Shailendra J Singh
@sjs_day1
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VC @peakxvpartners @_surgeahead ; Investments: Pine Labs, GoTo, Cred, Unacademy, Druva, MPL, Carousell, One Championship, Scaler, Park+, Arta, Zamp
Singapore
Joined October 2014
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powerful thing i learnt from a v successful founder:
look for people who are "done with themselves" they are done looking for more titles, validation or comp ... it's no longer about them
such people, however rare, are ready to serve a greater purpose. they are future leaders
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We are urgently looking for avenues to import Oxygen Concentrators into India. Anyone have information on foreign suppliers anywhere, please DM me. Pls RT
PS: No other DM's pls
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If you are one of those who wants to help during the Covid crisis in India, but dont know how, its super easy:
Persuade someone you know to get the vaccine. Convince the skeptics and get them jabbed.
And then the next. Keep at it.
#StayRelentless
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A quote heard at Sequoia this week:
“You can not overtake 15 cars in sunny weather... but you can when it’s raining” - Ayrton Senna
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startups are hard, founders are constantly dealing with high volatility, leading teams is v hard on them in such environments ....
... if you work in a startup, what your founders need is high performance, low drama 🙏
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If your startup is scaling rapidly, you are likely getting a lot of investor interest; it’s tempting to raise capital again and again, even if you don’t need it. It makes you feel like you are winning.
Be careful. The high of a fundraise lasts 90 days, dilution lasts a lifetime.
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Every time I hear a story of a founder cold calling someone super important and out of reach for them, and converting them to a customer, mentor, investor ... i always smile, its so special
one of those things that the best founders do for a living. no barriers in their minds
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large funding and unicorn valuations are not success
to build an enduring company, you need an economic engine that throws out cash at scale
many "successful" startups have the reverse - funding boom has created giant cash guzzlers
path to +ve cash flows is hard
#StayFrugal
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some founders just care a lot less about money at a personal level (vs some who are v focused on it) ... their objectives are centered around building epic products, working with incredible people, solving important problems, winning
this is a super power no one talks about
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many startups are reporting 20-40% employees are dealing with Covid themselves or in their families
its very distressing, it requires all leaders to step up and focus on helping their teams above all else
it also means, this pandemic will decline as fast as it is has grown
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15 incredible years, thank you
@Sequoia_India
.... heartfelt gratitude to my amazing partners and team and our incredible founders. so many people to thank in the ecosystem for learning, sharing, support, collaboration, patience and encouragement. 🙏🙏🙏
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India tech ecosystem will not be the same after today
@deepigoyal
and team
@zomato
have raised the bar
thousands of entrepreneurs are deeply inspired, reflecting on what this means for them
many many more will turn believers
#gratitude
#respect
#admiration
#Inspiration
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This is a priceless video. Everyone building a startup or a product, pls listen to it 🙏
In this
#CNBCClassic
clip, Jeff Bezos explained his ambitious vision for Amazon in a 1999 interview: "There’s no guarantee that can be a successful company."
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All the board meetings are now focused on efficient growth, sustainable unit economics, pragmatic capital allocation
Frugality is back in fashion 🙏🙏🙏
#Refreshing
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The best founders evolve with their startups in many of the following ways:
Ambition evolves to purpose
Intelligence evolves to wisdom
Capability evolves to effectiveness
Control evolves to delegation
Insecurity evolves to trust
Entitlement evolves to gratitude
#KeepGrowing
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Nanaji Deshmukh was a legendary social worker. He was an inspiration to our family and thousands more. He started DRI a non-profit HQ’ed in Chitrakoot that my dad has been chairman of for ~19 years. Dad was deeply honored to receive Bharat Ratna on behalf of Nanaji 🙏🙏🙏
India pays tributes to the great Nanaji Deshmukh Ji. He undertook many efforts to improve India’s villages and empower the lives of our rural population. He epitomised honesty, humility and probity in public life.
Happy that he has been conferred the Bharat Ratna (Posthumously).
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Dhoni personified calm under pressure. He took singles before accelerating. He did not throw away his wicket, often remained not out. He backed himself to get India home at the end.
For year's I have been telling founders to act like Dhoni
#BestCaptainEver
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We have a meeting room in our Singapore office named "Dhoni" to remind founders about his grit and resilience, to be inspired by his leadership
Dhoni personified calm under pressure. He took singles before accelerating. He did not throw away his wicket, often remained not out. He backed himself to get India home at the end.
