{{Short description|American venture capitalist (1932–2019)}} {{Use mdy dates|date=October 2019}} {{Infobox person | name = Donald Thomas Valentine | image = Don Valentine in 2009.jpg | caption = Valentine in 2009 | birth_date = {{birth date|1932|06|26}} | death_date = {{Death date and age|2019|10|25|1932|06|26}} | birth_place = [[New York City]], U.S. | death_place = [[Woodside, California]], U.S. | nationality = | occupation = Venture Capitalist | alma_mater = [[Fordham University]] <small>([[Bachelor of Arts|BA]])</small> }}
'''Donald Thomas Valentine''' (June 26, 1932 – October 25, 2019) was an American [[venture capital]]ist who concentrated mainly on technology companies in the United States.<ref name="Bloomberg" >{{cite web |url=https://www.bloomberg.com/profile/person/1429678 |title=Donald T. Valentine |publisher=[[Bloomberg News|Bloomberg]] |access-date=October 27, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191028061520/https://www.bloomberg.com/profile/person/1429678 |archive-date=October 28, 2019 |url-status=live }}</ref> Valentine was born and educated in New York, and first came to California during military service, an experience that led him to remain in the region where he would later shape the venture capital industry.
Valentine was the founder of [[Sequoia Capital]], and is a major name for venture investing in [[Silicon Valley]]. Valentine was known for an investment style that emphasized large markets, early inflection points and humble founders, shaping Sequoia's reputation for discipline in early-stage technology investing. His approach to investing helped establish Sequoia Capital as an influential venture firm, backing companies such as [[Apple Inc.|Apple]], [[Oracle Corporation|Oracle]], [[Cisco]], [[Google]], [[YouTube]], [[Nvidia|NVIDIA]], [[Airbnb]], and [[WhatsApp]].
== Early life and education == Valentine was born on June 26, 1932, in [[New York City]], and grew up in the [[The Bronx|Bronx]] in a working class family.<ref name=":8">Winkler, Rolfe. “Venture Capital Pioneer Kept Entrepreneurs’ Egos in Check; Don Valentine, Early Investor in Apple and Atari, Pushed Founders to Cut Costs and Turn Profits.” ''Wall Street Journal (Online)'', with Don Valentine, Dow Jones & Company Inc., 27 Oct. 2019.</ref> He was Catholic, and his family has a Danish background.<ref name="mtstmichael2">{{cite web |title=Legends |url=https://www.mtstmichael.org/m/pages/index.jsp?uREC_ID=358834&type=d&pREC_ID=677209 |accessdate=October 28, 2019 |website=Mount Saint Michael Academy |language=en}}</ref> He attended [[Mount Saint Michael Academy]].<ref name="mtstmichael2" /><ref name=":8" /> Valentine’s parents had limited formal education, and his father worked on a milk route, while his mother was a [[Homemaking|homemaker]].<ref name=":8" /> Valentine’s mother suffered from [[tuberculosis]], with her treatment placing her in an [[iron lung]] and only allowing Valentine and his brother to wave at her through the hospital window.<ref name=":8" />
When Valentine was preparing to go to college, he chose [[Fordham University]] because it was affordable and close to home, and he paid tuition quarterly in cash.<ref name=":8" /> He later said that his Jesuit education at Fordham influenced his analytical style and interrogative, [[Socratic method]] of questioning that he became known for as an investor.<ref name=":7">{{Citation |last=Valentine |first=Donald |title=Donald T. Valentine: early Bay Area venture capitalists: shaping the economic and business landscape ; interviews conducted by Sally Smith Hughes in 2009. Regional Oral History Office, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley |date=2010 |url=https://digicoll.lib.berkeley.edu/record/103612 |access-date=2025-11-17 |others=Bancroft Library. Regional Oral History Office, Venture Capitalists Oral History Project |last2=Hughes |first2=Sally Smith}}</ref> Valentine graduated with a B. A. from Fordham.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Donald T. Valentine – Executive Bio, Compensation History, and Contacts – Equilar Atlas |url=http://people.equilar.com/bio/donald-valentine-netapp--inc./salary/572252#.VmCmFN-rTEY |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160404141218/http://people.equilar.com/bio/donald-valentine-netapp--inc./salary/572252 |archive-date=April 4, 2016 |accessdate=December 3, 2015 |website=people.equilar.com}}</ref> He briefly served in the U.S. military after college, which brought him to California for the first time, influencing his decision to live there permanently.<ref name=":7" />
== Early career == Valentine began his career as a sales engineer at [[Raytheon]]. He left and joined [[National Semiconductor]], working as a senior sales and marketing executive.<ref name="forbes2">{{cite magazine |author=Karlgaard, Rich |date=December 9, 2005 |title=Don Valentine, Venture Capitalist |url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/digitalrules/2005/12/09/don-valentine-venture-capitalist/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160904102501/http://www.forbes.com/sites/digitalrules/2005/12/09/don-valentine-venture-capitalist/ |archive-date=September 4, 2016 |access-date=August 26, 2017 |magazine=Forbes}}</ref><ref name="gigaom2">{{cite web |author=Ingram, Matthew |date=October 14, 2010 |title=Lessons From Silicon Valley VC Legend Don Valentine |url=http://gigaom.com/2010/10/14/lessons-from-silicon-valley-vc-legend-don-valentine/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130728105730/http://gigaom.com/2010/10/14/lessons-from-silicon-valley-vc-legend-don-valentine/ |archive-date=July 28, 2013 |access-date=July 24, 2013 |publisher=Gigaom}}</ref><ref name=":02">{{Cite web |title=Donald T. Valentine {{!}} Computer History Museum |url=http://www.computerhistory.org/events/bio/Donald,Valentine |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151208082757/http://www.computerhistory.org/events/bio/Donald,Valentine |archive-date=December 8, 2015 |accessdate=December 3, 2015 |website=www.computerhistory.org}}</ref><ref name=":8" /> At Fairchild, Valentine managed worldwide sales during the acceleration of [[Integrated circuit|silicon-based integrated circuits]] and got early experience with semiconductor technology.<ref name=":2">Hardymon, Felda, et al. ''Don Valentine and Sequoia Capital''.</ref> Through continuous contact with early-stage chip customers, he started informally assessing young companies and developed instincts that would later attract him to venture investing.<ref name=":2" />
