Clarey Zhu

Partner at TCV

Background
Clarey focuses on investments in growth-stage fintech, digital health, and consumer internet businesses globally. She works on TCV’s investments in ByteDance, Hinge Health, Brex, Hotmart, Nubank (NYSE: NU), Peloton (NASDAQ: PTON), LegalZoom (NASDAQ:LZ), and Klook, among others. Before joining TCV in 2018, Clarey worked in the Technology Investment Banking group at J.P. Morgan in San Francisco, where she focused on M&A advisory and financings for tech companies across the internet, software, systems, and semiconductor verticals globally. She also brings banking and early-stage investing experience from previous positions in New York City, Beijing, and Jerusalem. Clarey was named a top female leader in growth investing by GrowthCap in 2022.
 
What led you to pursue a career in investing?
My grandpa was a professor turned entrepreneur who still had multiple patents every year in his 70s. He inspired me to stay close to innovation ecosystems and visionary founders. During college, I managed to spend several months in the startup nation of Israel, doing research and interning at an early-stage fund there. That experience got me very interested in pursuing an investing career. Then I did TMT banking to learn more about finance given my liberal arts background, better develop a landscape view of the tech ecosystem, and work with various types of funds to further explore my interest in investing.

What have you found most rewarding about growth equity? What has been the most challenging?
The most rewarding part is certainly the people. It’s exciting to be surrounded by high-caliber founders, experienced industry executives, and impressive peers. I am also grateful to have had the opportunity to start sourcing early on in my career, which makes meeting new people and building existing relationships a meaningful part of my day naturally. 
On what’s most challenging, I always think about time allocation. Given the long feedback cycle on your efforts in growth investing in terms of returns years later, it’s important to think through tradeoffs and gauge potential long-term returns on time spent on any project. I try to force myself to ruthlessly prioritize. 

What skills do you believe are valuable to success within investing?
I think intellectual curiosity, growth mindset, and work ethic are foundational to success in investing. On top of those things, most skills can be acquired. And over time, people leverage their strengths and develop their own styles of investing. 

What has been one of the best pieces of advice you’ve received throughout your career?
When I first started the investing job, things were quite intense as I had to ramp up the learning curve fast. A close mentor, who is very kind, dropped by my office one day to check in on me and said that investing is a marathon not a sprint. Guess that’s true with most things. It’s on us to manage our balance and wellness. Given investing is creative and open-ended, it’s also important to have the mental space to let good ideas pop up. 

Any favorite books, podcasts, or shows that you would recommend?
Invest Like the Best (podcast) and Stratechery (blog) are both great.
 
Thank you for your time, Clarey! To learn more about TCV, click here.