Hard Tech, Future Titans, and Solo GP Life with Zal Bilimoria
- 13 hours ago
- 3 min read
Zal Bilimoria is a Founding Partner at Refactor Capital. This special episode was recorded live at the recent Future Titans emerging manager summit. Zal is a high-conviction, hard-tech investor and solo capitalist who manages more than $225 million. He has a fascinating career, from building products at Netflix and LinkedIn to being an early employee at a16z to later forming Refactor. We talked about why Zal is solo, what he learned from a16z, why he invests with conviction, how he built a robust firm without any employees supporting him, and how he managed to lead a Series D round despite his firm being a Seed expert.
The episode is now available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon, and YouTube Music.
Hard Tech, Future Titans, and Solo GP Life with Zal Bilimoria of Refactor Capital
00:59 — Why Zal chose the solo GP path (A16Z dynamics + speed at seed)
03:23 — Refactor origin story: Fund I with David Lee → transition to solo
05:42 — Staying intentionally small: no team, consistent fund size, maximize founder time
09:40 — Solo sustainability: graduation-rate math, bandwidth, “robustness”
11:57 — “Hit-by-a-bus” plan: life insurance structure for LP protection
16:46 — Most sci-fi company with real traction: Solugen + defense/chemistry pivot
21:02 — Leading a Series D as the seed lead: SPV prep + first term sheet in 2022 reset
29:39 — SPVs vs opportunity funds + reserve strategy shift (50% → ~20%)
Hard Tech, Future Titans, and Solo GP Life with Zal Bilimoria of Refactor Capital
Why Zal chose the solo GP path (on purpose): after seeing large-firm partnership dynamics at Andreessen Horowitz, he optimized for speed, autonomy, and founder time—especially important at seed where decision velocity matters. Refactor started as a two-GP fund with David Lee (ex–SV Angel), then David retired earlier than expected—forcing Zal to rebuild the LP base and prove the strategy could work with a single decision-maker.
A “right-sized” fund strategy as an operating system: Zal explains why he’s stayed around ~$50M per fund, targets ~20 companies per fund, and focuses on ~8–10% ownership at entry to keep the model manageable and return-capable. He actively tracks how many portfolio companies “graduate” (to Series A and beyond) each year so his board/support load stays sustainable without adding headcount.
Robustness for LPs (the “hit-by-a-bus” plan): Zal shares a concrete solo-GP risk mitigation tactic—he carries a life insurance policy payable to the management company so LPs have resources to recruit a successor or wind down assets without crushing fund performance.
Hard tech example that feels sci-fi (with real traction): Solugen. Zal recounts leading Solugen’s seed ~9 years ago and watching it scale into a large revenue business—then pivoting into a high-demand defense chemistry product with major government pull.
How a seed lead ends up leading a Series D: during the 2022 market reset, Zal had an SPV ready (~$20M) to secure pro rata; when no one wanted to “stick their neck out” as lead, he wrote the first term sheet—unlocking the round and attracting co-leads/followers.
Reserve strategy shift: he describes moving from ~50% reserves to ~20% reserves—preferring more “shots on goal” at pre-seed/seed, and noting how hard it is to consistently pick Series A winners even when top firms lead the round.
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