the market’s. He critiques partnership dynamics, LP incentives, and standard VC practices such as vintage diversification, rigid ownership rules, and pro-rata obsession, positioning his model as structurally better aligned with founders.

IDEAS WORTH REMEMBERING

5 ideas

Don’t over-generalize from past crashes; respond to the current reality.

Zeev notes that unlike the dot-com era, today’s downturn is mostly about lower valuations, not demand collapse, so investors should avoid reflexively applying 2000 or 2008 playbooks and instead focus on business fundamentals.

Abandon artificial deployment pacing and invest purely on opportunity quality.

He refuses to manage capital by time or quotas, raising new funds as needed and doing deals only when they meet his bar, even if that means multiple funds in a year or long stretches with few new investments.

Prioritize conviction and upside over rigid ownership or valuation discipline.

Zeev cares less about target percentages and more about whether a stake can “move the needle,” preferring to risk slightly overpaying in high-growth companies rather than miss great outcomes by being overly price-sensitive.

Be candid and decisive when a company isn’t working, and avoid “death by extension.”

When he loses faith in a business, he communicates directly with founders, seeks soft landings or sales, and warns against dragging companies out for an extra few months, which often multiplies pain and destroys dignity.

Partnership structures can suppress contrarian bets and encourage mediocrity.

Because partners must convince committees, they tend to avoid controversial deals and optimize for what’s easy to approve, whereas a solo GP can fully own contrarian decisions and move faster without internal politics.

WORDS WORTH SAVING

5 quotes

I just do good deals. I don’t want to think about portfolio construction and vintage diversification and all that.

— Oren Zeev

If something’s not working, something’s not working. Don’t over-obsess about saving it—just be positive, help if you can, and focus on the future.

— Oren Zeev

Partnerships drive things more towards mediocrity as opposed to exceptionalism.

— Oren Zeev

The customers are the founders, not the LPs. We work for the founders.

— Oren Zeev

The ones that you want to sell, you can’t, and the ones that you can sell, you don’t want to sell.

— Oren Zeev

Comparisons between current tech downturn, dot-com crash, and 2008 crisisFundraising pace, deployment strategy, and lack of vintage/temporal managementPartnership vs solo-GP dynamics and their impact on decision qualityViews on ownership, diversification, pro-rata, and follow-on investingFounder relationships, handling underperforming companies, and knowing when to shut downCritique of LP behavior, incentives, and over-diversificationCase studies: Riverside, Tipalti, Audible, Dlocal, and major “misses”

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