Jess Lee | Partner @ Sequoia Capital

About this video

Jess Lee, a partner at Sequoia Capital and former CEO of Polyvore, shares her career journey from aspiring graphic novelist to tech entrepreneur and investor. She reflects on key lessons learned at each stage—from challenging assumptions about qualifications, to embracing discomfort as a signal for growth, to the importance of surrounding yourself with talented people and building strong team culture.

Key takeaways

Rules about qualifications are often self-imposed; Jess’s high school teacher encouraged her to take an AP exam she wasn’t officially enrolled in, teaching her that perceived barriers don’t have to stop you from trying
Sunk cost fallacy shouldn’t dictate future decisions; a Google interviewer’s advice to optimize for the future rather than past time investment helped her move from engineering to product management
Seek out roles where you feel unqualified and uncomfortable, as that sensation signals genuine growth opportunity—Jess deliberately chose challenging paths throughout her career, from joining early-stage Polyvore to becoming CEO to moving into venture capital
Team and culture are more important than external outcomes you can’t control; at Polyvore, treating people well and building strong culture gave the team resilience during tough periods
Osmosis through proximity to talented people matters; Jess repeatedly chose to be around impressive people (at Google, at Polyvore, at Sequoia) with the intention of learning from them

Episode details: published March 12, 2018 · 45K views · 14:08 long. Summary written by Self Growth Videos from the episode itself. The business ideas, figures and results discussed are the hosts’ and guests’ own claims, shared as brainstorming and entertainment — not verified facts and not investment advice.

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