Sequoia Capital has landed in Europe. Last September, Silicon Valley's premier venture capital firm set up shop in London with Luciana Lixandru at its head. With COVID aside, why make this move in 2020? Sequoia has previously invested in European companies like UiPath, Unity, and Klarna — why the need for a physical base? In this episode, we dive into all these questions with Luciana; learn more about how Sequoia finds, screens, and supports portfolio companies; talk about its scout program; and a lot more!
At Sequoia, Luciana focuses on enterprise and consumer technology companies across Europe. She is passionate about helping founders at all stages unlock their potential and think on a global scale. Prior to becoming Sequoia's first partner in Europe, Luciana (#12 on Forbes' Midas List Europe) worked at Accel for eight years, where she led investments in UiPath, Deliveroo, Hopin, Framer, Miro, and Tessian.
Topics:
00:23 — Introduction with Roxanne Varza & Gwen Salley
01:20 — Luciana on Sequoia’s move to London
03:28 — Why enter Europe in 2020
04:14 — Sequoia’s investment thesis and examples of European investments
04:46 — Establishing a physical presence in Europe to find talent earlier
06:12 — Sequoia’s Europe team
09:15 — Luciana on team building at Sequoia and recruitment for London
10:50 — How Sequoia invests and helps with company building
12:45 — The differences in the European ecosystem
14:56 — The impact of COVID on work habits
16:20 — Sequoia’s screening process (including one of Luciana’s tricks!)
22:00 — How Sequoia leverages its community to help its portfolio companies
26:22 — The origins of Sequoia’s scout program
28:43 — Roxanne (STATION F Director) on how she became a scout at Sequoia Capital
30:37 — How the scout program works
32:30 — Tier-1 international funds setting up shop in Europe
This episode is hosted by Roxanne Varza and Gwen Salley, and produced by Cindy Yang. Art is by Gaëtan Lefebvre.
","author_name":"STATION F"}