Lee fits a rare profile: an entrepreneur with a lot of success, yet young enough to have a long career ahead of her. Sequoia could potentially groom her for a leadership role. "Her rare blend of product and design sensibility, leadership and grit will make her a tremendous asset to Sequoia founders and our team,” Sequoia partner Roelof Botha wrote in an e-mail.
Botha said he and partner Alfred Lin heard Lee speak at a tech conference in 2012, were immediately impressed and began getting to know her. Botha invited her to join Sequoia when Yahoo acquired Polyvore last year; she wasn't interested. She said she felt loyal to her coworkers at Polyvore and Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer, whom she had known since her days at Google. This spring, conversations heated up again, and Lee accepted.
Sequoia added Mike Vernal as a partner in May, the first addition since the departure of Michael Goguen, a longtime partner who left this year after he was sued for alleged sexual abuse. (Sequoia quickly severed all ties with him, and Goguen countersued for extortion and defamation.) Botha said Sequoia may add one more partner; he was vague on timing and other details. "If we have a more diverse group, we will make better decisions," he said.
This article was provided by Bloomberg News.