Sonya Huang

Growth

“What I admire most in a founder is imagination. Technology is a great enabler, but it takes imagination to harness that technology and create something useful and delightful.”

Backstory

I’m a Silicon Valley kid at heart. I was born in Mountain View and grew up in the gravity well of innovation that was 1990s Silicon Valley. It was a fascinating time, from learning to code in third grade to witnessing blockbuster IPOs and the dotcom bubble burst.

Growing up in the Valley made me believe deeply in the American Dream and technology’s role in creating a better future. My parents are immigrant engineers, and technology and entrepreneurship gave them the vehicle to create something lasting. I see venture capital as a conduit to amplify the best founders and the best ideas and give them every possible unfair advantage.

I worked at Goldman Sachs and private equity before joining Sequoia. My time in the financial world helped train my eye for operating and financial KPIs, and I try to bring this strategic finance mindset to bear in service of the companies I work with.

I chose to work at Sequoia because it’s deeply fulfilling to see a founder transform from “outsider” to leader. We get to partner with companies in their earliest, most delicate stages, and watch them bloom. It’s an honor to be a wingperson on that journey.

On the lookout for

I seek to partner with founders who take incredible care and joy in their craft. One of the companies I work with, dbt Labs, has a beautiful company value that I think about every day: “Work done well is its own end. We do great work because it is an expression of who we are, a contribution of our unique talents and perspectives to a purpose larger than ourselves.”

I also like to work with founders who are thinking a decade ahead, rather than solving the problems of today. They see the future impact of the technology they’re building the way an artist sketches—it’s hazy at first, and then it comes into view. Emily Weiss at Glossier comes to mind: she’s constantly pushing the boundaries of what a consumer brand can be.

These days, I spend a lot of time in fintech and software, seeking to find companies that are reinventing legacy financial services and enterprise technology in a design-first, user-first way. I’ve also been spending more time in Latin America and am blown away by the scale of founder ambition.

Get in touch with Sonya

Personal Side

Art & Design / Vintage Shopping / Dog Watching / Golf

Press & Media

The Latin American Startup Opportunity

By Sonya Huang

Perspective

Read

Sequoia Ramps Up Focus on LatAm Startups After Successful Bets

by Felipe Marques and Jorgelina Do Rosario

Bloomberg

Read

Seven Questions with Sonya Huang

by Team Sequoia

Sequoia

Read

6 Top Investors in LatAm Describe what Fuels the Region

by Marcella McCarthy

Bloomberg Linea

Read

Current Companies

Attentive
Attentive is a personalized text messaging platform for innovative brands.

Current Stage
Growth
Partners
Partnered In
2019
Census
Census is the data automation platform that syncs users' data warehouse with all their business apps.

Current Stage
Early
Partners
Partnered In
2020
Cribl
Cribl helps customers easily sift through data to find the nuggets they need.

Current Stage
Growth
Partners
Partnered In
2020
Dashlane
Dashlane secures users' digital identity across a wide range of platforms and devices.

Current Stage
Growth
Partners
Partnered In
2019
dbt Labs
dbt helps data teams work like software engineers to ship trusted data faster.

Current Stage
Growth
Partners
Partnered In
2020
Fintual
Fintual offers a simple way for consumers in Latin America to invest online.

Current Stage
Growth
Partners
Partnered In
2021
Glossier
Glossier is an online direct-to-consumer beauty brand.

Current Stage
Growth
Partner
Partnered In
2019
Gong
Gong delivers insights on every customer interaction at scale so revenue teams can make smarter decisions.

Current Stage
Growth
Partners
Partnered In
2019
Pendulum
Pendulum is a biotechnology company working to improve the human microbiome.

Current Stage
Growth
Partners
Partnered In
2017
Streamlit
Streamlit builds software for quickly creating and deploying data apps.

Current Stage
Growth
Partners
Partnered In
2021
Tecton
Tecton provides data management for ML.

Current Stage
Early
Partners
Partnered In
2018
Thumbtack
Thumbtack is an online platform for managing the home.

Current Stage
Growth
Partners
Partnered In
2013

Enduring Companies

Amplitude
Amplitude is an analytics platform that enables organizations to see and predict which combination of features and actions translate to business outcomes.

Current Stage
IPO
Partners
Partnered In
2018
Armis
Armis is the first agentless, enterprise-class security platform for unmanaged and IoT devices.

Current Stage
Acquired
Partners
Partnered In
2015
Nubank
Nubank provides next-generation mobile banking and financial services to the Latin American market.

Current Stage
IPO
Partners
Partnered In
2013