Doug Leone - Sequoia Capital Insights
by Joe · 7 things on Twos
- Don't raise as much as possible! Raise as little as possible to get to the next milestone so the price goes up. Hold onto the equity like crazy. Architect your cap table the same way you achetect your product.
- You set the tone of your company the first time you hire your first employee. You set the tone the first time you choose your first $50-100k investment. That's when the culture starts being set so you want to think very carefully from that point on.
- Continue to invest in product (during the downturn). If you're strong, attack. If you're weak, pull back but keep investing in the product.
- As CEO you manage your board. You're the leader of the band. You have to lead during these times. You may have to force investors to do things they don't want to do. For the next couple of years it is game on. It's really serious and you've got to be quite tough.
- There's a school of thought that we're in for a few tough years. Simple logic says we're not going to have 14-years of good times followed by 6-months of bad times that's just simple logic, what goes up must come down.
- Silicon Valley isn't going to be the Silicon Valley of yesteryear. The over under of what percentage of startups are going to come from SV is 50%, versus 80% historically. My forecast for SV is that it's going to be less attractive than it was 4-5 years ago.
- https://youtu.be/CGaHGF0OKXk