8VC's Drew Oetting on their decision-making culture, building talent at firms, and his most critical learnings as an investor

Follow me @samirkaji for my thoughts on the venture market, with a focus on the continued evolution of the VC landscape.This week I’m happy to bring you my conversation with Drew Oetting, founding partner of 8VC, an Austin/SF/NY-based firm that he co-founded in 2015. Today the firm has >$3B in AUM, and has invested in companies such as Blend Labs, Addepar, Flexport, Oscar, and Hims. About Drew Oetting:Drew is a founding partner of 8VC. He focuses on investments across various stages and sectors including vertical software, health delivery, and biomanufacturing.He is also a founding Board Director of Affinity Technologies, an early-stage enterprise software company. Previously he was a partner at Formation 8. Drew also served as chief of staff to Joe Lonsdale prior to starting his investing career.Drew serves on the Competitiveness Council for Cerberus Capital Management. He is also a Trustee to LivingOnOne, a non-profit impact production studio; WeAreThorn, an NGO which leverages technology to eliminate child trafficking; and the Claremont McKenna College Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship.Our sponsors:At Brex, we build financial software and services to help startups scale faster. We understand that founders need to focus on building, not banking. So we’ve reimagined traditional financial systems to enable greater speed and productivity — no matter where founders and their teams are working.We offer a smart corporate card, business account, and mobile app that are easy to use from day one. No manuals needed here. Within minutes, you can deposit funds, send free wires and ACH worldwide, separate investor funds from operating expenses, earn great rewards, automate expenses, and more. Everything we do at Brex is to help founders spend less time managing expenses and reporting on your runway — and more time building your business.Get started at brex.com/ventureSydecar is on a mission to enable anyone to be a capital allocator by creating tools built specifically for today’s venture investor. Their powerful software removes the headache of organizing private investments — so that you can focus on making deals, not spreadsheets.Whether you’re syndicating your first or fiftieth deal, Sydecar acts as your silent operating partner, handling all back office functions in a single place. Sydecar always has your back, so that you never have to worry about chasing subscription docs, lost wires, or late K-1s.Visit our website to learn more and join the waitlist for Sydecar’s limited beta. In this episode we discuss:03:06 Drew’s journey to becoming an investor and joining 8VC 07:49 Early days at Formation 8 Partners11:13 Why 8VC split off to focus on early-stage investing17:23 Creating a true partnership where everyone has an authentic voice21:54 How 8VC builds a team first culture28:11 Acquiring and retaining talent - What firms need do.33:05 The difficulty of competing today39:04 Ingredients necessary for firms to have to consistently win deals in 202243:51 The most impactful piece of investing advice he’s receivedI’d love to know what you took away from this conversation with Drew. Follow me @SamirKaji and give me your insights and questions with the hashtag #ventureunlocked. If you’d like to be considered as a guest or have someone you’d like to hear from (GP or LP), drop me a direct message on Twitter.Podcast Production support provided by Agent Bee Agency This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit ventureunlocked.substack.com