Alfred Lin: belief

Transcript context

…That makes total sense. Unlike the early days of Sequoia, you have different entry points where you can partner with companies now, whether it's teaming with the entrepreneur at the seed stage or partnering at the growth stage with more established companies that have already answered some of these questions. As you're thinking about a given market, how do you decide—whether that winner that you mentioned that's going to get the lion share of the market cap in the space—if it already exists and you should go invest at the growth stage, or there's still an opportunity for a new entrant at the seed stage? I think the simple answer is that we at Sequoia want to identify the most important companies of tomorrow as early as possible. We do want to partner with them at the seed stage and be there for them from idea to IPO and beyond. I would point out that there's so much going on in the world. There's so much innovation that we're not going to get to every great company at the seed stage. They're going to be companies that we miss at the C that we'll do at the A. There companies that we miss at the A that hopefully we do at the B. And companies that we miss at the B that hopefully we pick up at a growth round. In some sense we can enter at many different levels, but also, what's an interesting company at the seed is going to look very different than a company at the A or the company at the growth round? Just a simple idea, like what's happening at the C identifying new markets? You have this view that the market will be very, very different a few years from now is different than a growth round. You may be looking for a developing market that continues to grow, but it is somewhat established, if not already developed when you make an investment at the growth round. That makes total sense. That also brings up a question I've been dying to ask you guys. The other dimension that's changed over the years at Sequoia is not just the stage at which you invest but geography too. Obviously, you have a very robust practice in China, India, and now you're building one in Europe, everywhere around the globe. How do insights and learnings from each of those geographies influence your thinking back here in the US and each other?…

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