Lauren Reeder is a partner on Sequoia Capital’s early-stage team, working with founders from the idea stage onward. “The founders we work with are on the path to shaping the world… it’s an incredible privilege to work with them.” she says.
Reeder began her career at several start-ups, from joining as the first employee to leading product teams to acquisitions. “It’s rewarding to see what it takes to build a company and to help pay that forward to the next generation of founders,” she adds.
Fueled by her belief that technology is pushing the world forward and her desire to make a difference in people’s lives, Ms. Reeder was first drawn to Penn’s M&T Program when she was researching universities from her hometown in Boise, Idaho. Now, nearly ten years into her career, she credits the Penn M&T Program with preparing her for the ambiguity and range in her industry.
Artificial intelligence, she notes, is accelerating that founder journey. “In the last decade, founders often needed deep expertise in cloud and SaaS technology. Now, there’s a wealth of opportunity across the board with AI; we are seeing younger and early-stage founders making more progress with the technology that’s now available faster than ever before,” she explains.
“In the last decade, the markets favored founders with deep expertise in a given area,” she says. “LLMs are evolving right in front of us, so there are not many experts in the room. We are seeing founders right out of college, who maybe played with LLMs in the dorm room, or used it in school, develop deep intuitions for how these models can be used and build delightful products with them. Younger and early-stage founders are making progress faster than ever before.”
For students who hope to enter venture capital, Reeder urges hands-on start-up experience first. “When you’re investing, you’re sitting at a 10,000-foot view so it’s helpful to have an idea of what it’s like to be on the other side and sitting in the founder’s seat. Having that experience is invaluable – and will help you be more successful in helping that founder get where they want to go.”
She also encourages M&T students to leverage the program’s network and explore widely – especially if they are uncertain about future career paths.