Sequoia Capital released a memo titled “The Sequoia of Tomorrow” on X on Wednesday morning, which contained quite a few surprises. The company stated that it has raised approximately $10 billion for a new fund, and at the same time, it will close its London office, discontinue the Arc accelerator and the Scouts project, merge the early-stage team with the growth team into one, flatten the partner structure, and cancel the partner meeting scheduled for Monday.

This statement is aimed at the future, but the message it conveys is more like a return to an earlier state: a smaller team that is more focused on Silicon Valley.

Sequoia Capital itself has made this clear. The company stated that over the past approximately 20 years, Sequoia has gone through a period of expansion, establishing multiple businesses in various regions. One unintended side effect of this was the increase in organizational layers. Almost all of the arrangements that have now been revoked were established during that period, under the leadership of successive executives from Doug Leone to Roelof Botha.

One of the most surprising changes here is that Sequoia cancelled two projects that were closest to the young founders. The Scouts project was launched around 2009, and there are industry rumors that half of the industry later replicated it in some form. This project issued small checks to the founders and operators, allowing them to make investments on behalf of Sequoia; in this way, Sequoia could discover deals through people who were closer to the emerging founders, without having to rely entirely on partners making personal contacts. The Jason Calacanis project was used to introduce Uber to Sequoia. Sam Altman also brought Stripe to Sequoia under the identity of scout. An earlier project, scout, also included Airbnb's CEO, as well as Dropbox's founders Arash Ferdowsi and Drew Houston.

The Arc project was launched in March 2022 as Sequoia's response to the Y Combinator. It is a batch-based accelerator program aimed at founders in the pre-seed and seed stages, running several cohort sessions each year, with each session lasting for seven weeks. Selected companies can receive funding ranging from 500,000 to 1 million US dollars in advance.

Both of these projects focused on betting on “earlier” and “ubiquitous” approaches. Now, Sequoia indicates a desire to concentrate more efforts on fewer people and fewer things.

The London office will also be closed. Sequoia opened this office in London in 2020, and since then, several people have left the company. The memo states: “We no longer see the necessity for a local presence.” The company added that Europe will continue to produce “exceptional founders,” and Sequoia can provide support for them from the Bay Area. (If the founders haven’t previously felt the pressure to move to the Bay Area or to set up an office locally, now that pressure will only be greater.)

In 2020, Luciana Lixandru, who joined from Accel and became Sequoia's first European partner, stated that the company offered her to move to San Francisco, but she declined. She wrote on X, "Europe is where my family is, and it's also where I want to build my career." She said she remains a partner and will continue to hold a seat on the board of directors, while also continuing to invest in European startups in her personal capacity.

For the European founders, this information was particularly difficult to digest, especially after Andreessen Horowitz closed its London office last year and Coatue scaled back in 2024. Sequoia has not stated that it will not invest in European companies, but it has clearly emphasized once again that its focus has returned to the Bay Area.

This kind of "callback" is also reflected in personnel matters. The memo mentions that the former Workday CEO Carl Eschenbach has returned to the team (he rejoined in March as a full-time partner). The memo also states that the team has "reactivated GOAT" Doug Leone.

Although the title system within venture capital firms is already diverse – Sequoia is no exception – this memorandum clearly indicates that there are currently 7 general partners who jointly own and operate Sequoia: Alfred Lin and Pat Grady as co-leaders, along with Andrew Reed, Shaun Maguire, Konstantine Buhler, Sonya Huang, and David Cahn who joined in 2023.

There are other changes as well. Jess Lee, the first female partner at Sequoia and an early investor in the Arc project, is no longer listed on Sequoia's investor page; instead, she is now categorized as an operational staff member. She remains with the company, serving as the Chief Product Officer. Stephanie Zahn, who joined Sequoia in 2015, has completely left the company and announced last month that she will be founding her own new business.

Sequoia rarely lets people leave completely. The founder, Don Valentine, would still appear at partner meetings for about a decade after handing over the reins. Goetz, who stepped down from management duties in 2017, is still listed on the company's website. Botha is an exception. Last autumn, he was voted out of his position as senior leader in a surprising reshuffle—the company described it as a transition to Lin and Grady; this summer, he cut off all remaining ties with Sequoia around the same time as he joined the board of SpaceX.

