What Was Michael Moritz's Plan for Sequoia?

Michael Moritz's plan for Sequoia had three parts: do not screw it up, make everyone who worked there feel the firm was only as good as its next investment, and take new market opportunities as Silicon Valley's share of startup activity became smaller.

Sequoia in 1995 was very different from the firm he stepped down from in 2012 and 2013. People there could not rest on the laurels of the past. The firm went to Israel and, most notably, to China, and started Sequoia Heritage, a very different business. Doing right by investors was essential. Most of the investors were nonprofits. He did not want a business where the firm still got paid very handsomely if it failed to perform. The same problem shows up across financial service firms: the firm can do well while clients may have done as well in an index fund.

On one fund, Sequoia could have told investors to accept a fund that was not going to make any money after a long run of good times. The team fought for 10 years to get the fund back to par.