THE FIRST factor that catches your eye once you enter the poshly serene headquarters of Sequoia Capital on Sand Hill Street in Menlo Park, California, is a metre-wide cross-section of what seems to be a redwood. On nearer inspection it seems to have been a tree prior to now—38m years in the past, based on a plaque on the again. Now it’s strong stone. A present from Roelof Botha, the venture-capital (VC) agency’s present boss, and his spouse, it reminds workers and friends of the sturdiness of the organisation they’re visiting, which has existed since 1972. Within the accelerated time of Silicon Valley, that’s aeons.
