Michael Moritz, Partner, Sequoia Capital
You've. Clearly had a very impressive career but, before becoming one of it that's not what my mother says. Before. Becoming one of the top venture, capitalists, in the world being. Knighted. By the Queen you, were a boy from Wales what. Did you want to be when you grew up I. Actually. Not. That this game or sport has played in America, and, so it won't translate I wanted to be a cricket, player, a. Cricketer. But I was a coward, and the ball was very very hard, and. So. I spent most of my time in sport whether it was cricket or rugby trying, to avoid being. Anywhere near the ball so. I. Have, a friend actually who became, a. Spectacular. Rugby play played for Wales which. And. I, told him that the only thing that separated, him and, me on the rugby field was, when, he took to the field. He. Wanted. The ball to come in his direction and. I. Of course wanted. The reverse. I never wanted to see it come in my direction so. But. As. I got a bit older I became. Interested in journalism, and. When. I was at Oxford you, and, I, knew that I wanted to be a journalist, when I was a dog. So. I'm. Interested in the story of how your family, came to. Wales it, was quite. Inspiring that, your parents actually escaped. Germany. During the Second World War. Arriving. In Wales, as refugee, it's in the UK as refugees. How. Did their struggles, and their experience, shape. You early on and sort of what you wanted to do with your life well they they were very lucky they didn't escape during the Second World War they escaped beforehand, not many people escaped Germany during the Second World War, and. My. Father. Left. Germany, he was born in Munich and. Went. To Britain when, he was a four ten year old my mother went on. Something. Called the Kindertransport. Which was. Ten. Thousand kids from Germany basically, that were that, were rescued and put in with. In. Foster, homes and they. Then. Met. Subsequently. In Britain and after. The war. They, they. Got married and, you. Know there's a, searing. Experiences. Difficult. And I'm sure every, you know there are people here either who have. First-hand. Familial. Experience. Of something, as, disquieting. Unsettling, and wrenching, as those. Sorts of experiences but. Those. Are the experiences. That come. Down through, generations my. Father's, father. Served. In the German army during World War one he was decorated who. And. My. Father's. Mother was, a nurse in the German army during, World War one, and then, both. Of them. Were. Killed they were murdered, by. The Nazis, and. My. Father died about 15 16 years ago. My. Mother whom I saw last week is 95. And still. Vibrant. But. Those. Experiences. They. Color everything, they hang over, everything. Like, like. A dark cloud it is always, the. Anxiety. And the fear, of. The. Whole world being, ripped out from underneath, you and and it and it colors the way that you live yeah, understandably. And that, drives you today still, well. I don't, know about that but. It. Certainly. Had. A profound, effect on my, my, parents and and and they came to Wales as. Outsiders. And obviously. Britain, i owe everything, my parents of everything to the fact that britain opened its borders and. Allowed. Them to settle. There but. It was not easy they were in. A minority. There, weren't exactly I mean I was one of I, think. Three. Jewish kids at the high, school that I went to so, I've, always you, know one, always felt. An. Outsider, and the delineation. Between, religions. In Britain which is you. Know, 4050. Years ago was very very. Sharp, and so. If you didn't belong to the majority, it was very obvious that you were on, the outside, so. That's obviously had a huge effect, well. You did them very proud you worked really hard he, would get into Oxford and I'm, sure you had many opportunities. Professionally. In Europe but. You decided to come to the United States, why. Why the United States well I didn't have many professional, opportunities, in Europe because I grew up in, the. You're in the Britain, but predated, Margaret, Thatcher and. Those. Were extremely, difficult. Times. In. Britain I mean obviously Britain's, going through its own issues today with brexit but the times in the 1970s. People, who, weren't around and there's no reason that anyone here should should, know about it but it was a, strike. Ridden. Country. Where you never knew whether the electricity. Was gonna work whether there's gonna be a gas strike, whether, the railways, would run or whether, the newspapers, would be delivered, because there'd be a wildcat strike. And. I. Wanted, to be a journalist, and I wanted to work on Fleet Street and I wanted to work for The Times or The Daily Telegraph or, Guardian, or one of the big broadsheet. Newspapers. That at, that point dominated. Journalism, in Britain but. Because, of Union restrictions. The. Feet street newspapers. The big newspapers, were not permitted to hire anybody, straight, out of undergrad you, had to go and of multi. Year apprenticeship. On small provincial, newspapers.
