Justin Ouyang

Justin

Ouyang

jouyang@omersventures.com

The story so far

From early childhood, the value of academic excellence was ingrained in me by my family, and I can’t remember a time when I didn’t feel a sense of competitive drive. Boarding school brought a new set of challenges but also taught me independence at an early age. It was also my first introduction to outdoor adventures – backpacking, horseback riding, and rock climbing.

And I’ve just been addicted to climbing since then. I love the combination of physical and mental challenges, the ability to measure progress, and the diverse community. The sport constantly teaches me resilience but also rewards my training and effort with a sense of accomplishment. You can often find me climbing in any city or country I visit.

I drew inspiration from the best attributes of those around me, from mentors, coaches, and teachers. Their influence helped me develop a unique set of values and strengths –  the pursuit of excellence above everything, and an innate curiosity, relentless drive and willingness to push my own boundaries.

That competitive drive, coupled with my affinity for problem-solving is the common thread throughout my career so far. I started my career at Cambridge Associates – a global investment management firm. But being in the Bay Area, my attention was fairly quickly caught by the dynamism and pace of the world of tech and startups. I combed through a list of startups to join and how to pitch myself to get my foot in the door. In the end, I joined Zenefits early on when there were less than 100 employees and had a front row seat on that rocket ship as we quickly scaled to $60M ARR and over 1600 employees.

My career then took me to Intercom, where I was the first sales ops hire and helped scale that business from $30M to $90M ARR in just two years. Most recently, I spent 3 years at Slack – joining pre-IPO and leaving after the Salesforce acquisition. Throughout my operating career, my teams played a critical role in the people, process, and technology that underpin an effective and productive sales organization. We drove new GTM strategies, evaluated and implemented new technology (at times building our custom tools) and served as the cross-functional leads with other key departments.

Luckily for me, OMERS Ventures reached out . I had always been curious about venture capital – having invested (and at times losing) my own capital through angel investing, but never having formally pursued early stage investing as a career. From the beginning, I fell in love with the role. For the first time, my recruiting case studies were fun! And I was excited to leverage the insights and lessons I learned as an operator.

It’s an absolute privilege to do what we do. I love the non-stop hustle, the entrepreneurial mindset, and the potential magic of creativity. I truly appreciate the focus on the execution, the continual learning at the forefront of technology, and the deep and original thinking. And most of all – I’m grateful for the relationships we develop with founders and how we serve them and their teams.

This constant desire to problem-solve, and find answers to tough questions shines bright in my personal life too, where I have a passion for climbing. I love the thrill of pressurized decision-making. Whether it's tackling different climbing grades or dealing with unexpected challenges on an outdoor climb, this sport has instilled in me a resilience that I carry into all aspects of my life. And despite the fact that I’ve been doing it for nearly two decades, climbing continues to teach me lessons about pushing my own limits. 

‍What should founders know about you?

I’m looking for great teams going after big, timely opportunities. I admire those who have a contagious passion, demonstrate deep domain expertise, and that drive pace and urgency. I strive to hustle for our founders – whether that’s sourcing a new hire, warm introductions to prospects or late-night strategy sessions around a whiteboard. I'm all in.

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