For year's I have been telling founders to act like Dhoni
#BestCaptainEver
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IPL campaigns are on fire .. today I found out
@CRED_club
is up 6-7x in terms of daily sign ups after launch of IPL campaign 🚀🚀
You guys crushed it
@AnilKapoor
@kunalb11
🙏🙏
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Tonight ... surely 59 x hundreds of Indian startups are actively pivoting to fill the white space or doubling down to emerge stronger in their categories
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We believe the best founders are like great athletes. They bring to work, tons of tenacity, commitment, teamwork, heart.
The meeting rooms in our Singapore office are now named after some of the greats ...
Ali
Federer
Messi
Jordan
Dhoni
Williams
Phelps
Bolt
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Tons of capital available to fuel the ambition of startups. Will put pressure to grow fast, be impatient to make progress.
Tons of discipline will be needed to use capital sensibly and not mistake burn/aggression for building enduring companies
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Most high growth startups focus on m-o-m growth, I try to remind them...
50% annual growth for 10 yrs is 58X
60% annual growth for 10 yrs is 110X
Most founders don’t put enough emphasis on 3/5/10 years out, on making choices today to sustain compounding
#PowerOfCompounding
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We challenge founders to hire the best, most aspirational leaders who can raise their game. We're doing that to ourselves.
Honored & humbled to welcome
@GayatriPYadav
as CMO,
@AjeyGore
as Operating Partner, Technology and
@ShwetaRKohli
as Head of Public Policy for
@Sequoia_India
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When startups see explosive growth, it’s like a drug, it’s easy to get over confident, make plans by extrapolating recent past ... often see rapid pace of hiring as worrying sign of this
The faster you grow headcount, the more rigorous systems, measurement and control you need
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what no founder fully understands when things are not going well ... is how many startups in india have seen spectacular turn-around of fortunes. a special trait of indian founders imo
the grit, tenacity, relentless will to win, are at a different level
#stayinthegame
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Thank you
@jaspreetis
for the shout out, i remember hustling the guard to take the letter to you :-).
So grateful for our partnership for the last ~11 years ... you have made us all proud building one of the top SaaS companies from India
@druvainc
🙏🙏🙏
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Incredible board mtg at
@gojekindonesia
y’day . It’s unreal that the app launched 3 yrs & 2 weeks ago:
~100M orders/mo
~ 14 orders/mo for wallet users
~$5B payment vol RR
~ 700k active drivers, 125k merchants
~$2B raised
- a new platform playbook
- leadership across categories
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@kunalb11
💯
I find resumes v limiting; most are a summary of what you did
The real value is in .. why you made those choices, why are these things important to you ... the reasons lie in people’s upbringing, family context, friends, sports, hobbies.. the stuff that resumes don’t cover
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हो तिमिर कितना भी गहरा
हो रोशनी पर लाख पहरा
सूर्य को उगना पड़ेगा,
फूल को खिलना पड़ेगा
हो समय कितना भी भारी
हमने ना उम्मीद हारी
दर्द को झुकना पड़ेगा ,
रंज को रुकना पड़ेगा
सब थके हैं, सब अकेले
लेकिन फिर आएंगे मेले
साथ ही लड़ना पड़ेगा ,
साथ ही चलना पड़ेगा
- रामधारी सिंह 'दिनकर'
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Last year I was very honored to join
@HarvardHBS
Board of Dean’s Advisors. Just finished the annual meeting, met some of the nicest and most accomplished leaders. A huge privilege to serve an institution that profoundly shapes the lives of so many
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Dear founders, please do read this letter on Coronavirus from team Sequoia.
Coronavirus: The Black Swan of 2020 by
@sequoia
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#InspirationHack
founders, if you are going through a tough phase ... go talk to your customers or power users. It will lift your spirits. Most tough phases in company building will pass, if you stay true to your customers and do right by them, day in and day out.
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got a message from a founder who has had some tough years saying ...
"Picture abhi baaki hai ... aur haar kar jeetne wale ko baazigar kehte hain"
#FounderSpirit
🙏
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Amazing post from
@yodchatri
on LinkedIn. It’s super relevant for founders, sharing here ...
