Building for the Long Term with Sequoia's Doug Leone (Startup Grind Global 2022)

Startup Grind & Bevy Co-founder & CEO, Derek Andersen sits down with Doug Leone to talk about his time at Sequoia, what he's learned from 30+ years leading the top firm in the world, and the evolution of the venture capital industry in Silicon Valley and beyond.
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[@patrycjam.6311]

Well worth a listen. So much wisdom in 40 mins

[@christopherarmstrong2710]

Great talk, thanks for sharing!

[@christopherarmstrong2710]

8:25 "In a vicious competition with a twin brother."
8:48 Put those people in a circle of trust. Share things among us, have the incessant need to win that never goes away.
19:58 Sequoia Experience = Execute and dominate, and own as much of your company as possible when you do it.
20:55 A lot of early stage companies give away their company like it’s nothing (SAFEs)
20:10 Don’t raise as much money as possible, raise as little as possible to get you to the next level with a little bit of cushion, so your price goes up.
20:14 Hold onto your *equity* like crazy, save it for your long term partners, your seed investors should get something, the partners that are with you for the next 10-12 years should get something - but then save a whole chunk for great engineers, great sales reps, great marketing people. That's how you roll out a great company.
21:35 Architect your cap table the same way you architect your product. You’re looking for a lifetime partner for the next 10 years. Just having a term sheet doesn’t mean jack. Find your partner and do your due diligence.
23:00 Keep investing into product. Never take your foot off the accelerator of product (learned that lesson in '08)
24:49 As the CEO, you manage the board - not the other way around. You're the leader of the band.
25:10 Wartime leadership is needed in the next couple of years, it's GAME ON, it's real serious, and you've got to be quite tough.7
27:45 You set the tone of your company the 1st time you hire your 1st employee, the time you choose your 1st 50k or 100k investor, that's when the culture starts being set. So you want to think very carefully from that point on. You're much likely to get a Series A if Seqouia is on your Cap table.
31:40 In the early days the startups are immune to the public markets, that comes later. If you're going to raise for 9 months, raise for 15 months - just so you have a little cushion so that you get there.
32:00 *Silicon Valley is going to be less attractive than it was 4-5 years ago.* We're all interconnected, so what used to only happen in SV because of great universities and great weather is now happened not only in other parts of the USA, but worldwide. So SV has competition for the 1st time. The political decisions that have been made in California - the debt, the homelessness, young children wearing masks, broken infrastructure, the fires, being the 5th largest economy in the world - yet can't balance the budget, the rents - young people can't buy a home. The whole thing is a bit of a mess, people & companies are going away. Doug has 4 children and 7 grandchildren in SV, otherwise he'd be gone. What used to be 80% of all startups coming out of SV will now be 50%, partly due to competition, but partly because you have a 16% tax rate - and in many parts of America it's 0%. *Humans are smart, humans are mobile. Zoom exists.*
35:00 "America, despite all its imperfections, is still the greatest place in the world. Don't you forget that. Improve it, but just realize there is no place like the US of A. You talk to anybody that lives outside of America, and they're dying to come to this country."
38:12 "None of us in this room can raise warriors. Because in order to raise warriors, you need desperation. So realize all of our children are at a disadvantage." So you an 1) Love them a ton, make sure they feel the parental love privilege. 2) Make them earn everything they possibly have, so even though they're not warriors, you have them to have a chance to have a dry to to something. 3) In addition to the great resume traits, don't forget about the Eulogy traits. (How many people would hide you? Auschwitz survivor. At the end of the day, the quality of your life will depend on the relationships with the children, and the people who would risk their lives to hide you)
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