How I Became a Partner at Sequoia Capital & Former CEO | Jess Lee | Talks at Google

Jess Lee is a partner at Sequoia Capital. Previously, she held leadership positions at Google and Polyvore. While at Google, Jess was a product manager for Google Maps. Jess joined Polyvore as a product manager in 2008 after providing their co-founder with feedback on issues with the website. She was later named VP of Product, an honorary co-founder, and ultimately CEO. Polyvore was acquired by Yahoo in 2015.
Jess holds a B.S. in Computer Science from Stanford University. She has been featured in Fortune Magazine’s 40 Under 40 list and Glamour Magazine’s Top 35 Under 35 Women in Tech.
Moderated by Dan Cary.

[@mt9977]

Jess is someone I sincerely look up to. She is truly a role model for aspiring Asian females in tech. She is also very much approachable and articulate, which makes everyone feel relatable. Thanks for being so inspiring and thanks for sharing.

[@DushyantJoshiNewZealand]

Thanks a million to Jess Lee and Google team for this interview. Best wishes from New Zealand :)

[@christopherarmstrong2710]

13:08 *Culture is the most important thing a company has.* The product or service you build is most important first as founder / CEO initially, but then as the company grows, you get further and further away from the product and day-to-day decisions because you're managing through team - so the product becomes the company and the organization. Do the same thing to architect the company and culture as you do with the product, and constantly measure and check it's health just like you would rigorously check the effectiveness of a product or service via A/B split testing, etc. *The Culture is the operating system - so it's about building the operating system of the company.* The larger you get, the more important it becomes, because you need people to be aligned in how they behave. 15:10 Most startups have a certain amount of runway, and are on a shot clock. Google has one of the best business models in the world = adwords and adsense are basically printing money. That gives them a luxury to spend money on building cool projects (the right product) without needing to focus so much on revenue. 16:50 Sometimes you learn the most in the toughest of situations, where you are most likely to fail. 21:00 "Sequoia's mission is to help really daring founders build legendary companies."

[@krishnawaske9798]

Hi Christopher, I've noticed you are leaving this trails of insights. Thank you for your summaries.

[@SR-mv2mf]

Nice!!, good to know her story

[@piaf.9221]

So insightful for anyone who’s reconsidering personal career development

[@krishnapriyasarangan8097]

Very inspiring!

[@suwilanjisiwale245]

Thank you google for this talk.........very inspiring.......#AwesomeJess

[@LECityLECLEC]

Thanks Jess for sharing your insights. I'll be mindful of grit = distance travelled. ^^

[@karenshamgar3162]

Jess thanks learning lots from you .

[@ESNYC703]

She's remarkable. Love learning about her journey before Sequoia.

[@alekseysoldatenkov5675]

She's really well spoken!

[@wooly-hairedtropicaltype1710]

Were you expecting anything less given her background??!

[@nandin98]

Very impressive

[@write2yibo]

lots of wisdom

[@jasondou5596]

very cool!

[@loopaal]

brilliant.

[@ajeetsinghyadav140]

👍👍

[@sreemanth6248]

Sir, I finished my 12 and doing cs and preparing for cat in un academy I wanna do mba finance and want to become an investment banker please guide me sir i have some doubts

[@genghiskhansdaughter7891]

I don't think I have ever met anyone who is as young and smart as she is.

[@mugiikari1641]

She’s a hypocrite. She ruined polyvore and deleted it abruptly without giving any notice in advance, leaving users heartbroken when they discovered their content was deleted forever. Most companies provide some sort of warning and allow their users at least 30 days or allow them to download their stuff. Terrible business decision. Way to ruin the morale of so many people who supported you. She has a terrible reputation that many won’t forget.

[@AverageAngel]

wait what? can you provide some links to stories? Why would the app get shut down randomly? Were they losing money?

[@harison7778]

​@AverageAngel she didn't shut it down. SSENSE bought the company from yahoo and shut it down. They were probably unprofitable

[@ravikapoor5170]

blowj