Get started with Sequoia

Our bi-annual open call for outlier early stage founders.

For 50+ years, we've backed founders at the earliest stages—Apple pre-revenue, Nvidia with just the founding team, Wiz when there wasn’t a clear idea.

We find Sequoia founders in many ways, including Arc, our bi-annual open call for pre-seed and seed stage founders.

Early advantage with Sequoia

The right start makes all the difference.

Increase your velocity

From accelerating your path to PMF, to guidance and connections necessary to build with speed.

Unlock our network

Harness the power of our community and brand to access talent, customers, and more.

Scale your ambition

We help you build for the next decade, not just the next quarter.

“Sequoia’s network was our unfair advantage. Their name opens doors—customers, founders, executives, and investors take your calls. It’s like having a universal key to Silicon Valley. Most importantly, they’re patient partners who helped us lay the right foundations before scaling.”

Anish Agarwal Co-founder and CEO of Traversal

Building the AI SRE agent for the enterprise; Former researcher at Amazon and Microsoft with a PhD from MIT

“Sequoia doesn't just believe in you, they believe in a version of you and your company that's bigger than your initial pitch. They saw our potential to revolutionize how people interact with counsel in life's big moments, not just solving one niche problem. That kind of conviction has given us a more ambitious internal and external compass.”

Viraj Bindra Co-founder and CEO of Finch

Helping consumer law firms serve more clients with teams of paralegals and AI agents; Former product leader at DoorDash

Viraj Bindra Co-founder and CEO of Finch

Helping consumer law firms serve more clients with teams of paralegals and AI agents; Former product leader at DoorDash

The Arc Intensive

Four days. Five decades of insights. Built for Sequoia's pre-seed and seed stage founders.

Designed to help founders identify blind spots in customer understanding, competitive positioning, team building, and growth strategies, then rapidly address them with Sequoia's proven frameworks.

Oege De Moor

Founder and CEO of XBOW

Previously Co-founder of GitHub Copilot

Oege De Moor

Founder and CEO of XBOW

Previously Co-founder of GitHub Copilot

Christopher O'Donnell

Co-Founder and CEO of Day.ai

Former CPO of HubSpot and Thrive

Christopher O'Donnell

Co-Founder and CEO of Day.ai

Former CPO of HubSpot and Thrive

Ryan Daniels Co-founder and CEO of Crosby Legal

Former lawyer who has built a hybrid AI law firm to help growing businesses execute faster.

"Sequoia taught us the importance of building an exceptional team early on. It takes a lot of time and effort, but working with great talent compounds later. During Arc, we designed a culture and hiring strategy that catered to the most elite candidates. We over-invested early when others would have started building. It pays off every day."

Ryan Daniels Co-founder and CEO of Crosby Legal

Former lawyer who has built a hybrid AI law firm to help growing businesses execute faster.

Ellen DaSilva Co-founder and CEO ofSummer Health

Ex-Hims & Hers and Twitter. Now radically simplifying access to healthcare.

“What you learn in Arc is applicable from day 1 and is grounded in pragmatism. Sequoia partners and operators helped us navigate the product-market fit journey and provided frameworks that we continue to revisit as we scale. The Arc community is also unparalleled.”

Ellen DaSilva Co-founder and CEO ofSummer Health

Ex-Hims & Hers and Twitter. Now radically simplifying access to healthcare.

Samuel Colvin Founder and CEO of Pydantic

Creator of the Pydantic open source project, which is downloaded millions of times a day by thousands of developers all over the world.

“Participating in Arc was a transformative experience that perfectly aligned with our process of exploring what to build. We leveraged the weekly learnings to iterate faster, and we discovered how to be practical about finding product-market fit—removing the emotion and celebrating learning from failures to quickly move on.”

Samuel Colvin Founder and CEO of Pydantic

Creator of the Pydantic open source project, which is downloaded millions of times a day by thousands of developers all over the world.

Abdel Mahmoud Co-founder and CEO of Anterior

Alfred Wahlforss Co-founder and CEO of Listen Labs

Previously started an AI avatar app that gained 20k users on its first day. Now using AI to make market research simple and fast.

"I'm naturally competitive and always want to be the most successful founder in any group I join. The Arc cohort made this extremely challenging because the group you're comparing yourself against is so good. Being surrounded by founders of this caliber forced me to elevate my own game."

Alfred Wahlforss Co-founder and CEO of Listen Labs

Previously started an AI avatar app that gained 20k users on its first day. Now using AI to make market research simple and fast.

WORKSHOPS

We distill 50+ years of company building expertise into 4 days of workshops, focused on building a foundation that endures.

FOUNDER & CULTURE STORY WORKSHOP

What drives you?

Uncover your personal motivations and the scale of your ambition. Understand how your values drive your company's culture and operative advantage.

FOUNDER & CULTURE STORY WORKSHOP

What drives you?

Uncover your personal motivations and the scale of your ambition. Understand how your values drive your company's culture and operative advantage.

FOUNDER & CULTURE STORY WORKSHOP

What drives you?

Uncover your personal motivations and the scale of your ambition. Understand how your values drive your company's culture and operative advantage.

CUSTOMER STORY WORKSHOP

Who are you building for?

Identify your customer, crisply articulate the problem to be solved and validate that it is a problem worth solving.

CUSTOMER STORY WORKSHOP

Who are you building for?

Identify your customer, crisply articulate the problem to be solved and validate that it is a problem worth solving.

CUSTOMER STORY WORKSHOP

Who are you building for?

Identify your customer, crisply articulate the problem to be solved and validate that it is a problem worth solving.

