Sequoia's Doug Leone: Selling Google Early Cost Us Half a Trillion Dollars
davidsenra · x · 2026-10-23
Sequoia legend Doug Leone says the biggest VC mistake is selling winners too early. Sequoia owned 20% of Nvidia, was first investor in Apple, held 10% of Google and a quarter of Cisco — and sold all of them. "If we hadn't sold Google that would be half a trillion dollars." His rule: if a company has an essentially unbounded market for years, never sell a share — great companies compound 20+ years after IPO, turning $5B gains into $50B.
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