Don Valentine was the initial founder of the best VC firm in the whole world, Sequoia Capital. The mere fact that he did not put his own name in the name may be an indicator of some sort of character to begin with. Sequoia itself represents a redwood coniferous tree located through California, where all the prominent VC firms are based out of. They are amongst the tallest and oldest trees. Don made several successful investments in his career, the most famous being into Apple at the early stage. He’s widely considered the founding father of Venture Capital and even in the development and growth of Silicon Valley itself. This all despite having no formal education or fancy degrees in the world of business, finance, or venture capital. Below is a list of what Don does and how he thinks.

-why do you want to join Sequoia? What have you learned about sequoia? Wrong answer: financed the best founders and the companies. Who cares what school background one has and the idea is

-focus on big markets first to get big companies; a company operating in extreme niches is unlikely to make it big if it cannot affect daily lifestyles of a massive amount of people.

-first choose the market, then the area with more than one product. Can a product disrupt an existing big market product?

-big companies boards are asleep at the board; they are there to take overpaid checks for meetings that don’t accomplish anything other than agreeing with everything the CEO says, in order to stay on the board and continue to get paid easy money.

-Don is an exceptional listener; be a listener to spot things others don’t. Wisdom comes from noticing the unusual in the ordinary that others miss.

-Give candid and concise advice in a memorable manner. Long meetings bore everyone and no one ends up remembering anything.

-Xerox tried to expand too big and too fast and subsequently lost market share

-some people they went into business with had no business credentials. Set them up with people around them to help them run said companies

-do a few things well: technology and engineering, then marketing

-don’t create markets, it’s too expensive. Exploit existing large markets. Existing large markets already show a proven need for something; creating a new market requires a lot of time and money only to find out that a product offered is irrelevant.

-find people interested in solving technology problems, not people that want to get rich. That’s a byproduct of solving genuine problems.

-Sequoia knocks on other people’s doors, not the other way around. They are hunting for the best investments, as they are few and far in between.

-people are important for technical skills for big problems and big markets. Fit people that can fit problems and markets, not the other way

-he does not like questions longer than 20 words. The art of storytelling is important, particularly in a concise manner.

-learn how to ask good questions, that provides the person a way to explain what they want to do, how, how much money and competition without feeling threatening

-they always have post-mortems on failed companies

-Don hired Alfred Lin, cofounder of internet company sold to Microsoft and Zappos, sold to Amazon. He finds people who have been there, done that, who have practical experience.

-knowing what you don’t know is more important than what you know (Don valentine, and Charlie Munger)

-best time to invest is in recessions; that’s when the best valuations as well as the most innovative companies come about.

-knowing the future is a phenomenal advantage; by working in the businesses that will invent the future, this is the best way, to control and shape the future directly.

-VC works best in Silicon Valley; never underestimate the power of networking and collaborating in person in an atmosphere of talent.

-develop a product that the market timing is good too. Not too early or too late; the appetite for the product needs to exist.

-a woman at Cisco was high ranking and never forgave and lambasted people. She got fired from Cisco and was rich from the IPO, and yet never spoke to Don again. Some high achievers have distinct personality weaknesses.

Disclaimer

This is not Financial Advice. This article is meant only for educational and perhaps entertainment purposes.