Jason M. Lemkin argues that top-tier brand names (e.g., Sequoia) retain lasting value in venture capital, while "subscale" brand-building efforts are often a waste. He emphasizes founders' attraction to strong brands, notes that brand-building strategies have evolved with social media, and gives examples of platform-driven discovery (Saster blog, early Quora deal flow).
Sequoia. Sequoia will always be a brand, right? It will be for a million reasons. Like the business model is insane too, right? But building people mock. I think subscale brand building on VC is a waste of time. Subscale brand building, right. But a top brand is always compelling. And founders, founders don't know. Founders are attracted. We're all attracted to brands. And so I think the way we build brand is evolved and you should be worried. And also, you know, not to do too much insider baseball. We're also both products of different types of social media and social media changes. And for example, like as a blog, Sasters is still a huge even though blogs are dead. Saster traffic's insane, right? It is. It is a canonical source of a lot of content. But half of my probably my deal flow came from Quora in the early days.
