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Andrew Reed

  • Growth

Founders are human beings. They have senses of humor, diverse interests, ups and downs. And so do I. I try to meet them as people, and talk about everything—not just how the quarter is going.

Backstory

I joined Sequoia in 2014. I had some depth on the quantitative side of investing, but I had so much to learn about founders, teams, products and company-building. I saw in Sequoia the chance to work with the best investors and best founders in the world, and I get to do that every day now.

I have a strong belief in the global opportunity for founders and startups. The legendary companies of this generation will start all over the world, and scale all over the world too. Even before I joined, I appreciated Sequoia’s global mindset, willingness to take risks, and scale of ambition. I work with founders in places as far afield as Tallinn, Estonia (Bolt), Bogota, Colombia (Rappi), not to mention many remote companies that are scaling on the Internet (Zapier, Loom, Sourcegraph).

Back in 2014, I knew I loved investing. I didn’t realize how much I’d love working with founders. I am often amazed by the capabilities of the founders I get to work with, and the way my relationships with those founders grow and strengthen with time. I pride myself on trusted dialogue, direct communication, an open network and fast email response times. References available upon request.

On the lookout for

I don’t define my interests by sector. I’ve worked with companies building everything from design tools to open source software to fintech apps to digital health to global ride-hailing and food delivery. But there are two common threads:

First, and most important is the founding team. Regardless of stage, that’s where everything starts. I look for people who have the horsepower to solve hard problems, the determination and ambition to build an enduring company for the long term, and the ability to explain a future and make it seem inevitable. I also look for people I trust. The best founders—when given the right set of inputs—tend to make the right decisions. Our job is to make sure those inputs are there.

The second common thread is a focus on quality and craftsmanship. When I evaluate a company, I talk to users, try the product, look at job postings, API docs, support forums—not just the slide deck and financials. Great companies have a consistency of design and experience that permeates the entire organization and every interaction with their customers, users, prospects and developers. Attention to detail is important to me.

What I don’t care about is traditional pedigree. I work with some founders that have multiple degrees, and another that never graduated high school. I care about performance, ethics, clarity of thought, teamwork, ambition—and will to win.

Get in touch with Andrew

Personal Side

  • Bikes
  • Investing
  • The internet

Press & Media

Companies

Current Companies

Company Name  Short Description Current Stage  Founders First Partnered  collapse
BoltBolt is a European mobility platform for ridesharing, scooter rentals and food delivery.Growth
  • Oliver Leisalu
  • Markus Villig
  • Martin Villig
Growth (2021)Collapse
ChainguardChainguard helps organizations secure their software supply chains through products, tooling, and education.Early
  • Ville Aikas
  • Kim Lewandowski
  • Dan Lorenc
  • Matt Moore
Early (2022)Collapse
ElevenLabsElevenLabs is a Voice AI research and deployment company making content universally accessible in any language and voice.Growth
  • Piotr Dąbkowski
  • Mati Staniszewski
Growth (2023)Collapse
FigmaFigma is the first web-based collaborative design tool.Growth
  • Dylan Field
Growth (2019)Collapse
FrontFront is a communication hub for building strong customer relationships.Growth
  • Mathilde Collin
  • Laurent Perrin
Growth (2017)Collapse
HarmonicHarmonic is building a state-of-the-art mathematical reasoning engine in pursuit of mathematical superintelligence.Early
  • Tudor Achim
  • Vlad Tenev
Early (2024)Collapse
KlarnaKlarna is a payment solution simplifying the purchasing process.Growth
  • Sebastian Siemiatkowski
Growth (2010)Collapse
MedallionMedallion is a workflow automation company for healthcare that offers licensing and credentialing.Growth
  • Derek Lo
Growth (2021)Collapse
PapayaPapaya makes paying bills as easy as snapping a photo.Growth
  • Patrick Kann
  • Jason Meltzer
Early (2018)Collapse
ProductboardProductboard is a product-management system that helps organizations build the right products.Growth
  • Daniel Hejl
  • Hubert Palan
Growth (2019)Collapse
RappiRappi is an on-demand delivery platform for Latin America.Growth
  • Simon Borrero
  • Sebastian Mejia
  • Felipe Villamarin
Early (2016)Collapse
Rec RoomRec Room is a cross platform digital third place for kids at heart.Growth
  • John Bevis
  • Cameron Brown
  • Nick Fajt
  • Dan Kroymann
  • O. Bilal Orhan
  • Josh Wehrly
Pre-Seed/Seed (2016)Collapse
SnapdocsSnapdocs is a digital mortgage closing platform.Growth
  • Aaron King
Early (2017)Collapse
SourcegraphSourcegraph is a universal code search tool.Growth
  • Beyang Liu
  • Quinn Slack
Growth (2020)Collapse
StravaStrava is the world's social network for athletes.Growth
  • Mark Gainey
  • Michael Horvath
Growth (2014)Collapse
TourlaneTourlane is an online booking platform for custom multiday trips.Growth
  • Julian Stiefel
  • Julian Weselek
Early (2018)Collapse
VantaVanta automates and simplifies security and compliance.Growth
  • Christina Cacioppo
Growth (2021)Collapse
WarpWarp is a Rust-based terminal with AI built in so teams can build great software, faster. Growth
  • Zach Lloyd
Growth (2022)Collapse
ZapierZapier's software makes automation easy for everyone.Growth
  • Wade Foster
  • Bryan Helmig
  • Mike Knoop
Growth (2020)Collapse

Enduring Companies

Company Name  Short Description Current Stage  Founders First Partnered  collapse
GitHubGitHub is the system of record for code.Acquired
  • PJ Hyett
  • Chris Wanstrath
Growth (2015)Collapse
LoomLoom, now part of Atlassian, is a workplace collaboration tool that allows for instant sharing of videos.Acquired
  • Vinay Hiremath
  • Joe Thomas
Growth (2019)Collapse
RobinhoodRobinhood lets anyone invest in the stock market for free.IPO
  • Baiju Bhatt
  • Vlad Tenev
Growth (2018)Collapse
Sumo LogicSumo Logic is a cloud-native continuous intelligence platform.IPO
  • Christian Beedgen
Growth (2014)Collapse