Sequoia's Former Boss on Reading People: What Happens Before 14 Sets Your Core
After digging into his own refugee family's history, he found that the imprint you unconsciously absorb from your parents before age 12, 13, 14 stays with you for life; what changes afterward is the external intensity, not the core.
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The grandfather who waited for the situation to pass disappeared
Moritz's two grandfathers were two reactions to the same catastrophe. His maternal grandfather was a lower court judge in Bavaria, had fought at Verdun in World War I, believed in the state's endurance, and had a pension he was unwilling to give up, so he delayed leaving and was eventually sent east with his wife, vanishing from history. The other grandfather was nearly blind, supported his family alone by trading cattle, had no pension to wait for, and left with his wife 72 hours before the war broke out—three days later and they too would have died. Moritz says the lesson is not a moral judgment but that you must always have a bolt hole to hide in, and never too many passports.
— Michael MoritzHis most effective question makes people cry on the spot
When interviewing people, he always asks one question: looking back, if there was one thing, one action you could have done differently, what would it be. He remembers a person interviewing at Sequoia bursting into tears when asked this—the man was the son of Latino immigrants, had stolen candy from a corner grocery store with friends around age 12, the owner told his father, who dragged him back by the ear, made him apologize and empty his pockets. Years later, asked this question, the first thing he thought of was still the shame brought to his family. Moritz says many people conducting interviews aren't really listening to the answers.
— Michael MoritzHe sorted everyone he knew on Zoom
Inspired by a series about a French village in World War II, he divided people into three categories: resisters, the silent, and collaborators. During pandemic lockdowns, in those Zoom meetings with a dozen little windows, he would stare at each person he knew and think: if these people lived in a 1940s French village, who would stay silent, who would resist, who would collaborate. He says resisters are always a tiny minority, because bad things happen in a country precisely because most people stay silent. Asked how many of the people he had invested in would be resisters, he said he would like to think so, but he wasn't sure.
— Michael MoritzThe painter took only one day off a year
Frank Auerbach was a refugee from Nazi Germany, and Moritz calls him a complete monomaniac: except for one day off each Christmas to rest at Brighton Pier, he painted every single day. His models were a small fixed group of people, the same few faces painted for decades; one model living in Venice flew to London once a week to sit for him. His wife's house was right on the British coast, and Moritz asked if he went there; he answered: I've never been to that house. Moritz uses this to discuss the cost of monomania—the cost to relationships is almost inevitable, but sometimes great things come from there.
— Michael MoritzHe bet on something beyond the résumé
Around 1985, Moritz was still a journalist and wrote to five small funds looking for a job. Everyone except Don Valentine said he had no technical background, no engineering degree, no experience at a tech company, and suggested he go into PR or marketing. Don was willing to take a risk, for a direct reason: he had seen several people with operating backgrounds at large tech companies who switched to investing and didn't succeed, and he had also seen several who did—an actuary, and the one he cited most, Arthur Rock: an investment banker by background, with nothing in his background that predicted success. Don didn't believe in teaching people; he believed in throwing them into the deep end and seeing if they drowned.
— Michael MoritzVenture capital's advantage was imperfect information
Moritz says doing venture capital in the 1980s and 1990s had several advantages that have now disappeared, the first being imperfect information: before the internet, unless you were close to something, you didn't know what was happening, whereas now the whole world basically gets the same information. The second is that early markets have far too many participants—individuals, tiny two- or three-person funds, giant mutual funds—too many middlemen, and it's no longer possible for investors to build the kind of real, close relationship with founders they once had. He therefore says a moderately smart, mentally agile 14- to 16-year-old could have done venture capital in the mid-1980s; he's not sure he could still do it well today.
— Michael MoritzHe unabashedly believes in the great man theory
Asked whether history is shaped by great individuals or enduring institutions, Moritz's answer is blunt: he is a firm believer in the great man theory. From Lee Iacocca to Steve Jobs, from politics to the battlefield, what matters is great leaders; of course there are also tyrants who cast a shadow over tens of millions for decades. In his work at Sequoia and writing about Ferguson, he cares about the same thing—how an organization stays alive across decades. And speaking of Elon, he says he is completely stunned by the scale of his achievements across multiple different industries, and thinks he may be the greatest industrialist in American history.
— Michael MoritzThe more AI writes, the more valuable the human voice
Moritz says that because AI can easily produce massive amounts of text, excellent writing that cuts through the garbage is actually appreciating; his definition of excellent writing is "you can hear the author's unmistakable voice." The hardest thing for a writer is to get close enough to their own inner feelings and voice to let it outweigh the weight of others' expectations—he quotes Joseph Campbell: the privilege of a lifetime is to become who you truly are, and that is also the hardest thing. He doesn't consider himself a technologist, and says AI is rarely discussed at home; on employment he is optimistic: when the nuclear bomb exploded people predicted doomsday, in the 1970s they predicted a genetic revolution creating humans, and none of it happened, and this time he thinks more jobs will be created than destroyed.
— Michael MoritzIn their own words · checked verbatim
I think the necessity for always feeling that you have a bolt hole, that you have some place to go if the fire gets too hot. That's the lesson that I took away from my family history.
Michael Moritz10:34
The inner being doesn't change. The outward intensity changes.
Michael Moritz20:15
And I remember one person we interviewed for Sequoia who burst into tears when I asked that question.
Michael Moritz21:20
I kept asking myself, well, if these people had been living in the French village in the 1940s, who would have stayed silent? Who would have resisted? And who would have been collabos?
Michael Moritz26:33
For many, many years, he treated himself to one day off a year. And every year he'd go to Brighton, where there's a famous pier.
Michael Moritz38:04
Don didn't believe in teaching. He had a survivalist instinct. So he just believed in tossing people into the deep end and see if they drowned.
Michael Moritz44:09
I think moderately intelligent 14, 16 year old who had his or her wits about him would have been able to succeed in the venture business in the mid 80s.
Michael Moritz46:15
Because AI produces prodigious amounts of new text and writing so easily, I think the value of extraordinary writing is going up that can cut through the CF slop.
Michael Moritz58:40
Figures
| When his maternal grandfather fled Germany | 72 hours before the war broke out | 9:33 |
| Frank Auerbach's days off per year | 1 day | 38:04 |
| Year Don Valentine hired Moritz at Sequoia | Around 1985 | 41:01 |
| Arthur Rock's age | Just past his 100th birthday | 43:04 |
| Trump's spoken vocabulary | About 2,400 words | 1:09:09 |
| Obama's spoken vocabulary | About 4,500 words | 1:09:09 |
Glossary
- bolt hole
- A place to hide in times of danger, a survival principle Moritz learned from his family history
- monomania
- Total focus on one thing, locking the rest of the world out
- collabos
- Locals in WWII France who collaborated with the occupiers
- great man theory
- The belief that history is mainly driven by a few great individuals
- Fleet Street
- The old newspaper center of London, shorthand for the British national press
How to listen
People who evaluate founders, early-stage investors, and angels: those who want to know which of 40 years of people-picking experience still applies and which has expired.
The discussion of current affairs and antisemitism starting at 11 minutes is more of a personal stance and can be fast-forwarded.