Hi, welcome to your Weekend.
You won't find many venture investors who are shedding tears for Roelof Botha. As only the fourth person to lead Sequoia Capital over the past 51 years, Botha now occupies a seat at the very highest echelons of the trade.
But despite his lofty perch, little has gone easy for Botha since he was handed the reins last summer. As Kate and Abe explore in this weekend’s cover story, Silicon Valley’s most prestigious firm has been beset with crises large and small over the past tumultuous year—some of Botha’s making, some not.
While he can’t receive direct blame for the plummeting valuations of Sequoia’s portfolio companies, or for the firm’s awkward entanglements with private Chinese companies like Bytedance (China is partner Neil Shen’s fiefdom), Botha does have some things to answer for.
His firm’s $800 million, zero-strings-attached investment in Elon Musk’s Twitter, for instance, looks foolhardy now that Musk has destroyed at least 50% of the company’s value over the past 6 months. Botha also has earned some limited partners’ ire with his insistence on holding onto public equities for longer. His “evergreen” investing philosophy looked great on paper during the salad days of 2021; but it looks much less certain now.
Still, Botha and Sequoia share a certain stolidity that could see them through the current maelstrom. And if things turn further south, he can always go back to what he studied at college in Cape Town, South Africa: actuarial science. There are always good jobs in insurance—unless AI takes those too.
Now onto this Weekend’s stories...
the big read
Sequoia Capital’s Mighty Struggle
Year one of Roelof Botha’s tenure atop Sequoia has been remarkably stormy, marked by billions in devalued investments, a Twitter bet gone awry and a cold war over its stake in ByteDance. Abe and Kate spoke with three dozen people closely connected to Botha and Sequoia, revealing the storied firm’s recent stumbles.
market research
Hacking Mother’s Day: What Tech Leaders Are Buying the Moms in Their Lives
Mark it down: Mother’s Day is next Sunday. To brainstorm gift ideas beyond flowers and chocolates, Annie asked some of Silicon Valley’s best and brightest what they’re ordering for the holiday, from lab-grown diamonds to gourmet spices.
how ai built this
Staring at the Black Hole Sun: Generative AI Artists Deconstruct Their Viral Videos
A pizza commercial from your nightmares. A Burning Man reel that almost looks real. A Christopher Nolan–style WWII trailer. These are among the crush of AI videos that have popped up everywhere in recent weeks. Margaux speaks with three AI video creators to learn how they wield their uncanny magic.
INTO THE METAVERSE
Hands Up, This Is a (Virtual) Robbery!
Nevermind Meta’s stumbles: Bank of America and other large U.S. companies are slowly turning to the metaverse to train employees on safety, sell new products and connect remote teams. Lauren dives into the corporate metaverse—more interesting than you’d think!—and meets the founders and executives who are banking on it.
Watching: #CoronationTok
By the time you read this, some U.S.-based royal watchers will have been awake since 4 a.m. on the East Coast to tune into King Charles III’s coronation. Others, like myself, will have slept in, catching the highlights later on social media. Since this is Britain's first coronation in 70 years, it’s also the first accompanied by instant analysis on TikTok and Instagram. As you sip your morning cuppa, pop over to Amanda Matta’s TikTok. The “royalTEA” observer is breaking down the whole affair, with an emphasis on the Harry and Meghan of it all. (Prince Harry will attend, but the Duchess of Sussex and their children are sitting this one out.) For fashion highlights, turn to Elizabeth Holmes—no, not that one—on Instagram. TikTokers @notaroyalexpert and @theroyalwardrobe are also likely to post smart explanatory videos, but your best bet might be heading to the #coronation hashtag and scrolling until your thumbs and eyes can’t take it anymore. —Annie
Generating: Infinite Grimes
While Drake is furious that AI models are stealing his vocals, Grimes is telling her fans to go right ahead and deepfake. The ever-contrarian artist launched Elf.Tech this week, a program that allows anyone to use an AI model trained on her voice. She’s even offering a 50/50 royalty split and full creative control over her voice—assuming creators keep it “tasteful.” (Her list of verboten subjects is slim: no “Nazi anthems” or “baby murder songs.”) For Grimes, it’s an test-case in “killing copyright” and embracing an inevitable AI future. Her experimentation is also a luxury; Grimes left Columbia Records last month, so she’s unbound by the dictates of music executives, who are increasingly terrified that AI could hurt profits and creativity. Grimes certainly doesn’t mind leaving a little destruction in her wake. “The point,” she tweeted, “is to poke holes in the simulation and see what happens even if it’s a bad outcome for us.” —Margaux
Noticing: Earth’s new Facebook friend
When Mike Schroepfer, the recently departed Meta chief technology officer, unveiled his new climate tech fund this week, he earned a round of applause from many in Silicon Valley. But not from Om Malik, who has covered how tech moguls invent and reinvent themselves since the 2000s. Malik had a pointed, if cynical, take on the news: Schroepfer’s fund represents the “the Silicon Valley equivalent of being ‘born again’ after having made your millions from helping destroy the fabric of civic society,” wrote the former founder of tech news site GigaOM. It is worth asking: Is the former Zuckerberg deputy really laundering his reputation by backing Earth-saving startups, just as other wealthy people have done through their philanthropies? Or does Schroepfer genuinely want to fix the planet? Malik’s reservations aside, perhaps it’s a bit of both. —Abe
Makes You Think
One more reason robots will never run Hollywood.
Until next Weekend, thanks for reading.
—Jon
Weekend Editor, The Information
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