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My favorite thing about start-ups is that normal people can do amazing world-changing things because of their mindset to push the boundaries, passion, drive and focus
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congratulations
@sandeepnailwal
and team
@0xPolygon
on $450M round🚀🚀🚀
@Sequoia_India
is very privileged to be a part of your journey and excited to partner deeply to support your massive ambitions
@Sequoia_India
@shaileshlakhani
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Last two weeks several portfolio companies have announced quarterly results
Truecaller, 46% EBITDA, 760+ crore annualized
Five Star Finance, 720+ crore annualized PAT
Freshworks, 590+ cr annualized FCF
Zomato, first profitable quarter for the sector
@peakxvpartners
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I am constantly amazed by how few things matter in the long term for founders. product, user love, team, culture are a few of them. staying focused and ignoring distractions is a super power for founders.
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Unbelievable .. it likely took insane talent and thousands of hours of practice for that moment to happen 🤩🤩🤩
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Huge congrats to our partners and teams in Sequoia China for their incredible investment in Pinduoduo
Company was founded in 2015. Market cap after yesterday’s IPO ~$33B.
The velocity of adoption of new mobile platforms in Asia is simply unprecedented.
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Congratulations
@kunalb11
@miten
team
@CRED_club
on new $215M round at $2.2B in 28 months of launch 🙌🏻🙌🏻
More importantly, amazing to see millions of sticky users, high NPS, rapid growth of many products & revenues, v excited for path ahead
@Sequoia_India
@tejeshwi_sharma
Our growth in the past year has demonstrated the potential value of the high-trust, low-friction platform the CRED team has been building and has earned conviction of investors. CRED has closed its Series D funding round of $215 at $2.2B valuation.
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Founders, most of you are working v v hard .. giving it your all, driven & determined, always pushing ahead. But remember to invest in yourself.
Your learning, development as a leader, your rest & sleep, health & family. And pls remember to enjoy the journey 👊
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Many founders running a tight, frugal ship tend to loosen their grip and over-spend soon after raising a round
Frugality is a founder’s best friend, no matter how much cash in the bank
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Back in Jakarta after 2+ yrs .. for a v special occasion, to celebrate the GoTo IPO with Andre, William, Kevin, Pat, Nadiem, Melissa, Ajey & others
GoTo is now a $30B company. Insane privilege for me to serve on both Tokopedia & Gojek boards for most of the last ~7 yrs 🙏🙏🙏
Huge congrats
@liamtanu
,
@kaluwi
,
@AndreSoelistyo
& team!
@gojekindonesia
&
@tokopedia
put Indo on the startup ecosystem map & today GoTo is a tech powerhouse & public co.
@singh_sequoia
& team
@sequoia_india
are privileged to have been part of the journey from
#IdeaToIPO
! 1/
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frequent mistake made by first time founders ... they dont value equity and ownership in their startups enough, often too quick to accept (large) dilution
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We are requesting all Surge 01 companies to create large ESOP pools, 15-20% of the company in several cases. It’s offset by higher entry valuation where founders can make that trade-off.
We need more employee friendly cap tables in start-ups, and more transparency around ESOP.
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Too many Indian founders, even in a very strong position, feel compelled to take $ they are offered.
More of them should consider saying no to opportunistic fundraise when they dont need capital.
The best ones say no frequently.
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As one of the greatest entrepreneurs of our generation steps away from an iconic company, his parting line to his team and partners:
“The one thing I can promise everyone is this: Alibaba was never about Jack Ma, but Jack Ma will forever belong to Alibaba.”
#Respect
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met a great founder that we are excited to engage with. he said, "life comes a full circle,
@sequoia
turned me down a few years ago"
i told him that happened to me when i was a founder. before spending 15 years at the firm, i was turned down too as a founder.
twice 😀
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Tomorrow marks the start of year 14 at
@Sequoia_India
and I have never been more psyched about the prospects of our portfolio, quality of our team and the India/SEA opportunity
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only in VC. people criticize investors for over paying for an investment. and then the price goes up 5-10x in a year. happens all the time to investors :-)
"And those who were seen dancing were thought to be insane by those who could not hear the music" Nietzsche
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Thoughts on M&A from a conversation this week ...
It’s much easier to sell a company you really want to build.
It’s very hard to build a company that you really want to sell.