And. I. Had, no appetite in, doing that I just I wanted to work on Fleet Street I wanted, to sort of work in the Premier League so to speak and. I. Had. A I, went to see a. Gentleman. Who was the editor of The Daily Telegraph a. Fellow who he. Was a Fleet, Street legend. And a, character. On whom evil in war had based the, novel scoop. Which. Is hilarious if, you've. Never read it and, he, said if I was your age get. Out of Britain go to America, and. That. Was the that was what sent me to America was that sort, of weird peculiar. Encounter. And. I often think about that that's that's, what made me up sticks, and leave I mean well you know I and I, was, lucky I got a sedentary. Had. I not got a scholarship because, I didn't have the money and all the rest of him and but. I got lucky and that and I came to America, this. Is 1976. Not. Knowing. Where anything, would lead. But. Have. Obviously. Stayed, here, 40. Years he said so. You started out when, you got here as a journalist, for Time magazine in San Francisco. Actually. Not in San Francisco, in a Detroit able place in Detroit covering. The first collapse of the Chrysler, automobile, company, and. Then, you made your way to San Francisco, to cover technology, and. During. This time you got to know Steve Jobs, what. Do you believe made. Jobs, such a unique, innovator and leader in, the time that you spent with him. So. This is again this is a long time ago this is 1980. And. Microsoft. Was. A company. That I remember, going to an event at. Apple. One. Of these sort of management, events, small management, events probably this is 1982. Or 83. And. Steve. Had a sort. Of fireside, chat like this and he asked the guest, fellow. Who at that point was a Morgan Stanley, analyst, called Ben Rosen, who later went on to found a, very successful. Venture capital, firm use it so Ben, pick, the year when. Microsoft. You, think Microsoft, will break the ten million dollar revenue barrier. Right, ten. Million dollars, and Ben was scratching his head so, it's a very very long time ago but. Well. That was the only point I was lamely, trying, to make and. But. I. Realized. I hadn't, met. Anyone like Steve. I'd. Spent, time with a fellow called Lee Iacocca, who was a living. Legend, in American, industry at that point and had been the president the Ford Motor Company, and then became the CEO of Chrysler, and, Steve. Was, the first person, who salesmanship. Was. On a par with Iacocca's. Iacocca. Was just, mesmerizing. Character. But, he didn't, have the. Product. And engineering, attributes. That Steve had obviously, there was a difference, in age, of probably. 35. 40, 35, years. Or so. But. Steve. Was a Spellbinder. And, I. And. Obviously. As. Everybody, knows these days a a. Very. Difficult, and complicated. Character. But he was an extraneous, extra. And even though I had lots of I had all, sorts of issues and dealing with him have, nothing, but. You. Know massive. Admiration. For. What it is that he eventually went on and went. On and did and. But. As I said it's a long time ago and I think, at. That, time I probably, held, a minority. Opinion of. How. Spectacular. And individual, he was because, later. He. Was again. Ancient, history he was fired from the company and that he found it which, to me always seemed like a real travesty. So. Following. Your time with. Time magazine, you. Would make the switch to the venture capital industry by joining Sequoia which is very uncommon. How. Did that happen, well. I'd left time because, while, I'd enjoyed, four years or so as a journalist, I also, got frustrated, it was a big company I was working on the periphery of it and, sort. Of for. Some reason it always felt I didn't want to be a journalist, if I do when, I was thirty years old and I had that as some sort of mental benchmark, Koons knows where that came from, I think was largely because again back then I saw, what happened to people he was eye-opening to me I saw what happened to people who stayed in journalists and was.
