Michael Moritz

Michael Moritz was born on 12 September 1954 in Cardiff, Wales. He earned a bachelor's degree in history from Christ Church, Oxford, and an MBA from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania (1978), where he studied as a Thouron Scholar. Before venture capital, he was a journalist: a reporter and, from late 1982, San Francisco bureau chief for *Time* magazine. During this period he authored *The Little Kingdom: The Private Story of Apple Computer* and co-wrote *Going for Broke: The Chrysler Story*, and co-founded the newsletter business Technologic Partners.

Moritz joined Sequoia Capital in 1986, transitioning from chronicling Silicon Valley to financing it. Over nearly four decades he became one of the most successful and recognizable venture investors in history, topping the Forbes "Midas List" of top tech dealmakers in 2006 and 2007 and earning a place on the 2007 TIME 100. He served on the boards of Google, PayPal, Yahoo!, YouTube, LinkedIn, Stripe, Klarna and Instacart, among others. He stepped back from day-to-day Sequoia management around 2012 while remaining a partner.

In 2010 Moritz co-founded Sequoia Heritage, the firm's multibillion-dollar wealth-management arm. On 19 July 2023 he formally left Sequoia Capital after roughly 38 years to deepen his advisory relationship with Sequoia Heritage. He continues to hold board roles at private companies such as Stripe and Klarna, and chairs the Crankstart Foundation, the philanthropic vehicle he runs with his wife, novelist Harriet Heyman.

A naturalized U.S. citizen and a billionaire, Moritz is also a major philanthropist, directing hundreds of millions through Crankstart to San Francisco–focused causes including civic reform, homelessness and local journalism. In 2026 he published a memoir, *Ausländer*, and has spoken publicly about pursuing German citizenship.

• Backed founder-led companies at the earliest stages, prioritizing exceptional founders and large emerging markets over polished business plans — the classic Sequoia "partner to founders from idea to IPO" approach.
• Concentrated on internet, search, payments, marketplaces and consumer/software platforms, repeatedly investing ahead of mainstream adoption (Yahoo! and Google before search was understood as a business).
• Comfortable with very early, high-conviction checks: ~$1M into Yahoo! at founding (1995), ~$12.5M into Google's Series A at a ~$100M valuation.
• Took active, long-horizon board roles, staying with companies through scaling and IPO (e.g., serving on Stripe's and Klarna's boards for years).
• Known for blunt, contrarian conviction and a journalist's eye for narrative and people — he has framed the job as identifying outlier founders before consensus forms.