Drew Oetting

Background

Drew Oetting is a co-founder and president of 8VC, a venture capital firm with over $6 billion in total committed capital that has invested in 360 companies over 11 years ¹²³. He is based in Austin, Texas, where 8VC relocated its headquarters in November 2020 ².

Oetting grew up in Iowa City, Iowa ⁴. He earned a B.A. in economics and mathematics cum laude from Claremont McKenna College ¹⁵. He began his career as an analyst in the Technology Investment Banking Division of Moelis & Company in Palo Alto, where he focused on M&A advisory in internet/digital media and network infrastructure ¹⁵.

Oetting then served as Chief of Staff to Joe Lonsdale, the co-founder of Palantir Technologies ¹⁵. He subsequently became a partner at Formation 8, a venture firm that preceded 8VC ¹⁵. In 2015, Oetting co-founded 8VC alongside Lonsdale, Alex Kolicich, and Jake Medwell ²³.

A distinguishing feature of Oetting’s career is his role in designing and leading 8VC’s Build program, an internal company-creation initiative where the firm acts as a junior co-founder rather than majority owner ¹⁴⁶. The Build program accounts for approximately 30% of 8VC’s capital deployment ⁶. Through this program, Oetting has co-founded over a dozen companies, including National Resilience, Saronic, Epirus, Affinity, Opto Investments, and Harbor Health ¹⁶.

Oetting also serves on several boards and advisory roles, including the Competitiveness Council at Cerberus Capital Management, trustee at LivingOnOne (a non-profit impact production studio), trustee at WeAreThorn (an NGO focused on eliminating child trafficking), and trustee at the Claremont McKenna College Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship ¹.

Stated Thesis

(Self-reported: These represent what Oetting says publicly about his approach. See Inferred Thesis for analysis of actual investment behavior.)

8VC’s publicly stated mission is: “The world is broken. Let’s fix it” ³. Oetting focuses on investments across vertical software, health delivery, and biomanufacturing ¹.

Oetting has stated that the Build program was designed to address a gap in venture capital: “When we formalized the BUILD program…30% of what we do goes into companies we co-founded” ⁶. The firm acts as a “junior co-founder” — providing capital, recruiting founding teams, and embedding deeply in operations without taking majority ownership ¹⁴.

On founder selection, Oetting has said: “What we’re looking for is that entrepreneurial energy. Are they gonna be excited?” ⁷. He values iteration as a key founder trait: “Iteration is something I definitely look for in founders and I think that’s what’s been, you know, that’s enabled us to build a build program” ⁷.

On talent evaluation, Oetting argues that “legacy signals like university degrees often limit access to the best talent,” instead favoring intelligence, character, and work ethic regardless of background ⁴.

On network-driven deal sourcing: “The relationships are where the deal flow comes from and so you want to both put yourself into the right networks but you also want to treat that network as an asset” ⁴.

On operational rigor in portfolio companies, Oetting views “the frequency, quality, and simplicity of weekly metrics as a top predictor of startup success because it forces founders to clearly define the critical processes and systems underlying their business” ⁴.

Inferred Thesis

Based on 8VC’s overall portfolio of 360 companies ² and Oetting’s specific areas of focus:

Stage distribution: Primarily seed and Series A. 8VC Tracxn data shows 108 investments at seed stage (average round $7.95M), 127 at Series A ($22.8M average), and 44 at Series B ($73.1M average) ². Oetting’s Build program companies start at the earliest possible stage — pre-formation.

Sector focus: Oetting has a distinctive focus on capital-intensive, hard-tech sectors that most VCs avoid. His personally co-founded companies cluster in biomanufacturing (Resilience — a domestic pharmaceutical CDMO with 1,000+ Ohio employees), defense technology (Saronic — autonomous naval vessels; Epirus — microwave defense systems), healthcare (Harbor Health), enterprise software (Affinity — relationship-intelligence CRM), and fintech (Opto Investments) ¹⁶.

Build program as primary differentiator: The co-founding model (30% of capital) means Oetting is often the very first investor and deeply operationally embedded from day one ⁶. This is highly atypical for a multi-billion-dollar venture firm and represents a hybrid VC/PE/company-builder model ⁴⁷.

Founder profile patterns: Oetting is drawn to mission-driven founders obsessed with solving hard problems in sectors where technology can address systemic dysfunction ⁴. The “Forward Deployed Engineers” model — embedding engineers alongside customers — is a pattern Oetting championed at Palantir that carries through to 8VC portfolio companies ¹.

Geographic concentration: 8VC’s headquarters move to Austin in 2020 signals an orientation toward building companies outside traditional Silicon Valley ²³.

Co-investor patterns: Frequently co-invests with Founders Fund, Andreessen Horowitz (especially in defense/American Dynamism companies), and defense-focused investors ³.

Notable pattern — patriotic/American renewal dimension: 8VC grounds its strategy in American economic renewal, tying company creation to reshoring manufacturing (Resilience), rebuilding naval capacity (Saronic), and critical infrastructure ³⁶.

Note: Individual investment attribution is difficult because Oetting operates through 8VC’s funds. The analysis above combines firm-level data with Oetting’s specific focus areas and co-founded companies.

Portfolio

Companies co-founded by Drew Oetting through 8VC Build:

8VC investments attributed to or associated with Oetting:

This table represents a subset of 8VC’s 360 total investments. Individual partner attribution is limited ².

In Their Own Words

“The relationships are where the deal flow comes from and so you want to both put yourself into the right networks but you also want to treat that network as an asset.” — Drew Oetting, The Dealmakerr Show ⁴

“When we formalized the BUILD program…30% of what we do goes into companies we co-founded.” — Drew Oetting, Sourcery podcast ⁶

“What we’re looking for is that entrepreneurial energy. Are they gonna be excited?” — Drew Oetting, The Full Ratchet podcast ⁷

“Iteration is something I definitely look for in founders.” — Drew Oetting, The Full Ratchet podcast ⁷

“You can put bets behind stuff you don’t totally understand when you understand the people and the quality of the people.” — Drew Oetting, The Dealmakerr Show ⁴

What Founders Say

No independently sourced founder testimonials found.

Sources