A tremendous chief executive in a small market will never be great. All great companies start with great markets.
Raise as little as you can to get you to something that you can show - plus maybe a quarter or two so you have a little bit of cushion - and then raise some more money. Raise as little - not as much - as you can because that's the most expensive equity you're going to sell.
If I could press a button and have all of Sequoia Capital on the Midas List, I would choose to do that over a honoring a single individual.
I routinely make trips to China and India where we have offices to continue to maintain the linkages that are necessary to run a successful business.
You meet with a CEO or founder. You talk about sales, engineering, product management and give some ideas or suggestions. And the founder quickly understands that you really can help them both operationally and from a strategic standpoint.
If you choose a market that already exists, say, networking equipment, you have to compete with an established company like Cisco. Even if your product is marginally better, Cisco can fudge it and outsell you.
During dark times, real entrepreneurs come out. They are not competing with 10 look-alike companies for engineering talent, so it's a great time to invest and help build companies.
If you start a successful company in China at 11 A.M., by 2 P.M. there's three more companies like it.