[ahilaly]

I don't think our presentation skills got us funded. But I do think our ability to persuade investors, recruits, partners etc to work with us -- even though we had no relevant experience -- was critical to our success. To do that, you have to communicate with your audience in a compelling way. Everyone has their own style and way of doing it. I'm just sharing what worked for me.

[dheer01]

I am sure you guys are super smart and persuasion skills to match. The point that I am trying to make is that, maybe so are a lot from the other 99.9% of entrepreneurs who did not get funded by sequoia.

The lines of causation that we hold dear to us most of our professional lives somehow break down when we talk about startups. Maybe the simple reason that you got funded was that one of the partners thought that your market is going to be big (because of his specific personal background) and you were just another good team which just happened to focus on the exact same market - maybe also because of one of your founders background.

I understand sequoia motivation to start something like this. Even though they have a clear vested interest, I would like to believe that this was born out of an altruistic pursuit. The entrepreneurs though, are best served to take all this advise with bucketloads of salt.

[drusenko]

All advice should be taken with a bucketload of salt (Limited life experiences + Over-generalization = Advice -- Paul Buchheit).

That doesn't mean advice is pointless though.