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Doug Leone: If You're Desperate, That's a Great Asset

By Doug Leone · Startup Growth · 1 min read

Leone says founders with too many choices have clouded thinking. When you only have one way to go — forward — it's very easy. You just go.

Key Points

If you're desperate, it's a great asset — failure truly is not an option
Sequoia looks for founders solving a problem they personally have
The founder is the proxy for the next 20 million users

If you're desperate, it's a great asset. If you have too many choices in life, it clouds your thinking. When you only have one way to go and that's forward, it's very easy.

Desperation Is an Asset

Leone: Entrepreneurs, like investors, come in different flavors. As I told my kids — if you're desperate, it's a great asset. If you have too many choices in life, it clouds your thinking.

When you only have one way to go and that's forward, it's very easy. You just go, go, go. Failure truly is not an option.

If you're desperate, it's a great asset. When you only have one way to go, it's very easy. You just go.

What Sequoia Looks For

Leone: We look for people that have not followed the same tracks. People that have done quirky things, that have taken risks.

We look for people that have knowledge in the domain — not so much someone who masterminded a business because they want to make some money. We actually look for people that are very interested in their product or service being used by the next 10, 20 million people.

They Solve Their Own Problem

Leone: A little secret — we look for people that solve a problem that they have. They don't know it. We don't know it. But they're the proxy for the next 20 million users.

Jan at WhatsApp understood privacy and low-cost messaging. He had that need. He started WhatsApp. The founders of Yahoo from Stanford couldn't find anything on the internet, so they built a search engine. The founders of Zappos couldn't find a pair of shoes.

We look for people trying to solve problems that they themselves have. Hopefully a new problem. If we see that, that's a little tell for us that we may be on to something.

We look for people that solve a problem they themselves have. They're the proxy for the next 20 million users.