Gawker: valleywag, sequoia

Facebook widgetmaker RockYou coming to New York

Nicholas Carlson — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 14:20:00 EDT

Sequoia-backed RockYou, the second-largest widgetmaker on Facebook, is considering plans to staff a New York office with 2-5 ad salespeople — copying a move made by archrival Slide two months ago. Funny, it normally doesn't take these two so long to imitate each other. It's a much-needed move: RockYou has a reputation for being slow to respond even when advertisers come knocking on its door. The startup has been content to coast on charging other appmakers for promotion, and we hear it's on track to take in $10 million in revenues this year. But at some point, the company will have to give up that business model — which strikes some as suspiciously pyramidal — for legit dollars from Madison Avenue.

Cisco snags Navini

Jordan Golson — Tue, 23 Oct 2007 12:19:46 EDT

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)

Michael Moritz, what are you doing with your shoes?

Megan McCarthy — Mon, 17 Sep 2007 19:45:38 EDT

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...

Megan McCarthy — Mon, 18 Jun 2007 12:52:43 EDT

Sequoia looks east, raises "a massive amount of funding" for investment in Chinese companies. [VentureBeat]

Sequoia keeps it in the family

Tim Faulkner — Thu, 10 May 2007 16:57:49 EDT

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.

How not to get a job at Sequoia

Chris Mohney — Mon, 26 Feb 2007 16:32:51 EST

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.

The VC giant also had a tussle with Comventures — they of the recent Filmloop discorporation — when Comventures attempted to rip off Sequoia's website design. After some litigatory saber-rattling, Comventures backed down and settled, though terms were not disclosed. Perhaps Comventures could have used the Vaidyanathan strategy, and responded to Sequoia's demands with something like, "We thank you for your website design. We appreciate your timely action. We accept your copyrighted work for our own use."

Undeclared Sequoia shares in Youtube stock dump?

Chris Mohney — Tue, 13 Feb 2007 09:40:04 EST

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.

Five love songs about Youtube

Chris Mohney — Fri, 09 Feb 2007 18:20:10 EST

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.

Elon Musk back on Sequoia

Chris Mohney — Fri, 09 Feb 2007 09:00:34 EST

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 cash flood lifts all boats

Chris Mohney — Thu, 08 Feb 2007 15:20:42 EST

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, as ~~founders Chad Hurley and Steven Chen~~ co-founder Jawed Karim approached him first via their mutual Paypal connection. Rabois liked the idea and passed it to Roelof Botha at Sequoia. Something of a puzzler, as why didn't Rabois instead send them to his patron Peter Thiel, who has a somewhat tense relationship with Sequoia's Mike Moritz? Anyway, for your sifting pleasure, find a complete list of the stock-sellin' folk, after the jump. If you can parse anything amusing out of the names and amounts, then tell us all about it.

UPDATE: OK, never mind, just review the list on the SEC site. Too much table-text to run here, apparently.

Watch your back, Gavin Newsom

Chris Mohney — Thu, 08 Feb 2007 12:20:46 EST

Despite a mere hiccup in electoral support, San Francisco mayor Gavin Newsom may be enduring just the beginning of fallout from his affair with the wife of his campaign manager, Alex Tourk. Word around the Valley is that angel investor Ron Conway is cutting his ties with Newsom, making it clear that his loyalties lie with Tourk (Conway's wife Gayle is said to be particularly unamused by Newsom's antics). Further, Sequoia super-VC Mike Moritz has canceled a Newsom fundraiser, though it's unclear if it was to be a campaign event or something for Newsom's charity, SF Connect. The Mayoral Abandonment Watch is on. If you hear of anyone else heading for the lifeboats, let us know.

[Photo: Getty]

The great Youtube cashout

Chris Mohney — Thu, 08 Feb 2007 08:20:59 EST

As filed with the SEC, Youtube founders Chad Hurley and Steve Chen — along with a crowd of other investors — plan to sell off a huge chunk of the Google stock acquired when Youtube was purchased by the search corp. The numbers are indeed sweet: based on current stock prices, Hurley's shares are worth $345 million plus, and eligible bachelor Chen's $326 million plus. But who's the real big winner?

That would be Sequoia Capital, which originally invested $11.5 million in Youtube; the fund stands to rake in north of $442 million from selling stock (plus another $62 million from a couple other Sequoia fund investments). Youtube co-founder Jawed Karim, who left the party a little early, must be satisfied with a mere $64 million. Even broadcaster Maury Povich will make a little green off this thing. FuckedGoogle claims the whole thing is the de rigeur payday for Sequoia, who was given that equity stake in order to grease the wheels of the Youtube sale originally. If so, maybe a little fraudish. Hey man, who cares, we're rich!