The Journey of Company Building

What I've learned now at Sequoia, and there's a reason why I think, I think I fit here better because I'm a company builder too. I think company building is a journey and there are different components of that journey along the way. We like to partner early in the company's life cycle because there's a lot to get right at the beginning and plant the right DNA at the beginning, and then it's a journey along the way. And we like to talk about seeding excellence at the start. We like to talk about getting the right, the decisions right during crucible moments. Crucible moments don't just appear and say, this is a crucible moment. You're going, there's a fork in a row. Which fork do you take? They're not that clear. And I think founders are very, very good at starting and they start despite what everybody tells them and why it's going to fail. And so at the beginning, the reason for they started was they basically didn't listen or they ignored all the advice. Then over time, you have to become a better and better listener. And so there are a lot of things like that where the starting conditions, you're a great founder because you have those starting conditions and you have the characteristics for those starting conditions. But over time, you have to evolve as well. And company building starts with a seed of an idea to founders that are really passionate about that idea. Then it's about the product, it's about building the product and iterating on product market fit. It's about customer product fit. Who are the customers that you're building for? It's about storytelling. How do you tell your story so that all these other companies that are starting off, how do you rise above all the noise? It's about getting your first customer. It's about go to market. What's your wedge into the market? There's a lot of competitors out there. What's your differentiation? And at the end of the day, we're looking for. We're looking for a company that endures. And so I think the most important element is not necessarily the idea, but the willingness to be on this journey and be willing to outlast everybody else. There are other things that you can ask beforehand, whether it's the right time or condition. You can ask, why now? And we do that a lot at Sequoia. And I think that that is helpful to think about. You can ask about, are there good tailwinds in the market? I think some of the misleading questions are like, how big is the tam I don't know how big the TAM was for ride sharing or for home sharing or for food delivery back when any of these companies were started. The question is, how big can the TAM be? What is the potential? What is the long term potential? Are there positive market dynamics? And at the end of the day, every single founder and every single investor is looking for a very strong team solving a really important problem in a future large market and having a differentiated business model so that you can charge more than your competition. But that's not a limiting set. You can look at it a few ways. There are a lot of things that satisfy those conditions. Or you can look at it like how am I going to limit the set? Because I can't do everything. I can't start every single company and I can't invest in every single company. So how am I going to limit? And for me, I've always looked for founder market fit. And Tony at DoorDash has founder market fit because he grew up in the, in the restaurant industry. Brian has founder market fit because he just been thinking about this travel problem for a long period of time. Lauren Myrick at Found was an accountant. She, she started her small business, she had a small business on the side. She wants to help small businesses. A lot of people have these stories and it's about the fit. Why do they fit in this market?