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Got a very classy message from a wonderful founder; startup is shutting down, a tough day
Fwiw, I have high conviction this team will win in the future; they have our utmost gratitude for their efforts, courage, determination
Failure and success are relative & transient states
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A historic day for Indonesian Internet: the union of its two largest Internet companies
@gojekindonesia
@tokopedia
We got insanely lucky to partner w both for 6+ yrs
Priceless war stories & scars
@Sequoia_India
🙏🙏🙏
Inspired, filled w gratitude, excited about future
#GoTo
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today a founder paid off their home loan after selling secondary
they have been at it for 10+ years. some years with little comp. one of the most resilient teams. their stake is now worth hundreds of crores, possibly thousands
#Resilience
#Tenacity
#Grit
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Today we closed a v special investment (still in stealth)
The founder told me he loves our team; he tried to poach 3 of our team over the last many years; each one insisted he would get them for free once
@Sequoia_India
invested
I told him now he has all 3+ many more :-)🙏🙏🙏
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At
@Sequoia_India
our analysts are empowered to do all things that senior investors can ... they can meet founders, evaluate investments, attend board meetings, work closely alongside founders to help build companies
no surprise that so many of them become founders themselves
VC analysts who made it big
@neha_ns
@vikramchopra
@ashishdave
@AnkitiB
@tarukapoor
@kaush_anand
Anirudh Singh of Falcon Edge
@Sequoia_India
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Series A/B/C/D is all good but really love investing when companies are still at the “gmail stage”
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I reminded many founders this week: HIGH burn is unsustainable.
its v hard to cut burn - requires startups to prfioritize projects, reduce headcount, slow customer growth, generate more rev/cust
markets are fickle. so cut burn yourself before the market feedback forces you to
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Amazing cab ride. My driver, 61, was happy his health test was great. We spoke about his family, his daughter is in a US college. I asked which school, and he mentioned Yale. Gave all the credit to his wife who grew up in an Indonesian village, did not go to school
#Inspiring
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One of the biggest arbitrage in business very simply is the commitment to “treating people better”
It’s incredible what happens when founders deeply care about the interests of their customers, employees, suppliers, investors; truly act as custodian of their interest
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Loved a quote I heard from a v successful founder today:
“I keep on taking in new capital for my business. From customers.”
#RevenueFunded
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market sentiment changes faster than startups can change operations, cost structures or monetization levers
Looking forward to a much needed correction in startup funding environment; thankfully, conversations are back to focusing on revenues, products, unit economics, saving $
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VC's need upskilling ... without a good meme game, its going to be really hard
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Super psyched to welcome
@RajanAnandan
to
@Sequoia_India
Sequoia India & SEA welcomes Rajan Anandan to the leadership team" on
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Congrats to team
@pinelabsindia
on new $82M round
9 yrs ago, made initial $1M investment, could never have imagined we would get to 100,000 crore annualized payment vol, 6,000 crore loans originated
And yet, most psyched about path ahead ... heartfelt gratitude to the the team
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A vivid memory from 17 yrs ago, I used to visit Prof. Bill Sahlman
@HarvardHBS
office, he had a tiny print out stuck on his door...
"Feedback is the breakfast of champions"
... years later, I find myself reminding founders to embrace criticism & feedback, use it to improve
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all the best founders i know, they learn a lot about themselves through their journey of entrepreneurship
self awareness is a super power for all leaders, especially so for founders
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Too many Series A/B founders I meet do not focus enough on capital efficient growth. In all such cases, focus is only on growth.
I frequently suggest to founders to make “capital efficiency” a core part of lexicon and philosophy, especially if you plan to scale very fast 🙏
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So many founder and team meetings this weekend. No sign of slow down yet, even after such an intense year.
Founders, we are open for business ... if you are working very hard through the holiday break there is a good chance we are too :-)
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Oyo remains the largest & most imp company to emerge in the hotel category in the last decade. Its been inspiring to see their courage and resilience in these tough pandemic times
@riteshagar
@Sequoia_India
Pls support our startups by helping to stop spread of misinformation
There is a PDF and text message circulating that claims OYO has filed for bankruptcy. This is absolutely untrue and inaccurate. A claimant is seeking INR 16Lakhs (USD 22k) from OYO's subsidiary leading to a petition at NCLT. 1/3
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So excited about the launch of the Spark Fellowship for female founders in India & SEA, it’s a $100k grant per startup, no equity, no strings attached … and amazing founder mentors and dedicated mentors from
@Sequoia_India
team .. a lot needs to be done, this is a small start
So excited to launch the Spark Fellowship for women entrepreneurs in India & Southeast Asia.
@Sequoia_India
will offer a $100K fellowship to 15 female entrepreneurs per year whose startups are at the prelaunch or pre-PMF (product-market fit) stage.
Read more and apply 👇
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every startup that can, is raising a lot. the best ones will choose to spend frugally
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I see this too often. Founders know they need to change course.
But they stay course bcoz they’re in the midst of a round or in discussions w VC’s and already sold a story. Often leads to trouble.
