David Sze
17 statements across 2 episodes · 5 bullish · 3 bearish · 2 people on the record · first statement Dec 7, 2020 by Reid Hoffman · said 18 times in 5 episodes since 2015 · across every show →
On the record as a speaker too: David Sze's record, appearances and statements → this page counts the times other people say the name.
Mentions by year
brought up most by Harry Stebbings (9), Josh Elman (5), Sarah Tavel (1), Sarah Guo (1), Reid Hoffman (1), Mattias Ljungman (1)
tap a year for its mentions
2023 1 mention in 1 episode
2020 10 mentions in 1 episode
2018 1 mention in 1 episode
2016 5 mentions in 1 episode
Everything said about David Sze, oldest first
Dec 7, 2020 bearish
Apr 19, 2021 negative
Greylock passed on Baidu at a $14M valuation over travel requirements
“I looked at Baidu at fourteen million pre. And because we had this rule of thumb that said we had to be boots on the ground all the time at that time, it was that narrow a definition again back in those days, I was told that I was going to be going to China ev…”
Apr 19, 2021
Apr 19, 2021 positive
Senior venture capital partners must actively aim to become obsolete
“And the partners who are senior, one of their biggest goals is to get out of the way, to become obsolete, because that is the definition of success for the next generation, and it'll be the definition of success for Greylock in the long run.”
Apr 19, 2021
Sze: Ignoring team feedback is a fast failure mode for VC partners
“I mean, we've had folks fail because they didn't understand how to navigate the dialectic between team and individual. Usually more too individual in the sense of like running over people or not listening to feedback or not learning. That's something that I th…”
Apr 19, 2021
Sze: Founders scaling to multi-billion-dollar companies must continuously evolve
“You can't be the same person That is doing that small physics engine project test at the School of Science Fair that now leads the forty billion dollar public company. You just can't be that same person, so you need to evolve and always be curious, but you als…”
Apr 19, 2021
David Sze: Founder-friendliness isn't blindly backing whatever founders say
“I came in early on, like I said, believing that founder-friendly meant you backed the founder, whatever they said you did and whatever they said you backed. And what I learned is that's not always the case, that you need to help founders be better. You need to…”
Apr 19, 2021
Apr 19, 2021 bearish
Apr 19, 2021 bullish
Sze: Investors underestimate how platforms age up with young users
“One of the reasons that I was overcome some of the downside potential on, say, roadblocks around age, and I still believe this, is we underestimate that those kids that are nine, 10, 1112, and 13 today are the kids that are 1415, 1617, 18 of tomorrow.”
Apr 19, 2021
Apr 19, 2021 positive
Sze: Valuation flexibility is justified for winner-take-all markets with great leadership
“So I do think that you need to have price discipline, and so you need to think about, does this have the ability to run to a huge outcome? Does this Show the potential to be a winner takes most or winner takes all kind of business. If that's the case, and you …”
Apr 19, 2021
Sze: Analytical VC partners fail if they cannot make decisive investment calls
“So there's so much uncertainty prospectively, and one of the most important things for a young partner is to have the ability to do the work, but then make the call, to put down some bets. And one of the other failures we've seen in a partner is they can be re…”
Apr 19, 2021 bullish
Apr 19, 2021
David Sze: VCs only truly control investment journeys and team selection
“The two things you do control are what journeys you go on and who you go on them with. So make sure that the journeys you go on are ones that you really want to be on through the bad times and the good times, whether it works out or not, that you don't say, oh…”
Apr 19, 2021 positive
Sze: Bonding with Reid Hoffman in China led to LinkedIn investment
“We sat at the back of the bus each time on every stop on this tour through China, and we just mind melded. It was great. We got along so well. We were fast friends, and that led to the investment in LinkedIn and me inviting him to come to Greylock”
Apr 19, 2021
David Sze: Venture investment decisions require a three-step heart-head-heart process
“I tend to start with the heart, which is, I have to, like, sort of fall in love with the idea, or fall in love with the founder, or some combination of that, and what it could be. Then you go to the head, and you do all your work, and you crunch all the number…”