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Levchin took out startup frustration by ripping into founders' pitches at Sequoia

Max Levchin · PayPal: Max Levchin (Part 1 of 2) · Jun 13, 2022 · at 1:24:59

Max Levchin describes his brief period at Sequoia Capital post-PayPal, where he realized he was too cynical and envious to work in venture capital.

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“And then I started noticing that I was really good at ripping into people's ideas. They would bring in this really cool concept. And of course it was half baked. It was just, you know, some bright eyed kid Freshly out of college thinking about here's what they're going to build. And I would immediately explain to them why I would fail. And I gotten so good at stabbing them in the heart that one day I went home and told Nellie, my now wife, I don't think I can do this. Like I've become so cynical. I'm now taking out my anger about not being in a startup on other startup founders.”

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