60 Years old and. Certainly. If they worked for time which was a sort, of cushy job but you got sent all over the world and you wound up. As. An, alcoholic. Which. Appear. To me to be a really beckoning, career, trajectory. Left. And together, with somebody else I started, a little company, the. Published. Newsletters, staged conferences. About the technology, industry and. So. Much for mine and and, that fella stuck, with it and eventually. Many, years later no thanks to me Dow. Jones bought that company and. But. I always felt it was going to be a small company and I heard, through. My work at time through, my work at this little company, I'd met, a lot, of people around the technology, industry and. Had. Met. A lot of people in the venture capital business time, had. Run a cover story that I had, reported. On, that. About. The venture industry, that had Arthur, Rock who was. The original founder of int investor. In Intel and then of apple on, the coven and, during the process of, that had met. A lot of people in the venture business and, had horses and, had when, I came to California I didn't know anything about Silicon, Valley didn't know anything about the venture industry and had. Got interested, in it and. And. Made. A list of five. Firms. Where. I knew somebody wrote, to them you, wrote, to them in those days he didn't email and. God. Interviewed, at all. Got. Rejected at. Four. Of them. Journalist. History. Major no. Experience, working in a Silicon, Valley company, therefore totally. Useless. Probably. Correct, on most of those camps. And. Then Don Valentine who, was the founder of Sequoia. Decided. That he. Needed to do something to change, the Correa's image with minority. Hiring. And. So. Decided, to hire a history. Major. And. But. It was a head scratcher for most of Don's peers. In the venture business wondering. Why on earth he was wasting. His time with somebody like me. So. That's how it, happened it was a great good fortune I if Don had said. Voted, like the others and, I. Don't. Know what I'd be doing. So. In the era of the prized engineering, degree in Silicon Valley what. Value. Does that broad-based, humanities, education bring. Given that about. 50 percent of last year's incoming class came. In with a humanities, undergraduate, degree what value does that bring to the technology. Ecosystem here. In Silicon Valley what, do you think. Well. I obviously have, a, prejudice. And bias. And. Knowing. Full well that I, wish, I understood, more about the details of technology, and engineering and all the rest of it but if you're in the investing, business in Silicon, Valley you cover such a wide. Waterfront. Of investing. That, it's very, difficult, you can't be, no, matter how numerous. And. Technical. You are you cannot be an expert in everything so. The, ability to, be. Able, to and, this is much like being a journalist, to. Start. On in an endeavor, where you know nothing, where. You gather a lot of materials, and facts, where. You have to distill, all of those facts, and then. Form. A cogent, opinion. And make a decision. It's. Not, unlike. Writing a story. Writing. A history, essay or. Making. An investment, or helping. To determine an investment. What comes after, that after making the investment, all the, sorts of things that these. Days go to. Helping. A little company in that might be composed of three people becoming, something significant. That's very different set, of skills which, I. Think. Just experience. Brings. Along it doesn't matter whether or not you have a technical degree or anything, but, and. Then, the ability to be a storyteller, and a clear, communicator.
