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How Did Peter Thiel Get Oren Zeev to Raise a Fund? · The Peel with Turner Novak

The Peel with Turner Novak

Oren Zeev's $2.7B Solo GP Playbook

Oren Zeev runs one of the most successful venture firms in the world. The catch: he has no partners, no associates, holds no investment committee, writes no memos, and has no office. He's a solo GP managing $2.7 billion across 11 funds, an early backer of Audible, Houzz, Chegg, Tipalti, and Navan, where a relationship that started with a $50k check became…

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Notes

How Does Oren Zeev Run a Venture Fund Alone? at 1:46

Oren Zeev says most partners add very little value to each other, and a team is not automatically better than one person. Speed matters. Full answer
Why Does a Venture Committee Miss the Best Deals? at 4:46

Oren Zeev says this business is not symmetrical, and a missed investment is much worse than a bad one. Full answer
How Does Oren Zeev Report to Limited Partners? at 9:37

Oren Zeev sends limited partners a quarterly report made of numbers only. Full answer
What Does Oren Zeev Do in a Typical Week? at 12:59

Oren Zeev's typical week is a board meeting or two, a few founder calls, and long open stretches, including time in the ocean. He does not count the meetings. Full answer
Does Oren Zeev Use a Pitch Deck? at 17:04

Oren Zeev never presents a single slide to any limited partner and has no pitch deck at all. Full answer
Does Oren Zeev Start With a List of Ideas? at 22:40

Oren Zeev does not show up with a pre-planned list of ideas he is looking for. He has never done healthcare because he feels he lacks the intuition. Full answer
Why Does Diversification Inside One Fund Have No Value? at 26:18

Oren Zeev says diversification inside one fund has zero value for LPs, because they already invest in multiple managers. Full answer
Why Was Early Corporate Travel Software a Nightmare? at 32:50

Oren Zeev says first-generation corporate travel software, built in the early 2000s, maybe had the control and visibility a chief financial officer wanted… Full answer
Why Does Oren Zeev Invest Across Funds? at 50:56

Oren Zeev invests across his funds, which he says most other managers will not do. The objection is a conflict of interest. Full answer
Why Does Oren Zeev Skip a Limited Partner Advisory Council? at 53:00

Oren Zeev skips a limited partner advisory council because he wants no extra rules and no friction around cross-fund deals. Full answer
Why Did Oren Zeev Hold Navan Stock After the Lockup? at 55:21

Oren Zeev held Navan stock after the lockup because he thought the share price was far too low and that selling then was not in his limited partners' interest. Full answer
Where Do Oren Zeev's Deals Come From? at 58:53

Oren Zeev says about 80 to 90 percent of the deals he ends up doing come from other portfolio companies. He has no associates out hunting. Full answer
How Did Israel Seed Eight Venture Funds? at 1:08:05

Oren Zeev walked through a program that sponsored eight funds of $20 million each. Full answer
How Did Peter Thiel Get Oren Zeev to Raise a Fund? at 1:20:09

Peter Thiel got Oren Zeev to raise a fund by offering, in a meeting Zeev thought was only a comparison of notes, to be the limited partner and treat it as an… Full answer
Why Is the Israeli Connection Network Exclusive? at 1:25:54

Oren Zeev says the Israeli Connection Network is exclusive because when you try to help everyone, you help no one. Full answer

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