Gili Raanan: One of the Best Seed Investor of All Time: 1 Decacon, 7 Unicorns, 4 Acquisitions| E1128

(instrumental music) One thing I learned, uh, at Sequoia is that we are always as good as our next investment. The moment you, you're happy with where you are, that's the moment you start to lose. Eventually, all my companies are for sale at the right price. I'm not a collector, I'm an investor.

Gili, I am so excited for this. Listen, we met on, uh, on the ski slopes, uh, in Megève a couple of weeks ago, or a month or so ago. I've wanted to do this ever since hearing you speak there. So thank you so much for joining me today.

It's a pleasure to be here. I'm very excited to have a conversation and, um, you know, I would be even more excited if we can get back to some, uh, skiing together.

(laughs) Well, if you've noticed, I don't ski. I'm like Bridget Jones on the ski slope, Gili, but I really appreciate that.

(laughs)

I would love to start though with some of your early years and move away from my skiing e- elegantly. So I know it's a weird one, but I think childhoods actually inform a lot of who we are. How would your parents or teachers describe the young Gili?

You know, I grew up in a, in a, in a small town in, in Israel, uh, which, uh, you know, is probably 15 miles, uh, away from Tel Aviv. But it's, in that, uh, period of time it, uh, you know, Tel Aviv, uh, could be on the moon, uh, as far as I'm concerned it was so far away for me. And, you know, I, I, I grew up, uh, as a, uh, you know, my parents would probably tell you that I was a bright, um, student that never, uh, made, uh, uh, prepared homework. And, and, and the teachers always complained that, uh, you know, whenever they, uh, asked me to read my homework assignment, I would stand up, you know, very casually read out of my notebook, you know, the complete answer that I was supposed to make last night. And then when they approach my desk, they'll figure out the notebook is empty and I was-

(laughs)

... just making it up. And I, I think that that characteristic of a smart and somehow lazy child, you know, was one of the driving forces behind my career 'cause, uh, unlike, uh, young people today, I was introduced to my first, um, computer, it was a Commodore 64, uh, computer, if, uh, people still, uh, recall that magnificent machine. Um, and I had to choose it, you know? I was not born with, um, computers. And, and, uh, when I faced that machine that, uh, you know, I could tell it what to do and it would do it repeatedly without getting tired, without complaining, you know, as a gifted and somehow lazy person, I really liked the idea. And that, I think, what attracted me to, to the whole tech, uh, scene early on.