I Think. Those are really. Very. Very helpful pursuits, but, again as I said I have a bias and prejudice, and I was looking at the numbers you know a Stanford. For example, you, had 64, 600, if I've got the numbers right which is roughly right you had 647. Undergrads. In 1965. Who a history, major in, nineteen, in. 2014. Which was the last set of data that I saw you had 84. So. There are threatened species around, here. Well. I think you put those skills to good use at Sequoia, given that it's consistently. Listed as one of the top venture capital firms and I, have to get this statistic, right because it kind of blew my mind when I first saw it so since, 1972. Sequoia. Has backed companies that now have an aggregate. Public, market value of over three point three trillion, dollars. To. Put that in relative size that's larger, than the current GDP of the UK. What. Are the most. That's, work. So. So. What do you think are the most important. Leadership, traits needed, to build enduring. Organizations. Such as Sequoia. Well. It's nice of you to say. Obviously. That's a question. That's at the heart of our. Heart. Of our pursuit, a Sequoia, and also the heart of the pursuit of the, very. Distinctive, companies, that we would. Like to be an investor, with, and, being. Able to think and work in 20-year, increments. Is. Such, an advantage. And. I. Know that sounds a little weird and a little peculiar, but and. Obviously. You can talk in a grand, fashion, about a 20-year plan. And. It. All sounds very good but then. You. Also have to work on what this afternoon, brings, but having a sense of, eventually. Where. Your compass, is heading, and where it's set and the trajectory you, want to go on and then breaking it down into all sorts of, little steps knowing, that every step along the journey is going to require different. People different skills different. Relationships. Different. Virtues. That, you're constantly, gonna have to change along along, the course and reacting, to changing, circumstances changing. Market conditions and all the rest of it but never, losing. Sight of, eventually. Where you want to go I think that's the biggest thing that. That. Has helped, with us and help with some of these companies that. We've. Had the good fortune, to be involved, with now obviously. Not everything, works out like that a lot of companies, start, and. Maybe. They flourish, for a certain period of time and then they're sold or but. The ones that we're looking for I mean, it's now, where. 20:19. It's 20 years since, we invested, in Google I, still. Learned the majority of my Google shares and. When. When. Somebody asked me today why, are you interested in why, is the coin interested, in investing, in our company. I'll. Always say to them if I, think it, happens to be true. In their particular regard, because some companies don't fit, into that it's, because, if, we're. All fortunate if the Sun shines on us. We. Can be shareholders. In your company, 20 years from now that's, what we're today a B&B I think we invested, in Airbnb, $600,000. In 2008. I think it may be 2009. It's, 10 years. Happens. Like that and. The. Company still prime. Stripe. Which. Is a payment services company we invested, in when. It was three or four people that was 2010. Again. Nine years nine, years later these are very, very long journeys, that were on and it, takes time, and patience. And spectacular. People and the massive. Market opportunity. To. Build the real companies, that matter and have an influence, and. Great. Impact, on on. Society. In. You and Sir Alex talked about the, importance, of identifying high. Potential, talent in building these types of organizations so. The example he used is a footballer. Some, of you may know by the name of David Beckham who was pretty, good. What. Characteristics. Are, you. Looking for when trying to identify this, high potential, talent whether it be a founder, or somebody, you hire at Sequoia. You. Know whether it's whether, it's in part of the reason either the. Reason that I approached. Alex to write the book about Manchester United, was the, for. Whatever perverse, reason people have been asking me to write a book about Silicon, Valley or Sequoia and I had no interest in doing that but I was, interested, in writing. Out. Enduring. Organizations. And I. Picked United, because it was a long way away from Silicon, Valley but. Because, I knew, that he, shared. The approach that we, cherished, as well, one of which who Patrick, was the one that you just fingered, which was. Identifying. People when they are young, and then. Helping, them develop and, why. Part. Of it is. Because. You're not taking a lot of risk. Beckham. I think you know they they are they knew about Beck and when Beckham was eight years old at Manchester, United now. We're not going around Stanford looking, for eight-year-olds but. We. Do like hiring. At Sequoia, people, who were young, because.
