Michael Moritz says writing his memoir revealed why he became who he is, and that parental imprints absorbed before age 12 to 14 last a lifetime.
Moritz says his parents never discussed their Jewish refugee past from Nazi Germany, so he learned their stories only while writing the book.
Moritz says the United States and Western Europe are uncomfortable for minorities, and that internet and mobile phones spread false memes far faster than 1930s radio propaganda in Germany.
Michael Moritz on how a refugee family shaped an investor
Michael Moritz's memoir traces how family history and childhood imprints shaped a long investing career. His parents escaped Nazi Germany, and the lesson he took from his grandfathers was to keep a bolt hole. He brings the same attention to founders and leaders, looking for what drives each person.
Takeaways
Parents leave imprints that last a lifetime. Moritz says every parent shapes a child, mostly before about age 12 to 14, and those imprints bring angels and demons for life. His refugee parents rarely spoke of their past, so he learned their stories only while writing his memoir.
Every family needs a bolt hole. His paternal grandfather, a civil servant, trusted the German state and lost his job in 1933. His blind maternal grandfather, a cattle trader, left with his wife seventy-two hours before war began. Moritz concludes people need somewhere to go when the fire gets too hot.
Antisemitism persists and technology amplifies falsehood. Moritz says antisemitism has lasted 2,500 years and will not vanish, and that the US and Western Europe are uncomfortable for minorities. The internet and mobile phones spread false memes more easily, much as radio carried propaganda in 1930s Germany.
Drive never fades, it only loses intensity. Moritz says people do not grow out of their drive. He saw it in Lee Iacocca, an immigrant's son who felt like an outsider at Ford. He asks founders and candidates what they would do differently, and one Sequoia interviewee burst into tears.
Venture's early information edge has dissipated. Imperfect information and close founder relationships gave early venture its advantage in the 1980s and 1990s. Moritz says that edge began fading about fifteen or sixteen years ago, though he considers the ecosystem healthy for founders.
Great leaders grasp what motivates each person. Moritz says Alex Ferguson's great skill was understanding what drove each player. He wrote about Manchester United because he wanted an organization that flourished for decades, and he calls Elon Musk possibly the greatest industrialist in American history.
Moritz is more hopeful about AI than most. He predicts AI will create more jobs than it destroys. He notes that the Armageddon predicted after the first nuclear bomb has not come close to arriving in nearly a century, and that companies now grow at rates he never imagined.
Moritz's path to Sequoia and beyond
Time hired him at 22 or 23, and in Detroit he co-wrote a book on Chrysler and Iacocca.
He cut ties with Steve Jobs over a Time profile he found malicious, one reason he left Time.
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He wrote to five venture firms, and only Don Valentine did not send him elsewhere. Valentine hired him around 1985 despite his lack of technical background.
Sequoia expanded to Israel and China, and Moritz stepped back from leadership in 2012 or 2013.
He now runs the San Francisco Standard, a foundation, and is weighing a book on Iran in the 1940s.