Qubit: Roelof Botha (Sequoia) on $10 Billion Gains
How many VCs can say that they generated $10 billion in gains for their investors?
According to this interview at the Stanford GSB, Roelof Botha of Sequoia achieved that back in 2020.
That is a phenomenal amount.
He also shared that:
Sequoia's job is not to invest but to build companies with outlier founders
Sequoia deploys capital on behalf of Boston Children's, Ford Foundation, Stanford
Today is more like 2000 than 2008, but iconic tech companies emerge from challenging economic environments
“At Stanford, Botha became fascinated with tech startups, and while still a student was recruited by Elon Musk to join PayPal, the pioneering online payments firm. He rose to CFO and led the company’s IPO in 2002 at the age of 28. After helping to negotiate the company’s sale to eBay in 2002, Botha joined Sequoia, where his early work included partnering with a then-obscure startup called YouTube. Thanks to that success and investments in companies such as Instagram and Square, Botha eventually surpassed his early career goal of generating $1 billion in gains on behalf of the firm and its limited partners (LPs) — which he reminded himself about by writing ‘10^9’ in his notebook each week. In 2020 he reportedly hit the $10 billion mark, or 10^10. Last July, Botha succeeded Doug Leone as Sequoia’s global leader.”
“Secondly, we believe our job is not merely to invest; we are company builders. We don’t make deals; we partner with outlier founders to help them reach the full scale of their ambition. And we stick with these founders for the long-term — decades in many cases — as they navigate the inevitable challenges that come with building an era-defining company. Lastly, we invest primarily on behalf of great causes, with organizations such as the Ford Foundation, Stanford University, and Boston Children’s Hospital as our LP base. This gives us a greater sense of responsibility and purpose.”
“This period is more like 2000 than 2008. We saw a large run-up in tech valuations thanks to low interest rates. With rising rates, and the corresponding increase in the cost of capital, valuations have reverted towards historical averages over the past year. Similar to 2003, many people are questioning whether Silicon Valley and technology is over. My response is: absolutely not. So long as there are problems to be solved in the world, there will be ambitious and resilient founders determined to come up with new solutions. In fact, history has shown that many of the most iconic tech companies emerge from challenging economic environments. For example, Google and PayPal emerged from the dotcom crash, and Airbnb and Block emerged from the global financial crisis.”
Source:
Stanford GSB - MBA Voices: Roelof Botha, MBA ’00, Managing Partner, Sequoia Capital
Tweets and Posts:
Qubits are insights that we find and share with you.