Sequoia Leaves London, Close Scout Program & End Evergreen Fund | NASDAQ Loses $2.5T in 24 hours

Rory O’Driscoll says the core insight behind Evergreen—“the real money is made after the IPO”—was intellectually correct, but the structure added complexity and forced LP behavior. He argues Sequoia likely faced timing issues (rolling it out into a drawdown), LP liquidity preferences, and misaligned incentives once partners had already “cleared carry.”

Harry Stebbings frames Sequoia’s London exit as a belief that Europe has great companies but can be covered from the U.S.; Jason Lemkin adds that many top European founders are frequently in the Bay Area anyway. Jason also draws a broader lesson: firms persist, but individual partners and structures can change quickly, so founders shouldn’t over-assume permanence in their VC relationships.

Rory O’Driscoll describes the Nvidia situation as personally messy and professionally serious, emphasizing that the investigation is about compliance and security, not the relationship itself, and that outcomes could become problematic depending on facts. Jason Lemkin argues Jensen “needs a pass” due to Nvidia’s importance, but Rory cautions this may not be easy given national-security scrutiny and potential follow-on investigations.

Rory O’Driscoll rejects the idea that a single selloff indicates the “AI trade” cracking, arguing the key determinant is demand, visible in ARR at companies like OpenAI and Anthropic; he attributes the move more to leveraged positioning and forced de-risking. Jason Lemkin counters that markets are rational to be jittery given assumptions around capital, debt, and ongoing funding requirements.

Rory O’Driscoll praises Anthropic’s IPO approach: price conservatively, then potentially walk up, since “it is far better in an IPO to start low and go up.” Jason Lemkin predicts it may trade flat due to market fatigue, while Harry Stebbings relays an allocator’s concern about the “next 100 billion” of capital being a thin layer for continual funding needs.