How Sequoia Landed Citadel Securities

By 20VC

Categories: VC, Startup

Summary

Sequoia's investment success isn't about waiting for deals to come in—every team member, regardless of tenure, is expected to actively hunt for opportunities. Constantine Ber secured Citadel Securities by building a multi-year mentor relationship with Ken Griffin before ever pitching, demonstrating that persistence and relationship-building trump cold outreach.

Key Takeaways

  1. Every Sequoia team member operates as a hunter, not a passive investor. Even junior staff are expected to source and close deals, creating accountability across a lean 11-person early team structure.
  2. Multi-year relationship building is the playbook for landing major accounts. Constantine built credibility as Ken Griffin's mentor for years before asking for the investment, eventually securing Citadel Securities when they'd never taken outside capital.
  3. Persistence in business development compounds over time. The tactic wasn't a single pitch but consistent follow-up ('kept asking') until the founder was ready, suggesting VCs should treat relationship-building as a long-term game.
  4. Small, high-performance teams create urgency for output. A 11-person team structure forces everyone to contribute—the younger you are, the more experienced members rely on you to perform, eliminating passenger roles.

Related topics

Transcript Excerpt

Everyone thinks that we're just waiting for the phone to ring for the next anthropic to call us to invest. That's completely false. Everyone at Sequoia is a hunter. We were 11 people a couple of months back in the early team. That's basically what a football team is. Everyone's just scoring on the field. It doesn't matter how long you've been there. Everyone expects you to perform. The younger you are, the more people expect experienced people to perform because you just need them more. I'll give you a story to illustrate it. Constantine Ber, my partner, helped us lead the investment in Citadel Securities. Ken Griffin's company. They had never taken outside capital. The reason we were able to invest is Constantine built a relationship with Ken since he was a student. He had been his mentor…

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