Valleywag
rumormonger
Posts Tagged “
Sequoia
”
rumormonger
acquisitions
Cisco snags Navini
Network-equipment giant Cisco Systems is buying WiMax equipment maker Navini for $330 million in Cisco's 124th acquisition. Navini owns a number of patents related to their SmartBeaming technology that may give Cisco an edge in WiMax, a wireless-Internet technology with much longer range than Wi-Fi. Hopefully everyone has their tax documents in order — we hear that can be a problem at Cisco. Navini had been backed by Sequoia, among numerous others, but VentureBeat points out Sequoia declined to participate in its sixth funding round last May. Sequoia Partner Mike Goguen is a Navini board member and we presume Sequoia is glad to cash out if they didn't think the company was worth continued investment. (Photo by AP/Paul Sakuma)
superficial
Pictured this morning on the TechCrunch40 stage, four men worth a total of a kajillion dollars or something along those lines. From left, Yahoo founder David Filo, wearing the safe and unimaginative Silicon Valley uniform, YouTube cofounder Chad Hurley in his jeans-and-jacket casual yuppie attire, Ning and Netscape cofounder Marc Andreessen, who goes for the novel tracksuit and khakis combo, and Sequoia Capital uber-investor Michael Moritz. Oh, Michael. He's Welsh, so he's always dressed a bit more snappily than the normal tech layperson, which is a good thing. But what on earth is he doing with his shoes? Hoping to change into slippers and a cardigan like a powerful Mr. Rogers? Or just nervously squirming in his chair before the crowd? VCs already have a reputation as ADD-addled fidgeters, this isn't going to help. (Photo by jspepper)
Michael Moritz, what are you doing with your shoes?
Pictured this morning on the TechCrunch40 stage, four men worth a total of a kajillion dollars or something along those lines. From left, Yahoo founder David Filo, wearing the safe and unimaginative Silicon Valley uniform, YouTube cofounder Chad Hurley in his jeans-and-jacket casual yuppie attire, Ning and Netscape cofounder Marc Andreessen, who goes for the novel tracksuit and khakis combo, and Sequoia Capital uber-investor Michael Moritz. Oh, Michael. He's Welsh, so he's always dressed a bit more snappily than the normal tech layperson, which is a good thing. But what on earth is he doing with his shoes? Hoping to change into slippers and a cardigan like a powerful Mr. Rogers? Or just nervously squirming in his chair before the crowd? VCs already have a reputation as ADD-addled fidgeters, this isn't going to help. (Photo by jspepper)
Sequoia looks east, raises "a massive amount of funding" for investment in Chinese companies. [VentureBeat]
minglebox
Sequoia keeps it in the family
Sequoia's Indian office recently led a $7m round for Minglebox, an Indian social network. Minglebox's founder is Kavita Iyer, who just happens to be the wife of Sandeep Singhal, managing director of the prestigious venture capital firm's Indian operation. Funny, that. But, before working one's self into a lather, best to remember that, back in meritocratic California, Mark Kvamme followed his father-in-law into the Sequoia clubhouse. Moral of the story? Merely, that Menlo Park is just as incestuous as Bangalore; and Sequoia faces fewer cultural divides, as the firm spreads outside the US, than one might think.
sequoia
How not to get a job at Sequoia
You have to admire the George Costanza-like persistence of one Anand Lyer Vaidyanathan. After hanging around the Sequoia lobby a little too much last October and November, Vaidyanathan was finally arrested for trespassing. Vaidyanathan protested, convinced that he somehow already worked for Sequoia. He then applied for another Sequoia job in December, and when a private investigator told him to stay away and not contact anyone in the office again, Vaidyanathan responded with, "I thank you for your offer. I appreciate your timely action. I accept your offer of employment." So they just went ahead and hired him; really, what else could they do? Only kidding! They took out a restraining order. Incidentally, that wasn't all Sequoia had to deal with as 2006 came to a close. More »
payoffs
Undeclared Sequoia shares in Youtube stock dump?
Attention investment-math nerds — clear something up for us? Reading through the SEC filing for all the Youtubers preparing to sell their Google stock, a reader asks:Strange that the heading "All Other Sequoia Capital XI, L.P. Investors and Their Transferees who Beneficially Own, in the Aggregate, Less than 1% of the Class A common stock" refers to some 409,000 shares, which would represent some 12% of the total, not less than 1% as described. In any case, that's quite a lot of ownership that's going unreported while many people who own much smaller fractions of the shares are listed clear as day.Thoughts? Thrill us with your acumen.
performing vcs
UPDATE: It appears Roelof Botha took all his clips private, sad to say.
Five love songs about Youtube
We're not sure what motivates venture capitalists to engage in such humiliating spectacle. Ours is not to reason why a group of folks with billions at their disposal must sing a cappella to party guests. Not sure who this magical duo is (help?), but the gig went down last November at the home of Sequoia's Pierre Lamond, as recorded by Roelof Botha. If the above isn't to your taste (despite bonus flash of Youtubers Chad Hurley and Steve Chen, consider "Blue Moon," "Forever & Ever Amen," "Mambo #5," or "So Happy Together."UPDATE: It appears Roelof Botha took all his clips private, sad to say.
photos
Elon Musk back on Sequoia
After disappearing from the Sequoia homepage of fame, one-time Paypal CEO Elon Musk — see his take on his own backstory here — is back, with a new smiley portrait. Peter Thiel and Max Levchin, the mo' "real" founders of Paypal, are also still on the page of course. They're both wearing crowns as befits their royal status. A polite distance separates Thiel and Levchin from Musk in the gallery. One imagines a similar dynamic emerging at a cocktail party where all three are present.
youtube
Youtube cash flood lifts all boats
Once you've had fun with the marquee moneymakers selling off their Youtube-bought Google stock, it's a diverting pastime to poke around in the guts of the SEC filing to see who else plans to make book. For example, Keith "Hope You Die of AIDS" Rabois could toddle off with $4.2 million. Rabois was the first person to see Youtube, asUPDATE: OK, never mind, just review the list on the SEC site. Too much table-text to run here, apparently.
