Does joining a brand-name venture firm make it easier to win deals with founders?
5 recorded positions from 3 people, first said Sep 14, 2021. They do not agree — the readings below are what each one actually argued.
Brand does not improve deal flow founders wont meet vcs without earned outbound effort
Doug Leone · Sep 14, 2021
There is no such thing as a self-fulfilling prophecy in venture; Sequoia still fights for every opportunity and anyone who relaxes will quickly be out of business
No founder simply calls offering a deal — every opportunity is contested with other venture firms
34:49 20VC: Sequoia's Doug Leone on What Has Been Instrumental To Scaling Sequoia Over Generations, How Sequoia Think About International Expansion and What They Learned From China and India & Why When You Lose Pre-Seed You Become Private Equity
Harry Stebbings · Feb 19, 2024
The idea that great entrepreneurs simply show up at top firms saying they'll only work with them is false
49:12 20VC: Why VC Returns Will Get Worse, Why LP Incentive Structures are so Broken, What is the Answer to Liquidity with No M&A or IPOs, When to Sell vs Hold Your Winners & Turning $5M into $250M with The Trade Desk | Roger Ehrenberg, Eberg Capital
David Cahn · Aug 5, 2024
The premise that a top brand means the best companies come to you is false — deal flow doesn't materially change, and the best founders don't want to meet VCs, so you must earn the right to win through outbound hunting
His own deal flow didn't change at all when he joined Sequoia; founders' time is valuable and they won't meet VCs for the sake of it, brand or no brand
62:13 20VC: Sequoia's David Cahn on AI's $600BN Question | Why the Data Centre is the Most Important Asset | Servers, Steel and Power: The Core Pillars Powering the Future of AI
Also on the record
David Cahn · Aug 5, 2024
Winning deals matters less at a firm like Sequoia because the brand itself carries the value proposition to founders
Before, the pitch was 'you get to work with me'; now a founder can tell engineers they work with Sequoia and engineers will want to join, so the investor's personal quality matters less to closing
61:05 Brand carries the recruiting value proposition so personal selling matters less
David Cahn · Aug 5, 2024
Joining a top-brand firm like Sequoia makes winning deals easier but selection much harder, because the bar rises to whether a company could be the next YouTube, Instagram or DoorDash
Leveraging the firm's brand and history helps win, but the internal standard becomes 'is this obviously a great investment', which is a far higher hurdle
69:17 Brand eases winning but raises the selection bar dramatically
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