In early April, Insight Partners cofounder and managing director Jeff Horing took the stage at his firm’s sourcing summit, a one-day annual event where Insight gathers its early-career analysts to train them on the firm’s secret formula for success.
Horing is one of the more elusive figures in venture capital, keeping a low profile even as Insight has left a $90 billion, multi-decade footprint on software investing. He was at ease, though, as he surveyed the 75-odd-person crowd of future investors, many of them straight out of college. In his 25-minute, ad-libbed address, Horing compared their job to baseball. “Your edge [in investing] only comes from pitches that you look at,” he said. “You can be the best baseball hitter in the world, but if you don’t see the pitches, you’re not going to make the hits.”
