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person1986–present

Michael Moritz

Disciplines:
venture capital
technology journalism

Summary

Welsh-American venture capitalist and partner at Sequoia Capital, one of the most successful investors in Silicon Valley history, who led investments in Google, Yahoo, PayPal, LinkedIn, and Stripe.

Core Contribution

Negotiated and led Sequoia's co-investment in Google's Series A alongside Kleiner Perkins — a $12.5M investment in 1999 that returned billions — and championed a generation of Silicon Valley's most consequential companies through pattern recognition from his journalism background.

Key Spikes & Highlights

  • Journalism as VC Edge (approached founder assessment as a journalist — asking why and how rather than accepting pitches at face value — turning investigative instincts into pattern recognition for exceptional founders)

Notable Works & Achievements

The Little Kingdom: The Private Story of Apple Computer

Going for Broke

Historical Influences

Don Valentine Arthur Rock

Intellectual Lineage

Sequoia Capital Investment Tradition Silicon Valley Venture Capital

Contemporaries & Peers

John Doerr Doug Leone Peter Thiel Mike Maples

Minds Influenced

Roelof Botha Doug Leone

Intellectual Posterity

Sequoia Google investmentReturn: A Story of Survival

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