Sequoia Boot Note Footnotes – TechCrunch

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Sequoia takes things seriously. The legendary venture capital firm is known for reacting to macro events with big memos aimed at portfolio companies, and sometimes the entrepreneurship scene as a whole. More recently, Sequoia created a 52-slide deck, first reported by The Information, titled Adapting to Endure; the document reads like a follow-up lesson to his infamous “Coronavirus: The Black Swan of 2020” memo from March 2020.

The company isn’t always right in its predictions – perhaps that’s why it stuck to internal musings this time instead of an average message – but it does a service by providing some insight into the way one of the most proven and successful companies still thinks about an impending downturn.

“Our intention in gathering today is not to be a beacon of darkness,” the deck read. “But we also believe that winning in the years to come will depend on making tough and decisive choices in the face of uncomfortable challenges that may have been masked in the exuberance and distortions of free capital over the past two years.”

Sequoia’s guidance followed much of the same script as other venture capital firms: expand the runway, focus on sustainable growth, and recognize that an economic recovery may be a long way off. There were, however, a few tidbits that stood out, like a sub-tweet that I assume is for Tiger Global and a specific explanation of how Founders should define fluff these days.

For my full take on this topic, read my TechCrunch+ column, “Sequoia is the latest venture capital firm that wants you to take the crisis seriously.” In the rest of this newsletter, we’ll bring a founder’s perspective on this tech moment, a teardown of the pitch deck, and a deal that may have flown under your radar this week. As always, you can support me by forwarding this newsletter to a friend or follow me on twitter or by subscribing to my blog.

Let’s have a heart to heart

On Equity this week, CEO of Heart to Heart Josh Ogundu joined us to talk about his perspective on the early-stage founder market. Ogundu told us his thoughts, the importance of honesty and what to do before considering a layoff. It’s not too often that we have guests on the show, so when we do, you know it’s going to be a good one.

Here’s why it’s important: Much of the advice, as the introduction to this newsletter shows, comes from investors. Still, it’s the Founders who experience the change and make the tough decisions, so consider this episode a belated realization.

Disassembly of the presentation bridge

Our own Haje Jan Kamps started a weekly series in which he reviews a startup’s pitch deck in the form of a witty column. Most recently, he reviewed Lumigo’s Series A pitch deck that helped the startup land a $29 million round.

Here’s why it’s important, in his own words: “I’ve been coaching startups for a long time, and the #1 challenge we always run into is that there’s no shortage of tips for making a good pitch deck (hell, I wrote a book about it), but what’s always been missing is a good library of real, successful fundraising pitch decks When I joined TechCrunch and started talking to the founders fundraisers, I realized this could be my chance. In this week’s teardown, we talk about what worked on the bridge and where the company could have made further improvements. This is information that aren’t available anywhere else, and it’s been such a fun project so far!

Offer of the week

It certainly feels like layoff announcements are the new funding stories, but I think it’s helpful to balance pessimism with growth-oriented news. And no, I’m not just talking about new crypto funds. This week, Planet FWD announced that it had secured $10 million for the consumer products industry to track carbon emissions. Not serious.

Here’s why it matters via reporter Christine Hall: “Time is of the essence in reducing emissions, with [CEO Julia Collins] noting that there are less than 100 months to reach the 2030 global target of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by at least 40% below 1990 levels. Household consumption of things like food , which impacts land, energy and water, accounts for 60% of global emissions, she added.

All week long

Seen on TechCrunch

Report: High-profile newsletter platform Substack has dropped plans for a Series C

4 investors discuss the outlook for the US cannabis market in Q3 2022

Manish Maheshwari, former director of Twitter India, leaves a new startup

Founder alleges YC-backed fintech startup ‘copy and paste’ his business

Everything You Wanted to Know About Elon Musk and Twitter (But Didn’t Want to Ask)

Seen on TechCrunch+

Questions arise about Y Combinator’s role in boot patching

Sequoia’s Jess Lee explains how VCs think about their deals

Maybe faster delivery times were a bad choice from a unit economics point of view.

Dear Sophie: Does the International Entrepreneur Word have any advantages over an O-1 visa?

Can recurring revenue funding drive growth in a turbulent market?

Until next time,

NOT