Jeff Horing

Co-founder and Managing Director of Insight Partners, a venture capital and private equity firm.

Claims

As speaker

Mentioned in

Key positions and views

Gross Retention is the single most fundamental metric for determining the long-term value of a software company, as it directly correlates with potential cash flow margins and durability.

The most effective venture capital strategy for Insight Partners has been to make significant follow-on investments into its proven winners, generating the firm's largest exits.

Net Retention is a highly misleading and 'uninformative' metric for evaluating software businesses, despite its popularity with Wall Street.

AI's primary impact on established software companies will be as a 'massive TAM accelerator' that expands their market, not as an existential threat that disrupts their core business moats, which are based on deep business knowledge.

A centralized, in-person operational model is superior for investment decision-making, as proven by the failure of a past geographic expansion and negative experiences with remote work.

Podcast consensus on Horing

Points of consensus

▶Horing consistently emphasizes that fundamental business health, particularly high gross retention and accelerating net new bookings, is the primary driver of long-term value for software companies.Apr 2026

▶He repeatedly affirms that Insight Partners' most successful strategy involves concentrating capital through follow-on investments or 'double down checks' in their best-performing portfolio companies.Apr 2026

▶Horing's commentary reflects a belief that the venture capital market has scaled dramatically, where billion-dollar exits are no longer considered major wins for top firms and mega-deals define the pinnacle of success.Apr 2026

▶He maintains a consistent operational philosophy favoring a centralized, in-person team, citing the failure of a past European expansion and negative experiences with remote work during the pandemic.Apr 2026

Points of debate

▶Horing's position that Net Retention is 'one of the least informative' metrics directly contradicts its widespread use and importance among Wall Street analysts and many software investors.Apr 2026

▶While much of the tech industry has embraced remote or hybrid work, Horing's view is that it was negative for decision-making and will not be repeated at his firm, placing him in opposition to current workplace trends.Apr 2026

▶Contrary to the widespread hype that AI will slash software development costs, Horing offers a more tempered view, stating that such costs within his portfolio have only been 'inching down,' not collapsing.Apr 2026

▶Horing argues that AI is not an existential threat to incumbent software giants like SAP, a viewpoint that contrasts with the narrative that AI startups will rapidly disrupt and unseat established enterprise players.

Key themes

▶Contrarian Valuation MetricsApr 2026

Horing champions what he considers to be fundamental, predictive metrics over those popular on Wall Street. He argues that Gross Retention is the single most important driver of exit valuations and that the change in net new bookings (the 'second derivative' of growth) is a better predictor of success than overall revenue growth, while dismissing Net Retention as uninformative.

Investors following Horing's philosophy would prioritize companies with durable, non-discretionary products (high gross retention) and accelerating market adoption over those that rely on upselling existing customers to mask underlying churn.

▶Insight Partners' Investment PlaybookApr 2026

The claims outline a scaled, multi-stage investment strategy fueled by a large sourcing team and centralized in New York. Key tenets include making early bets (e.g., Wiz at zero revenue), executing software buyouts, and systematically deploying 'double down checks' into proven winners, which have become the firm's best-performing investments.

Insight Partners' model appears to be a highly structured, repeatable process designed to leverage scale and operational control, favoring disciplined capital concentration over a 'spray and pray' venture approach.

▶The Evolving Scale of Venture CapitalApr 2026

Horing observes a significant shift in the private markets, where a $1 billion exit is no longer a major victory for top VCs. He points to mega-deals like VMware's $60 billion sale and the rise of large, IPO-like private funding rounds for companies like Databricks and OpenAI as the new standard for success.

The bar for a top-tier venture return has been raised exponentially, suggesting that firms must not only identify unicorns but also have the capital and conviction to hold and concentrate their positions for much larger outcomes.

▶Pragmatic Perspective on AI's ImpactApr 2026

Horing views AI not as an immediate disruptor to incumbent software companies but as a 'massive TAM accelerator.' He believes AI's primary value is in augmenting the deep business knowledge moats of companies like SAP and expanding user bases for products like Photoshop, rather than in simply reducing code development costs, which he has found to be minimal so far.

Horing's analysis suggests the most immediate investment opportunities in AI may be with established software players who can leverage the technology to deepen their customer relationships and expand their market, rather than with startups aiming for direct disruption.

Source episodes

Timeline

1999

Insight Partners executed one of the earliest software buyouts with its acquisition of Vertifor, establishing an early presence in the strategy.

2000

Insight Partners attempted to scale geographically with a European fund, which Horing describes as a failure that led the firm to centralize its investment operations in New York City.

Post-2000s

The firm honed its strategy of making significant follow-on investments ('double down checks'), which Horing identifies as its best-performing strategy, leading to major exits like Monday.com and Encino from initial investments under $25 million.

COVID-19 Pandemic

Horing notes a negative experience with remote work for decision-making, solidifying the firm's conviction in a centralized, in-person operational model.

Present

Horing describes Insight Partners as managing a ~$12 billion fund, deploying over $3 billion annually, and actively investing in AI, viewing it as a market accelerator rather than a fundamental disruptor to incumbent software companies.

Suggested prompts

How does Horing's dismissal of Net Retention square with its widespread adoption, and what specific business models might be overvalued or undervalued by his preferred metrics? &nearr;Given Insight's failed European expansion and negative view on remote work, how might the firm's centralized model impact its ability to source and manage global opportunities in the future? &nearr;Horing claims AI is a 'TAM accelerator' but not an existential threat to incumbents. What specific types of AI startups *would* pose a threat to the moats of companies like SAP, according to his logic? &nearr;If 'double down checks' are Insight's best-performing investments, what does this imply about the firm's risk-adjusted returns on its initial, smaller-check investments? &nearr;

Key concepts

Insight Partners Strategy 11 ep Software Valuation Metrics 6 ep AI Impact & Investment 5 ep Venture Capital Market Trends 4 ep Portfolio Company Performance 3 ep Private Equity & Buyouts 3 ep Enterprise Software 3 ep Go-to-Market Strategy 1 ep

Notable quotes

“I was already at my 11th grade math. So I'm like, this is one of the least informative numbers I could think of. And yet that was the only number that Wall Street asked.”

Jeff Horing · 5 Ingredients for the Perfect Investment | Jeff Horing Interview

“We think that metric is really the fundamental driver of all exit values and ultimately large companies.”

Jeff Horing · 5 Ingredients for the Perfect Investment | Jeff Horing Interview

“it's a massive tam accelerator so okay my core software is not as sexy but now i can go after a whole set of problems that my customers have that i before could never automate”

Jeff Horing · 5 Ingredients for the Perfect Investment | Jeff Horing Interview

“to get Benchmark or Sequoia to sell something for a billion dollars probably doesn't get their heart rate up today.”

Jeff Horing · 5 Ingredients for the Perfect Investment | Jeff Horing Interview

Report last updated: Apr 21, 2026

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