Alex Rampell

Every now and then, there will pop up a non-consensus deal that everybody thinks is terrible.

Sequoia doesn't want to do it.

We don't want to do it.

You don't want to do it.

Nobody wants to do it.

And then it ends up being a thousand X. And then somebody who is not the best known venture firm ended up winning that deal or being sold that deal, I should say.

And then it ends up with a great return.

But

But a lot of the best deals will go to the best firms.

That's what's very different about venture capital than private equity.

If you and I are trying to take a public company private, KKR and I'm Blackstone, we're both trying to take over RJR and Abisko or something like that.

They're just going to sell to whoever offers them the highest price per share.

I mean, they have to.

Whereas in venture capital, as you know, you have to win the hearts and minds of the entrepreneur and win that deal.

And a lot of the best deals are somewhat obvious.

Everybody wanted to invest in Uber.

Everybody wanted to invest in Facebook.

It was self-evident that these were very, very interesting companies.

Maybe when the price gets high enough, there come...

some doubts in people's minds.