It's, A, business, that, even. Though it looks simple and today I understand, everybody's, an investor, from someone who writes five thousand dollar, checks to somebody who writes a much bigger kind. Of cheque but to do it well in the, fashion that we like to do it takes, time and patience, and persistence and. A. Willingness, to, learn and. Assuming. People like that, flourish. You. Have. Incredible. Loyalty and they'll. Stay with you forever, and. So. That was true for a lot of the, players who played for us our Alex it's and I, think being, able to grow organically, like that it's such, an enormous competitive. Advantage, where. You. Have a stable, team of people which are always amending, you're always changing someone, is perhaps, no longer playing, as well as they used to play so you figure. Out a way to deal. With that but then you're always. Replenishing. The bench but. You're doing it in an imperceptible, fashion. To people on the outside so, that all they see is you, know in the soccer metaphor the. Winning team on the field without realizing. That actually you know there, are two players on there today who weren't, on that team 24, months ago, but. That's work spectacularly. For us we've got these great. Roll-off. Toto who's a. Graduate. Of GSB. And he became he, went to PayPal, and after PayPal he joined us a Koya and that. Was probably now, 8 17, 18 years ago and you. Know he's just, spectacular. He's just one example we've got a whole, bunch of other people like that so it's great one. Of the characteristics. You mentioned that I was I was really intrigued, by is this idea of obsession, so, the, best founders, the best athletes. Tend, to be obsessed with whatever, it is the thing that they're working on I was. Curious. What. Do you think, obsession, means to you and how does it how does it feel what I like how do you know it when you see it. There's. A gentleman, called approver, Mehta who's the founder and CEO of instacart. The online grocery. Company, and where, we've, been with. Approver on his journey from considerable. Period of time now and before. We invested, I asked, him how. He had happened, on grocery. Delivery, as a business, that he wanted to be in and he said he'd, played around with and, toyed with a variety of other businesses, that he wanted to start and he'd got down the road on I forget. Two three four, of those but. He said. The. Only one oh. Here. Are realized. Instacart, was the one for him when. It was the last in the idea, of the business was the last thing that he thought about when he went to sleep and the first thing that he thought about when. He woke up in the morning and to me that was as good a definition of, obsession, as, as. Any of I've, heard but it's that sort of, full-on. Experience that. That. You. Can never stop. Thinking about new and, and, you don't switch off I'll give you another. Example, from yesteryear. Which. Was again. This is back to the early. 1980s. And, I had been not in. Seattle. Working, on the story about Microsoft, for time, and. Again. This was when Microsoft, was still private, and they're still quite, small and, Bill. Gates gave me a ride to the airport in his, car and. Not. Many people can say, that they were chauffeured, by Bill Gates. In. Fact I may put that on my LinkedIn profile. Above. All other forms of Education. And. There, the radio was missing in the car, big. Gaping hole in the dashboard, and I said bill so what happened to it you get ripped off and. He. Said no I had it taken out, why. Do you have it taken out well. I Drive. From, my home to. The office which is seven minutes and 32, seconds. And then. I'll drive from the office to the airport, which is however long, and he, said if I've got the radio, I'm, afraid, that I'll switch it on and I.
Won't Be thinking about Microsoft. That's. Obsession. I. Believe. You. So. The. Funding environment right now as you, alluded. To is becoming extremely competitive, there, are a record, number of programs to it you. True. There. A record number of new venture firms and capital in the market Softbank. Just raised a hundred billion dollar vision fund Sequoia just raised an eight billion dollar fund are. There. Too, many investment. Dollars chasing too few and best of all opportunities right now so. That's. The line I've heard. Since. 1986. With. One. Or two exceptions maybe. 1991. 1992. And then right after, the. Dot-com blow-up. When. Capital. Was everybody. Understood that capital, was scarce it's always been a competitive, funding environment they've always been look. How many. How many companies, get. Financed. And then. How many become. Worth an you know become tremendously, important, companies, so if you just do that we, knowing and look at the the funnel. There are very. Very few, great companies. So everybody, is madly, in pursuit, of those companies, and. And. Therefore, and obviously there are these tangible, examples, of the enormous. Value that's been created in the world of technology in the last 30 or 40 years and. So money, has, poured into the sector but for us it's always, being this, sort of an almost, always been this sort of environment, where a, really. Spectacular idea, can get raised, capital where. Somebody. Who's starting your company usually, has choices, of capital, I mean that's the world that I grew up in it's the world that we've always operated, in and I suspect will be the world we always operated, it's, just part of life, in our business so no, bubble