Kat Orekhova is a venture investor at Evening Fund who uniquely combines being a full-time founder (CEO of Vareto) with investing, operating under a "founder by day, investor by night" model that lets her experience the same market conditions as her portfolio companies in real time. She built Facebook's first-ever data science team within FP&A at the request of CFO Susan Li, giving her an uncommon inside view of how large-scale consumer businesses actually work financially, which she now applies to evaluating startups.

• Dedication to a highly active and supportive approach to angel investing. Acts as a hands on partner well after a deal closes and takes pride in being considered the most helpful investor on a cap table, even when compared to large lead funds. Frequently mentions enjoying the process of founders supporting other founders and points to high follow on rates for seed investments as proof of steady backing.
• Prioritizes strong fundamentals and execution over vanity metrics. Advises early stage teams to ignore external validation like press coverage or social media followers and instead concentrate entirely on achieving product market fit. Emphasizes that strategy is useless without execution and suggests prioritizing weekly tasks by figuring out exactly what factor is most likely to cause the business to fail and actively derisking it.
• Views building a startup through the lens of a professional athlete rather than a soldier going to war. Highlights the importance of loving the daily grind, relying on consistent compound effort, and regularly tracking progress through retrospectives and investor updates. Frequently uses running as a metaphor, comparing the entrepreneurial journey to daily workouts where some days feel amazing and others are just average.
• Interest in startups that fix frustrating offline processes and solve real problems through excellent design. Openly shares annoyances with outdated systems like filling out paper dental forms or dealing with large telecom customer service. Suggests that the best way to develop a business idea is to spend deep time with a target audience to understand their exact pain points before building, which makes selling the product much easier later.
• Advocates for intentional work life balance and personal efficiency. Believes in explicitly scheduling personal activities like runs and family time first, allowing work to naturally fit around those priorities. Values daily efficiency hacks, such as wearing an identical daily uniform of cashmere sweaters and athletic pants to eliminate decision fatigue.