14:08Jess Lee | Partner @ Sequoia Capital
From My First Million · Published Jul 6, 2018 · Watch on YouTube
TL;DR
Jess Lee (Sequoia Capital, ex-CEO/cofounder of Polyvore) recounts her career from a Stanford CS graduate who felt unqualified at every step—Google PM, Polyvore CEO, venture investor—to argue that feeling unqualified is the signal to take the more challenging path.
Key insights
- A high school English teacher told Jess to take the AP English exam even though she wasn’t in the AP class; she scored a 5, teaching her that formal requirements don’t always have to be met to pursue
- At Stanford she experienced “duck syndrome”—everyone appears calm on the surface but works furiously underneath; this is pervasive in Silicon Valley and shaped her work ethic.
- A Google interviewer taught her “sunk cost”: the four years of CS are already spent and should not dictate future choices.
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