Roelof Botha - Sequoia’s Crucible Moment

My guest today is Roelof Botha, a partner at one of the world’s oldest and most successful venture firms, Sequoia Capital. A few days ago before I sat down with Roelof, he announced Sequoia’s boldest innovation since the firm was founded by Don Valentine in the early 1970s. Going forward, the firm will break from the traditional VC mould of fund cycles and instead restructure around a single, open-ended, permanent structure named The Sequoia Fund.

In our conversation, we first discuss the details of this change from all different angles and then dive into Roelof’s career. We talk about what’s changed over the past twenty years, his days at PayPal, what legendary investors he’s worked with have had in common, and what he’s learned from being involved in businesses like Square, YouTube, and Unity.

Please enjoy this great conversation with Roelof Botha.

For the full show notes, transcript, and links to the best content to learn more, check out the episode page here.

------

Invest Like the Best is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Invest Like the Best, visit joincolossus.com/episodes. 

Past guests include Tobi Lutke, Kevin Systrom, Mike Krieger, John Collison, Kat Cole, Marc Andreessen, Matthew Ball, Bill Gurley, Anu Hariharan, Ben Thompson, and many more.

Stay up to date on all our podcasts by signing up to Colossus Weekly, our quick dive every Sunday highlighting the top business and investing concepts from our podcasts and the best of what we read that week. Sign up here.

Follow us on Twitter: @patrick_oshag | @JoinColossus

Show Notes

[00:02:53] - [First question] - What led Sequoia to change their structure

[00:05:53] - Parallels between their approach and the problem Square set out to solve

[00:07:36] - The mechanics of the new fund and how it’ll affect their clients

[00:13:11] - What the future looks like and how public securities could be a dominant force

[00:15:02] - Benefits and value-unlocks that the new fund offers that weren’t available before

[00:16:55] - Comparing their structure to the current crossover funds we see emerging

[00:18:21] - What alignment looks like in this new structure for LPs

[00:22:02] - Cost of capital, interest rates, and their impacts on rates of return

[00:25:39] - Changes in the industry and founders that he’s noticed

[00:28:56] - What matters to him when meeting with young compani