Douglas Leone
Douglas Leone
Douglas M. Leoneis an American venture capitalist and a partner at Sequoia Capital. He joined Sequoia in 1988 and has been a Managing Partner since 1996. His focus is on internet, software and communication investments. He has been ranked in the top 10 investors in the United States by Forbes Magazine multiple times. Doug also led Sequoia's international expansion into China and India...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionBusinessman
CountryUnited States of America
guy dozen sides
Guys like me on the investor side are a dime a dozen.
cycles cyclical large market occur opportunity similar throughout
We see China as a large market opportunity with similar cyclical economic cycles that occur throughout every economy.
build companies competing great help invest time
During dark times, real entrepreneurs come out. They are not competing with 10 look-alike companies for engineering talent, so it's a great time to invest and help build companies.
both ceo founder ideas meet product quickly strategic talk
You meet with a CEO or founder. You talk about sales, engineering, product management and give some ideas or suggestions. And the founder quickly understands that you really can help them both operationally and from a strategic standpoint.
bit cushion expensive maybe money plus quarter raise
Raise as little as you can to get you to something that you can show - plus maybe a quarter or two so you have a little bit of cushion - and then raise some more money. Raise as little - not as much - as you can because that's the most expensive equity you're going to sell.
selfish equity selfish-acts
Be incredibly, ruthlessly selfish with your equity.
communication keys strategy
In a downturn, aggressive PR and communications strategy is key.
summer jobs teenager
I was working on boats as a teenager, sweating like a pig during a summer job.
venture industry
The venture industry is both quite vibrant and quite competitive.
giving entrepreneur gusto
Give me an entrepreneur with a lot of courage, gusto and who iterates rapidly, and I will back that person day in and day out.
thinking looks fancy
Crystal-clear thinking is one of the things we look for - not a fancy slide pitch, but crystal-clear thinking.
chiefs chief-executives great-company
A tremendous chief executive in a small market will never be great. All great companies start with great markets.
benefit creates encourage individual investors shown star work
We work as a team. I think having the individual being shown as a star actually creates problems internally. We encourage all our investors to work as a team for the benefit of the founders.
clearly companies either invested moderate number
There's a number of companies clearly that we wish we had invested in either at the early or at the moderate stage.