Dude, you could've had Jerry Yang's job

I haven't had a chance to read Mr. Evangelism's latest book, Reality Check, but there's a tidy profile of Guy Kawasaki, the Apple marketer turned startup cheerleader, in USA Today. His biggest flub: Sequoia Capital partner Michael Moritz tried to hire him as CEO of Yahoo in the '90s. "I'd say that was a $2 billion or $3 billion mistake," the Hawaiian-born hockey nut admits. "Now Michael doesn't call me. I can't say I blame him." Yeah, and I'll bet Carl Icahn hates you now, too. (Photo by USA Today / Michael Mullady)

"It's always darkest before it's pitch black"

Bad times have hit sunnily optimistic northern California. Does it matter if the mayhem on Wall Street had any real connection with the tech-powered Silicon Valley economy? Some of the region's most influential power brokers believe it will — and by pushing others around, they can make perception reality. A helpful insider has provided notes from a recent meeting of Sequoia Capital, a backer of Apple, Cisco, and Google which has risen to become the Valley's preeminent venture-capital firm. Michael Moritz had summoned CEOs of Sequoia's portfolio companies to tell them to prepare for a long, hard downturn. The bottom line: All startups must become cash-flow positive — in other words, earn more than they spend. Or in other, other words, act like the real businesses they always should have emulated. Here are what our tipster claims are notes from the meeting, apparently forwarded by one of the attendees: More »

Sequoia calls off the boom

The good times are over, the partners of Sequoia Capital are telling the entrepreneurs they fund. Quite literally: They sent a summons to a summit meeting with a picture of a gravestone with the writing "R.I.P. Good Times," rival venture capitalist Om Malik reports. There, partners including Michael Moritz and Doug Leone told CEOs of companies in their portfolio that they should steel themselves for a prolonged downturn, make their businesses self-sustainable, and cut all unnecessary costs. More »

Sequoia's Michael Moritz: VCs need to stop with the "hot air and arrogance"

After reading our take on VC blogger Fred Wilson's advice that entrepreneurs need to learn how to "ask for the order," Persai cofounder Ted Dziuba commented: "Methinks Fred Wilson doth blog too much." We disagree, if only because Wilson is such a fruitful source. But at a venture capital conference in San Francisco last week, Sequoia Capital's Michael Moritz seemed to second the notion. "There's a lot of hot air and arrogance in the business that we all would be better off without," Moritz told the conference crowd. Moritz said he disapproved of "useless pontificating in front of entrepreneurs working harder than we are." Kleiner Perkins VC John Doerr concurred: "At Kleiner, we're trying to watch our language." This from the guy who said the Internet was underhyped — and then invested in Friendster. (Photo by b_d_solis)

HealthCentral takes cash from Barry Diller, Michael Moritz

HealthCentral just announced $50 million in funding. The round included a major investment from IAC and smaller contributions from prior investors Sequoia Capital, Carlyle Group and Polaris Venture Partners. HealthCentral operates several health-related websites, including the long-troubled DrKoop.com, which was once a publicly traded company a bubble or two ago. Here's how their traffic looked last year, according to Compete. It's nice and all, but stick around for the one comparing HealthCentral to WebMD. If I used the word pwnage, I would. But I don't. More »

Does your VC have a Democrat in his pocket?

Senator Clinton polls higher than Senator Obama in Santa Clara County, 43 percent to 27 percent, a Clinton campaign staffer told the Wall Street Journal. But we know what really counts in Silicon Valley: money. And when it comes to raising cash, Barack Obama's winning over the tech crowd. He raised about $500,000 just last weekend at a breakfast in Atherton. Wondering who was there? Here's a list of known Silicon Valley supporters for each candidate. More »

Is Plaxo ready to sell to Facebook?

It's curious that rumors of a Plaxo sale exploded at the same time that Robert Scoble got his Facebook account suspended using a secret, unreleased tool for extracting data from Facebook. Curious, too, that Plaxo is so eager to milk the incident for good PR. While a battle of words takes place in public, we hear that quieter talks are happening behind the scenes: A sale of Plaxo to Facebook. A clash between the companies' backers, though — the powerful VC Michael Moritz and the rising VC star Peter Thiel — could sink any deal. More »

Michael Moritz breaks a sweat

WEB 2.0 SUMMIT — Sequoia Capital Michael Moritz, the hottest venture capitalist in the Valley, and perhaps the world, is always smooth and comfortable, and his appearance at this conference is proving no exception. Save, that is, when discussing his departure from Google's board. Questioned by author John Heilemann about why he left, Moritz dismisses the notion that Sequoia was backing a secret Google-killer search startup. But his explanations are otherwise unsatisfactory, and he hems and haws in a way he hasn't at any other time in his on-stage interview. My conclusion: Moritz isn't being fully honest here. And that there's a value, in this hypermediated time, to watching the giants of the industry show up in person and explain themselves. And, occasionally, sweat.

"I assume there will be carcasses strewn across the road." — Sequoia Capital VC Michael Moritz, forecasting the future of the Web industry at Web 2.0 Summit. On the cheery side, he says things are not as frighteningly frothy as they were in 1999.

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)

The house that Google, Yahoo, and YouTube built

Michael Moritz, the most famous venture capitalist in the Valley, has exquisite taste in startups. As a partner at Sequoia Capital, he's greenlighted the funding of Yahoo, Google, and YouTube, among others. But his taste in real estate? I'm too blinded by jealousy to judge, after reviewing pictures taken at Moritz's abode in the uberswanky Pacific Heights neighborhood of San Francisco. The first two, definitely of the venture capitalist's library, were showcased in a New York Times story about the reading habits of megamillionaires. The rest of the bunch? Released by Ryan Associates, a construction firm specializing in high-end remodels. I don't know for sure that it's Moritz's place, but the view in one of the pictures listed under "Pacific Heights Remodel" seems to match the view from one of the Times photos. Got confirmation? Please share. The full gallery after the jump. More »

Eric Savitz goes through Federal Election Committee filings, picks out the top political contributors in Silicon Valley. Barack Obama gets some big names: Sequoia Capital VC Michael Moritz, Google backer Ram Shriram, and YouTube founder Chad Hurley all gave to his campaign. Sadly, no information on Ron Paul supporters. [Barrons]

Sequoia Capital's Michael Moritz waxed ornithological at today's Fortune iMeme conference, said venture capitalism is "like bird spotting" and called Cisco an "ugly duckling." [VC Ratings]