To MZ, great founders carry a kind of je ne sais quoi an intangible edge you can’t quantify or pattern match for at the earliest stages. Instead, you need to deeply listen to their audacious vision, understand the people they choose to build with, trace the decisions that led them here, and be willing to dream the dream alongside them long before metrics exist. In an industry that leans heavily on pattern matching across founders, markets, and business models he believes the very traits that make a founder exceptional often defy conventional patterns. Outliers don’t fit templates, nor do they cater to convention or conform to established tastes.

His perspectives on people are shaped by a childhood spent across four continents, immersing himself in a wide range of cultures and socioeconomic realities. As a Partner at Audacious Ventures, MZ invests in bold, early-stage founders who see the world and problems differently.

Prior to Audacious, MZ was at Kleiner Perkins and Gradient Ventures, where he led / was involved as an investor in Labelbox, Unit21, Figma, Retool, Pine Park Health, Flowdash, Reclaim, Buddybuild, FullStory among others. Prior to investing he founded a YC (S11) backed developer tools company in the JavaScript error detection space.

MZ Studied Computer Science at the University of Virginia.