PRODUCT STORY WORKSHOP

What are you building?

Set a strong product mission and establish the right metric, strategy and tactics to build winning products with speed.

PRODUCT STORY WORKSHOP

What are you building?

Set a strong product mission and establish the right metric, strategy and tactics to build winning products with speed.

PRODUCT STORY WORKSHOP

What are you building?

Set a strong product mission and establish the right metric, strategy and tactics to build winning products with speed.

GTM STORY WORKSHOP

How are you different, not merely better?

Learn the fundamentals of brand, sales and marketing to better position your company in the market.

GTM STORY WORKSHOP

How are you different, not merely better?

Learn the fundamentals of brand, sales and marketing to better position your company in the market.

GTM STORY WORKSHOP

How are you different, not merely better?

Learn the fundamentals of brand, sales and marketing to better position your company in the market.

Business Story WORKSHOP

How will you create value?

Understand what it means to build a business, not just a product. Align all the strategic elements to drive your company forward.

Business Story WORKSHOP

How will you create value?

Understand what it means to build a business, not just a product. Align all the strategic elements to drive your company forward.

Business Story WORKSHOP

How will you create value?

Understand what it means to build a business, not just a product. Align all the strategic elements to drive your company forward.

PMF Workshop

Product-Market-Fit

Learn the Arc Product-Market Fit Framework. Demystify PMF and focus on it during 1:1 sessions.

PMF Workshop

Product-Market-Fit

Learn the Arc Product-Market Fit Framework. Demystify PMF and focus on it during 1:1 sessions.

PMF Workshop

Product-Market-Fit

Learn the Arc Product-Market Fit Framework. Demystify PMF and focus on it during 1:1 sessions.

GUEST SPEAKERS

A sampling of past and current teachers and speakers

Jess Lee

Partner at Sequoia

Eric Glyman

Co-founder and CEO of RAMP

Sebastian Siemiatkowski

Founder and CEO of KLARNA

Mike Krieger

CPO at Anthropic

Ivan Zhao

Founder and CEO of Notion

Roelof Botha

Partner at Sequoia

Kareem Amin

Co-founder and CEO of CLAY

Alfred LIN

Partner at Sequoia

KELLER CLIFFTON

Founder and CEO OF ZIPLINE

Gaurav Misra

Co-founder and CEO of CAPTIONS

Miki Kuusi

CEO of Wolt and Head of DoorDash International

BRIAN HALLIGAN

Co-founder of hubspot

FREQUENTLY
ASKED QUESTIONS

01/

What is Arc?

We find Sequoia founders in many ways, including cold outreach, chance encounters, data science signals, and more. Arc is our bi-annual open call for pre-seed and seed stage founders. It serves as another pathway for ambitious founders to connect with Sequoia.

01/

What is Arc?

01/

What is Arc?

02/

What can I expect at the seed stage with Sequoia?

When you partner with Sequoia early, you increase your odds of success. We help you gain clarity to move in the right direction with speed and help you build for generational impact.

Sequoia partners with a small number of exceptional companies each year, meaning you get the full support of our team. Our network becomes your network, connecting you to essential talent, customers, and strategic partners that unlock growth.

All early-stage companies we partner with are invited to participate in the Arc Intensive, our company building program for Sequoia pre-seed and seed stage founders.

02/

What can I expect at the seed stage with Sequoia?

02/

What can I expect at the seed stage with Sequoia?

Tell me more about the Arc Intensive

The Arc Intensive is designed to help Sequoia’s early-stage founders build businesses that endure. Over 4 days, founders identify blind spots in customer understanding, competitive positioning, team building, and growth strategies, then rapidly address them with Sequoia's proven frameworks.

The Arc Intensive cohorts are small with ~10 companies. This allows us to dedicate 1:1 time with the Sequoia team and for founders to build deep relationships that last beyond the program.

Tell me more about the Arc Intensive

04/

Does Sequoia have dedicated terms for early-stage companies?

No. Every new pre-seed or seed stage partnership with Sequoia is unique. As such any terms are company specific.

04/

Does Sequoia have dedicated terms for early-stage companies?

No. Every new pre-seed or seed stage partnership with Sequoia is unique. As such any terms are company specific.

04/

Does Sequoia have dedicated terms for early-stage companies?

No. Every new pre-seed or seed stage partnership with Sequoia is unique. As such any terms are company specific.

05/

What other benefits do early-stage Sequoia founders get?

From the Arc Intensive to 1:1s with our partners and operators, you’ll have the full support of Team Sequoia. You’ll also get access to Ampersand, our digital hub for founders with self-serve company building resources, content and Sequoia’s network rolodex, including our Builder community.

Additionally, as a Sequoia founder, you are eligible for 200+ exclusive benefits, including:

NVIDIA - up to $500k in savings
Microsoft Azure - up to $350k in credits
Cloudflare - up to $250k in credits
Datadog - up to $100k in credits
PostHog - up to $75k in savings
Anthropic - $30k in credits
Vercel - $30k in credits
Replicate - $25k in credits
GitHub - up to $25k in savings
Modal - $25k in credits
Fireworks AI - $10k in credits
Linear - up to $9k in savings
Render - $5k in credits
Pilot - $3k in savings

…And 200+ more including AWS, OpenAI, Google Cloud, ElevenLabs, and more.

Early advantage with Sequoia

The right start makes all the difference.

The Arc Intensive

Four days. Five decades of insights. Built for Sequoia's pre-seed and seed stage founders.

WORKSHOPS

GUEST SPEAKERS

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

FREQUENTLY
ASKED QUESTIONS