you're. Good. Well. There there, are always look. There, are always things that we, will have done others, will have done that five ten years from now will say to ourselves how. Did we ever do something as silly as that or wasn't. It in nein or crazy, or we, didn't anticipate this, that or the other so. I'm sure we'll, have a conversation time. To time again. It's just an. Occupational, hazard. So. I want to talk a little bit about how Silicon Valley has changed, there's, content, there continues, to be many, discussions, happening about how, to make make, both technology, companies and venture, capital more diverse. Potentially. Beyond history majors, what. Responsibility. Does the venture industry have to, fostering. Diversity. In, the technology, ecosystem. The. Responsibilities, of the valley of firms. Like ours is to. Identify. Burgeoning. Talent, and. The. More, the merrier, from. Irrespective. Of gender irrespective. Of background. Irrespective. Of. Color. Now. That's. Easy. To say and it's a bland statement. And, you. Will then rightly, say well. What. Are you doing about it and what are you doing about it actively, so, we're, doing what. We can but there's. Only so much that we can do firms. Like ours a representative. Of, social. Trends, and know a sort, of sense that this question might come up so I turn the question, around because, I dug, up the data on diversity, at Stanford. In. Majors, and. It's, shocking. So. Let me give you some, statistics. So. Because. I think it's a this, whole issue is, one. That. All. Of us, have. Something to do about so. And. I'll. Give you one little example say. From the math department in. The undergraduate, program here, and this is germane I have a friend of mine whose. Daughter is, in the math department at, the moment and is. Thinking about leaving the math department, and switching to another major because. She. Is surrounded, by men and, so. In. 1983. If you were an undergraduate, at Stanford. There. Was only 22%, of, the students, who had elected math as their major were, women, guess. What that number was in 2014. Which is the last year when, data was available. 22. Percent in 1983. 16. Percent. In. 2014. If. You're. Computer, science. Graduate. At Stanford. The. Percentage, of women in the class in, 1983. Was. 21%. In. 2014. 20%, and. The. Only point I'm making is, we'll, hire, as quickly, and as merrily, as we possibly can we have seven female investment.
Partners Today we've got I think close, to half a dozen female. CFO. CEOs. That. We've that, we've backed but, we're a reflection. Of society and we can only change, as fast as the rest of society, will. Change but, we're more than happy to do our part we funded, all these different initiatives, to help. Help. Women. In particular. In. Technology. We have. One. Of our partners, jess lee is working, with something called female, founders, but, it's imperative for the high schools, and for, the universities. Of america. To change before, we'll see the real acceleration. In technology. Which i've gotta say is a lot better today. Than. It was ten, or fifteen years ago and I think you know if you look at the computer science numbers, those are the best numbers that I could find. At, Stanford. But even so they're not overwhelming. In 1983. The. Computer, science, proportion, the computer science class, here. Undergrad. Was 18%, it. Progressed. But, in 2014, it was still only 28% so, there's tons of work for all of us to do that's. My only point. So. I want to take our discussion, beyond the valley because, investing. Outside of Silicon Valley has become a very popular topic as. Well for a lot of people including Sequoia. Do. You think this is still the best place in the world to start a company. It's. It's, here, and it's in. China. And. Their. Trials, and tribulations, and involve, with with. Both places. And. Obviously. Everybody knows about how expensive it is and the cost of living and gross, receipts, tax in San, Francisco, and all these other impediments. That we wish weren't here. But my goodness gracious me. Much. As people here, will complain, and moan about different, aspects of Silicon Valley you go to places, elsewhere, around the world they, all wish they were Silicon, Valley so, it's a spectacular fantastic. Place in. Which, - in which to start a company and then. I. Was. Saying to your illustrious teen. Before. I. Came. While. We were chatting backstage, that I spent the last three weeks traveling in China and Southeast Asia I mean there was a vibrant, places. One. Of the very big changes, you know China obviously everybody's read about but Southeast. Asia is. Really. Pulsing. With entrepreneurial, activity, and, that's. A big change in the last five five. Six, years everybody knows. About India and talked about India but Southeast, Asia, is. Surprisingly. Vibrant, so there are lots of you know the big change from when I started, in the in the venture business a long time ago now was. The Silicon. Valley largely Silicon, Valley to some extent Boston we had a hundred percent market, share give, or take on, the. Most important, technology companies, of tomorrow that's completely, changed, so, that so. Much of the investment now, occurs. Outside of, the United States for a whole variety of reasons. So. I want to get a little bit of advice before we turn it over to the audience so I. Think we're all trying to determine, how to focus our time energy, and resources upon, graduation, if you.
