Zeev: I banned an LP who complained about rapid fund deployment
Oren Zeev · Oren Zeev: How I Raised $1 BILLION in 12 Months | 20VC #888 · 20VC with Harry Stebbings · May 24, 2022 · at 7:25
Oren Zeev, solo GP at Zeev Ventures, recounts dropping an investor who criticized his fast fund deployment pace after Fund 3.
0:00 / 0:40exact quote · 40.2s
▶ Watch the full episode on YouTube → 720p mp4 · rendered on demand · StarZero watermark
“I had a, an LP who joined in the third fund, and four months later, I tell him that you know, I'm raising our fine for, I finished, I'm raising, and he totally freaked out, and he started lecturing me on, he didn't call it what you called it, he called it vintage diversification, but I think it's the same thing. Same idea. And I started to lecture me, you know, from all, you know and, you know, I just, you know, long story short, he's not an LP in four, and he's not been an LP ever since. He's not gonna be invited ever to be an LP in his adventures.”
quote is from the automated transcript, cleaned for reading: filler sounds and stutters are removed, nothing is rephrased. names can be misheard (the analysis reads context, assessments check outside sources). how →
More from Oren Zeev
Zeev: Predictions that AI will kill software incumbents are provocative BS
“So the bottom line is, I think this notion that all the incumbents are going to die, you know, this notion that is being promoted by some People who I think whose main motivation is to make provocative statements, you know and get attention as thought leaders …”
Zeev: GP-level diversification provides no value to LPs
“By the way, from the LP perspective, diversification at the level of the GP makes no sense, because they have multiple GPs, so, so the diversification gives nothing to LPs.”
Zeev will not change deployment pace for LP vintage preferences
“I'm going to do my thing, and if it works for them, fine, and if not, they can opt themselves out, and some of them have, and it's fine. Good people opted out, and it's fine. I'm not going to do things differently.”
Oren Zeev: Traditional mid-sized VC partnerships are in deep trouble
“If you are traditional five, six person partnership without anything Very, very, very unique and special in the friendship that you bring to the table, then yes, I think you are in trouble because it's almost like, you know, worse off. On one hand, you're not …”
Zeev: Mid-Tier VCs Inflate Paper Marks to Survive Fundraising
“However, if you if you are a fund that is more middle of the road and you're not sure how Is it gonna be a raise or not? You're gonna find any excuse to keep the prices up, right? To look good on paper.”
Zeev: Partners in large VC firms prioritize personal deals over fund performance
“You know, if the typical, if a partner in a in a partnership, especially large partnership with some, with politics and all that they're much more interested in their investments succeeding than anything else because that's their career.”