Alfred Lin, a Sequoia partner who sits on the board of Airbnb and DoorDash, has described the VC partnership by comparing it to Mötley Crüe. His point was the musicians each contribute different talents. (The band draws parallels in another way to Sequoia’s leadership, which was composed entirely of men until 2016, when it hired the first female investment partner in the U.S., Jess Lee.)
Lin demonstrated his commitment to Airbnb during its early days by working at the startup’s office one day a week, something Botha and other partners have done with their companies. When Airbnb sought to evolve the service into one designed as much around feeling like a local while traveling as it was about finding a place to crash, Sequoia partners pledged their support, said Julie Supan, a brand positioning expert who has worked with the company and with Sequoia partners. “They know when there is emotion under the product,” Supan said. “They have a good sense of that.”
Perhaps most importantly, Sequoia prides itself on a willingness to admit when it’s wrong and adapt when required. Not long after the Black Swan memo, Sequoia employees in China, who oversee a large number of local investments including in the parent company of TikTok, began to notice early signs of recovery there, said a person familiar with the firm’s thinking. The partners realized the same may soon happen in the U.S., said the person, who asked not to be identified because the discussions were private.
The tolls the virus took on lives and on people’s livelihoods grew, but by the summer, stock markets were primed for listings. Sequoia advised several of its more mature startups to dust off their IPO plans, according to venture capitalists who sit on boards with Sequoia partners and asked not to be identified. In September alone, Sequoia had three successful offerings: data company Snowflake Inc., cloud-management provider Sumo Logic Inc. and Unity. Sequoia’s stakes in Airbnb and DoorDash will be worth a combined $9 billion this week if each prices shares at the high end of their estimates.
This article was provided by Bloomberg News.