Founders, pls never run your company back solving for what you think VC’s want
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problem solvers, with high sense of ownership and low need for constant praise are a blessing for founders ... complainers or those with a constant need for attention, are a pain for founders
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success changes most people, almost all founders and VC's alike
some become more grounded & grateful, they attribute their success to others including their team, mentors, supporters, context; others attribute it to themselves
very different paths :-)
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A founder today told me ...
that he made many mistakes because he was seeking too much external approval and validation from industry, investors, press, etc
That I should counsel founders to focus internally and find strength in their purpose and not worry about media, VC’s
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Huge congrats and tons of gratitude
@mrgirish
and team
@FreshworksInc
for the partnership
@Sequoia_India
@mobhat
@carl_eschenbach
@sequoia
AND
Thank you also for inspiring a whole generation of x-border SaaS founders who are fired up to walk in your footsteps 🙌🏻🙌🏻🙌🏻
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thank you everyone, we got a few dozen leads that we are pursuing now, including some amazing referrals from our friends in Sequoia China ... gratitude 🙏
We are urgently looking for avenues to import Oxygen Concentrators into India. Anyone have information on foreign suppliers anywhere, please DM me. Pls RT
PS: No other DM's pls
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I got incredibly lucky that
@gvravishankar
and I started our VC careers a month apart at
@Sequoia_India
Congrats to my v special partner and friend on completing 15 years ... incredible privilege to work and learn together with GV & look forward to many yrs of working together
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All categories that people believe are already occupied, all of them are based on a proposition that was created in the past
The future is wide open
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A (hypothetical) startup raises $10M, $3M left, $300k/m burn, metrics dont yet work ...
(but still more cash + insights + engineers than a new startup, somewhere raising a seed, a future unicorn)
.. can only succeed if you can shed baggage, reboot, keep day 0 mindset
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Achieving clarity is tangible progress ... especially true in chaotic start-up environments.
Founders, please over-invest in it ...
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In the NYT today ..
Mr. Biden’s inauguration on Wednesday is taking place 48 years after he first arrived in Washington as one of the youngest people to be elected senator. With his swearing-in, he will become the oldest president in American history.
#PlayTheLongGame
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I have been highlighting to founders that recent rounds at Figma, Stripe, Robinhood and Canva are for 1-3% (approx) dilution
In india, many founders even at late stages prefer to take more $ and dilute heavily. special companies can and do dilute less, every 1% is precious ..
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We have tried very hard to create a super program for start-ups, to serve founders better. It’s the first Seed > Series A program of its type. Grateful for support and enthusiastic participation from founders, tech leaders, mentors, angels, seed funds, VC’s
We asked ourselves: how can we best serve early-stage founders? Can we do more to give them an unfair advantage? Thrilled to launch Surge (
@_surgeahead
) - a new kind of rapid scale-up program for early stage
#startups
in
#India
&
#ASEAN
.
#GetReadyToSurge
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I couldn’t be more grateful to work with an awesome team & incredible founders. This is a shared recognition of
@Sequoia_India
team & our founders. V thankful to the 100s of team members who work insanely hard at startups to do impossible things, whose names rarely seen on lists
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just got off a founder call w
@RajanAnandan
@P_Kemps
@aakash_kpr
& others
founder: is it normal that many of you get on a call on sunday night?
me: as a founder, are you always willing to do what it takes for your startup? why do you think we wont do the same?
@Sequoia_India
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Question I was asked: any views on what to expect in 2022?
My 2 cents: Every year is a good year to play the long game
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one simple thing most
@_surgeahead
founders do ... most of them write a monthly update email with bullet points on highlight, lowlights, milestones, team additions, help needed, etc
this simple email is v powerful, if founders do it regularly
#clarity
#alignment
#communication
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Amazed by the sheer number of Chinese startups targeting india and SEA markets. We have also met Chinese startups targeting Middle East, Brazil, Russia in addition
Cross-border startups are going to be increasingly common. India/SEA founders, buckle up for more competition
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So grateful to our founders, LP's, co-investors and ecosystem partners for many deep and wonderful partnerships over the years
Its Day1 for us, and excited to become a founder now :)
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so I asked a founder who has a few term sheets "have you thought any further about the new round?"
founder: thank god we didnt accept any offers before the Zomato IPO
🤣🚀🤩
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For many years, we always asked founders in India & SEA "what is the math to get to $100M revenues?"
As so many companies get past $100M, perhaps its time to significantly raise the bar
Perhaps $500M or $1B revenues is a better goal?
#RaiseTheBar
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