These changes are bound to stir up some waves. However, these moves are not entirely out of line with Sequoia's consistent style. Sequoia is often willing to adjust itself, and sometimes that means making cuts. The most typical example is in 2023 when Sequoia split its operations in China and India/Southeast Asia; the latter became Sequoia China ( HongShan ) and Peak XV respectively, ending its business model of operating under the same brand across two continents for twenty years.

The remainder of the memorandum mainly involves structural adjustments. The company has decided to eliminate the division into “early-stage” and “growth” teams and opt for a unified approach instead; at the same time, the regular Monday partner meetings, which are common in Sequoia and almost all venture capital firms, will also be discontinued. The company believes that since the founders work around the clock, so should the investors. (This practice may be becoming increasingly rare. At least during the Disrupt conference last month, during interviews with TechCrunch, the entire Benchmark team indicated that their Monday meetings are now mostly used for socializing.)

Sequoia also acknowledges that these measures will come at a cost. The memo states, "It is frightening to disrupt something that is already running well," and saying goodbye to excellent people is also painful. However, it will take some time to determine whether these decisions are indeed correct.

The following is the full text of Sequoia's original article:

We live in a world where change is accelerating. The best founders will constantly reinvent themselves time and again. We must do the same.

It has been a year since we completed the generational transition. We have been very busy! We are no longer just continuing yesterday's Sequoia; we are building Sequoia for tomorrow.

The following are some of the changes we have made, as well as their significance to the founders.

Focus What we excel at is venture capital investment with high conviction and strict screening. That's our focus. We have already reduced a great deal of complexity related to Sequoia Capital Fund, terminated the batch accelerators Arc and Scouts projects, and streamlined our operations and investment teams. By focusing more energy on fewer people and fewer tasks, we are able to provide better support to the founders we invest in.

A team There is no longer a distinction between "early stage" and "growth stage." There is only Sequoia. We are a team that operates under a common mission. This should enable founders to transition more smoothly between different stages.

London We will be closing our London office, which means that a few people will be leaving Sequoia. This is not aimed at the team; they are excellent. We simply no longer see the necessity for a local presence. We believe that Europe will continue to produce extraordinary founders and companies, and we can continue to provide world-class support from our headquarters in the Bay Area.

Partners We are emerging from a period of expansion that lasted approximately 20 years, during which we established multiple businesses in various regions. An unexpected side effect was the increase in hierarchical levels; managing these operations requires genuine management skills, and this impact also extended to our investment team. We have made several internal adjustments, and the result is a flatter partnership structure. This allows each partner to fully contribute their abilities and ensures that every founder receives the full support of Team Sequoia – regardless of who the lead partner is.

Firepower We have welcomed two rising stars ( Liam and Sonali ), as well as a highly talented founder and operator ( Dev ). We have once again joined hands with a legendary leader ( Carl ) and reactivated GOAT ( Doug ). We have also promoted and empowered several outstanding operators: Hem, Natalie, Rishi, Stacey, and Theresa. We have raised approximately 10 billion dollars in new funds. Talent and capital are two key elements in building legendary companies. Our talent density and capital base are stronger than ever before.

24/7 There will no longer be a weekly partner meeting cycle on Mondays. The founders are operational 24 hours a day, and so are we. Founders should not have to adapt to our processes; instead, we will do our best to adapt to yours.

Reinvent Yourself Some of these changes are obvious, while others are not so evident. Many of them are difficult. It is frightening to disrupt something that is already running smoothly, and it is also painful to say goodbye to excellent people. We expect founders to do the right thing even in difficult times, and we promise to do the same.

Some things remain the same. Our mission is to help those who dare to take risks, from the idea to IPO and beyond, to build legendary companies. Our goal is not scale, but quality: to bring the best possible returns for LP and to become the best partner for the founders.

Tomorrow's Sequoias Excellence is a constantly moving goal, so we will always be changing. But for now,

We have 7 general partners who jointly own and operate this institution. We are taking the initiative to build our business in order to support you in building yours as well. We are genuine believers; as we enter a golden age marked by multiple concurrent structural changes (AI, space, biology, re-industrialization, and perhaps even more), we are filled with enthusiasm for everything that is to come. Let's work together to create some legends!

– Alfred, Andrew, David, Konstantine, Pat, Shaun, and Sonya represent Team Sequoia.