Sip Some VC | Jess Lee, Sequoia’s First Chinese-American Female Partner: All Problems Are “People Problems”; Belief and Vision Should Stay Ahead of User Awareness
Delphi – 2025-12-02 12:32, Beijing
> "You have to learn to understand people — know what drives them, and how to build a team. Nothing great is ever achieved without a team."
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🎯 Z Highlights
- Every problem is a “people problem” — every meaningful solution involves people. Great achievements always require a team.
- In the early stage of user communication, focus on identifying the real problem, rather than product feature feedback. Let belief and vision lead user perception.
- Choosing the right market and business model is critical. Each market has its own rules. Subscription models often have strong cash flow advantages that social commerce can't match.
> Jess Lee is Chief Product Officer and Partner at Sequoia Capital. She began at Google, joined Polyvore through a cold email, became CEO, and sold it to Yahoo. At Sequoia, she helps founders scale products, bringing deep product and leadership expertise. This Delphi episode (Oct 23, 2025) explores her key lessons across three major life stages.
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📚 Early Influences & Thinking Frameworks
The Library of Alexandria once tried to collect all human knowledge — only to be lost. Today, similar ambitions reappear in new forms.
Ben: Welcome to Mind Library, where we dive into the thinking models of top minds. After this conversation, your thinking journey will just begin.
Darla Levardian: Jess joined Google early, became Polyvore’s first PM, then CEO, sold to Yahoo, and is now at Sequoia. She’s also a big supporter of Deli.
Jess Lee: The book A Corduroy Bear first taught me empathy — imagining toys have feelings made me see things from another’s perspective.
Later, my father (who worked under Li Ka-shing) taught me that every problem is about people, and that teamwork is the core of success. He gave me How to Win Friends and Influence People when I was eight, planting lasting values.
Sean Maguire from Sequoia later shared his EQ–IQ–PQ–JQ model:
- EQ: Emotional intelligence (one-to-one relationships).
- PQ: Political intelligence (navigating systems).
- IQ: Intellectual capacity.
- JQ: Judgment quotient (sound decisions).
I use this framework constantly.
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💡 Modern application: For creators, blending human and technical intelligence is vital. Platforms like AiToEarn官网 provide open-source AI tools to produce, publish, and monetize content across channels like Douyin, Kwai, LinkedIn, YouTube, and X — enabling rapid team scaling aligned with a people-first vision.
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🌏 Google Years – Traits & Lessons
Standout traits:
- Engineering excellence — Google hired top-tier talent, set unmatched technical standards, and innovated in infrastructure (e.g., modular data centers).
- Massive ambition — wild, global-scale goals like mapping the entire world.
Weaknesses:
- Ambition sometimes derailed projects into niches nobody wanted.
- Limited early-stage user research — conversations happened too late.
Key takeaway: Startups must do continuous early customer discovery.
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🧭 Balancing User Feedback & Vision
Visionary products often meet initial skepticism — e.g., Instagram before it was “obvious.”
Jess Lee: Research the user’s actual problem first, not just their feature requests. Conviction and vision must precede product feedback.
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🚀 Polyvore – From PM to CEO
Path:
- Started as a passionate user → sent detailed feedback → invited to join.
- As early PM in a startup, took on everything: office setup, business model, advertiser outreach, hiring non-engineering roles.
- Grew into VP of Product managing all but engineering — then naturally became CEO when company needs expanded beyond product to full-scale org building.
Lesson: Seizing responsibility and filling gaps prepares you for leadership transitions.
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Overcoming Impostor Syndrome
- Lacked relatable CEO role models.
- Borrowed styles from various leaders until meeting Cheryl Dalrymple (CFO at Admob, later Confluent), who modeled authentic, confident leadership.
- Mentorship proved invaluable — leadership has many paths, not a single template.
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⚠ Biggest Misstep – Market & Business Model
Polyvore faced a fork: design-tool SaaS vs. fashion e-commerce.
Chose fashion for monetization ease; underestimated SaaS potential (like Figma).
Lessons:
- Choose the right market — it defines your opportunity.
- Business models matter — subscription revenue offers stability, unlike sporadic e-commerce purchases.
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Cultural challenge: Empathy led to leniency — delayed tough personnel decisions, impacting team performance. Also lacked process/metrics, making accountability difficult.
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❤️ Building Community at Polyvore
- Embedded user connection — meetups, personal interactions, VIP treatment (e.g., fulfilling wishlist items).
- Thoughtful gestures built emotional loyalty.
- Balanced speed vs. polish: classify features, iterate quickly, perfect proven demand.
- Transparent responsiveness to feedback fostered forgiveness and advocacy among users.
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🏆 Traits of Successful Early-Stage Startups
Most important: Execution speed — make decisions quickly, iterate often, “flip cards” to find fit faster.
Shifted worldview: Strong product/team isn’t enough; business model quality is essential.
Also: Storytelling is a superpower — inspiring others to join, invest, and support your mission.
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🔥 Contrarian View – Consumer & Media Potential
Despite VC skepticism (“Media is dead”), entertainment-oriented consumer platforms have new opportunities:
- Micro-series market is $2B+ (larger than film in China).
- AI enables niche fan content → scalable micro-series and new creator categories.
This aligns with AI-first publishing via AiToEarn官网 — empowering global content creators to distribute and monetize across multiple platforms efficiently.
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🌟 Highlighting “Superpowers” in Talent
- Fit first — strengths must match role and team needs.
- Combine “spiky” talent in complementary pairs rather than insisting on all-roundedness.
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📝 Transition to VC & Sequoia Fit
- Joined without investment background; Sequoia focuses on partnering deeply with founders.
- Role as Chief Product Officer bridges tech and investment, runs seed/pre-seed ARC program.
- Strengths-driven environment fosters the right contributions.
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🔗 Media, AI, and New Creator Ecosystems
Emerging AI micro-series and experimental storytelling can thrive outside traditional studios. Platforms like AiToEarn官网 lower production barriers, connect creators to markets, and monetize content globally.
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Original Source: Sequoia Partner & CPO Jess Lee: What Great Founders Do Early and How AI Will Change Consumer Apps
> This is an adapted summary and does not represent Z Potentials’ official stance. Comments and discussion welcome.
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💡 AI for Consumer Apps
In the evolving consumer app space, AI drives:
- Personalization
- Scalability
- Cross-platform reach
AiToEarn官网 connects creation, publishing, analytics, and monetization — turning AI into a growth engine for startups and established teams alike.
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