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Evaluating early-stage startups solely on revenue is a lazy metric

Alfred Lin · Alfred Lin, Inside Sequoia: Launching $200M Seed Fund & $750M Venture Fund · Sourcery with Molly O'Shea · Oct 27, 2025 · at 33:33

Sequoia Capital partner Alfred Lin discusses how investors should evaluate modern software and AI startups against historical benchmarks like Figma.

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“I think revenue as the metric is is a lazy way of looking at the problem. You have to look at the underlying metrics and don't forget some of the best companies in the world over time have taken time to build before they reach revenue.”

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