20VC: Oren Zeev on Why Diversification Does Not Work, Thesis Based Investing Is Sceptical & Partners Mostly Stay Together For LPs

Oren Zeev is the Founding Partner @ Zeev Ventures, one of Silicon Valley’s most under the radar but high performing funds with a portfolio including the likes of Houzz, Chegg, Audible and recent guest with Adi Sideman @ YouNow. Prior to founding Zeev Ventures, Oren was a General Partner @ Apax Partners, as part of the founding Apax Israel team. Before VC, Oren was a founding team member of IBM’s chip design group in Haifa.

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In Today’s Episode You Will Learn:

1.) How Oren made his way into the world of VC as part of the Apax Israel founding team? What was the catalyst behind his decision to go solo with Zeev Ventures?

2.) What were Oren’s biggest lessons from investing in the up and down of the bubble with Apax? Why did this lead to Oren’s belief that “diversification does not work”? How does that play out in his portfolio construction?

3.) Why does Oren believe that “LPs are suckers for longevity”? How does that influence the partnerships that they generally back? How does Oren assess VC partnership dynamics? How should founders evaluate VC partner relationships?

4.) Oren has spent over 1,000 hours on the boards of some of the most transformational companies, how has he seen his style of board member change over the years? What has been his biggest lesson? What board member behavior does he dislike the most?

5.) Why is Oren skeptical of thematic investing? Why is this not optimal in producing funds that deliver out-sized returns? What examples does Oren have that prove adopting a generalist approach is beneficial from a returns standpoint?

Items Mentioned In Today’s Show:

Oren’s Fave Book: The Innovator’s Dilemma

Oren’s Fave Blog: AVC, The Twenty Minute VC

Oren’s Most Recent Investment: Next Insurance

As always you can follow Harry, The Twenty Minute VC and Oren on Twitter here!

Likewise, you can follow Harry on Snapchat here for mojito madness and all things 20VC.

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