Were To put yourself in our shoes today. What, problems, or industries, would. You be focusing, on maybe. Another way to ask that question is where. Is Sequoia going to be investing so we can skate. To where the puck is going to be. Well. That's, the. Assuming. That we know what we're doing. I've. Always found you know you go to any website and every, investors, website. Despite. The window dressing they all look the same and everybody's. Kind of invested you, know your your whatever, the buzz phrases of the ear are, you. Will read, them on all the sites and you know today it may be data. Science, and machine learning and artificial, intelligence and. Whatever. The, attributes. Are to me the best investments, are always, the ones that don't. In a convenient. Bucket, and. And. So. You think, about I, mentioned, Airbnb, a few, minutes ago you think about Airbnb what, bucket, would, you have put a three. Couchsurfers. In in. 2008. And. In. Retrospect, it all looked so obvious, oh they're upsetting the hotel industry and all the rest of it but at the time that we met the company. It. Was three young. Founders. Who were sort of sleeping on air beds. And, it. Was sort of pigeon-holed as, this very, niche service. For. Young people, who would ever have imagined, and, I. Can. Point to any number of other investments. That seemed similar. So to me it's you, know with, years, and years ago Stanford. You, know this was an option yet another offshoot of the. Incredible, fertile Stanford, campus when we invested in Yahoo the, idea, of investing in a company that gave its service, away for free this, is 1995. Was. Totally, foreign came. Out of left field. So. It's, those. Investments. The ones that aren't the obvious, ones that. Are the really interesting ones we invested, some years ago in in, DJI. Which, is a drone, company, in. China, nobody, had imagined, it at, the time that we invested, to do I think, it did I may. Be a bit off with the numbers but two billion dollars in sales, last. Year from, what seemed like a sort, of little. You. Know nice, little consumer. Toilet or the beginning of the investment, but which is now becoming a company. Of substance. Particularly. As it expands into industrial applications. So it's the or, we're. Not in an unfortunate. Lee we want an early investor, in uber but who would you. Know luxury. Black. Car. Executive. Ride-sharing. Is. That ever going to become a business, you know if you switch the clock back 10 years whenever, over got started it's another one of those sorts. Of examples, so that's. Thing to. Look out for it's the, unexpected. I'm. Gonna move to the lightning round. What last chance anyone okay, so. I'll. Explain the format as we go these are supposed to be fun, one-word. Answers generally, but a couple lists. So. Prioritize. The following in order of importance. Product. Team, market. Equal. Weight. Unbelievable. It. Depends. Fill-in-the-blank. The greatest entrepreneur, of all time is. Whoever. Invented, the wheel. Wow. Talk. About yesteryear. The. Greatest individual, investor, outside, of the Sequoia partnership, is, it's. Obvious you, know where he is in Omaha. What. Is one company you passed on that you wish you had invested, in I wish it was only one. Uber. We. Became late stage investors, in. The company but I wish would invested. Very early on. What. Percentage, of success in VC, is luck. 101. Percent. The. Most underrated skill, and, a leader is listening. I. Thought. You would have said discipline. What. I thought you were gonna say discipline, for sure listening, listening listening listening, shows. Would. You rather beat Liverpool. Or benchmark. We. Just concentrate, on beating them both. Please, join me in thanking mr., Michael Morris for coming today. Good. Job.
2019-02-13 13:25