Valentine became convinced that the most transformational startups emerged at technological “inflection points,” where industry disruption created openings for new entrants.<ref>{{Cite web |title=VC Titans of the Past: Lessons from Legendary Investors Who Shaped the Industry |url=https://www.goingvc.com/post/vc-titans-of-the-past-lessons-from-legendary-investors-who-shaped-the-industry |access-date=2025-11-17 |website=www.goingvc.com}}</ref> His move to National Semiconductor gave him an opportunity to design a new sales strategy and help return the company to profitability, developing his understanding of how small tech firms scale.<ref name=":5">“Peaks and Valleys.” ''Inc.'', vol. 7, May 1985, pp. 29–41.</ref>
== Founding of Sequoia Capital == In 1972, Valentine founded venture capital firm [[Sequoia Capital]].<ref name="forbes2" /><ref name=":12">{{Cite web |title=Donald T. Valentine: Executive Profile & Biography – Businessweek |url=https://www.bloomberg.com/research/stocks/private/person.asp?personId=75139&privcapId=22903&previousCapId=22903&previousTitle=Sequoia%2520Capital |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170107162153/http://www.bloomberg.com/research/stocks/private/person.asp?personId=75139&privcapId=22903&previousCapId=22903&previousTitle=Sequoia%2520Capital |archive-date=January 7, 2017 |accessdate=December 3, 2015 |website=Businessweek.com}}</ref> Initially, the company focused on early venture investments with small, risky tech companies.<ref>[http://fortune.com/2009/10/23/sequoia-branches- too-far/ Sequoia branches too far] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170124231753/http://fortune.com/2009/10/23/sequoia-branches-/|date=January 24, 2017}}, Adam Lashinsky, October 23, 2009, ''Fortune'', retrieved August 24, 2016</ref> When Valentine founded Sequoia, the venture capital industry in America was still in its infancy, with less than $50 million in the United States focused on early-stage technology investing.<ref name=":8" /> His goal was to build a firm that identified large markets early and backed companies capable of dominating them.<ref name=":6">{{Cite web |title=Sequoia’s Don Valentine: What Problem are you Solving? |url=https://www.gsb.stanford.edu/insights/sequoias-don-valentine-what-problem-are-you-solving |access-date=2025-11-17 |website=Stanford Graduate School of Business |language=en}}</ref>
Sequoia's first investment was in [[Atari]] in 1975 before the company was sold for $28 million to [[Warner Communications]].<ref>''A History of Silicon Valley'' by Arun Rao, Cambridge: MIT Press, 2010.</ref> Sequoia was one of the original investors of [[Apple Computer]] and [[Atari]] after Valentine met [[Steve Jobs]] when he was a line engineer for Atari.<ref>[http://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Something-Ventured-tells-story-of-tech-investors-2374565.php Something Ventured' tells story of tech investors] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160310190128/http://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Something-Ventured-tells-story-of-tech-investors-2374565.php|date=March 10, 2016}}, Julian Guthrie, April 18, 2011, ''SFGate'', retrieved March 23, 2016</ref><ref>''Return to the Little Kingdom'' by Michael Moritz, 2009, The Overlook Press.</ref> In 1978, Sequoia invested $150,000 in [[Apple Inc.]]<ref>''A History of Silicon Valley'' by Arun Rao, 2010, Cambridge: MIT Press.</ref> Sequoia Capital has also made early investments in companies including [[LSI Logic]], [[Oracle Corporation]], [[Cisco]], [[Electronic Arts]], [[Google]], [[YouTube]] and many others.<ref name="Bloomberg" /> The early investments Valentine made became representative of the first wave of Silicon Valley success stories.<ref>Bresiger, Gregory. “Bookstore Browser - A Look Behind Web Mania: Positioning Cisco as a Unique Business Entity Helped Make It One of the Stars of the Internet Investing Boom.” ''On Wall Street'' [New York, United States], May 2000, p. 1.</ref> When markets became volatile, as during the mid-1980s downturn, he insisted on disciplined spending and rigorous evaluation, helping Sequoia avoid the speculative excesses that damaged other firms.<ref name=":4">Mamis, Robert A. “Venture Capital After the Fall.” ''Inc'' [Boston, United States], vol. 9, no. 13, Dec. 1987, p. 187.</ref>
== Investment philosophy == Valentine’s investing philosophy was anchored on his belief that, ultimately, markets, not founders, dictated a company’s scale. He looked for companies in their “confusion phases,” where large incumbents had not figured out how new technologies would reshape their industries.<ref name=":5" /> He liked entrepreneurs who “knew what they didn't know” and favored intellectual humility and adaptability to charisma.<ref name=":5" />
With his famously blunt, demanding boardroom style, Valentine employed a [[Socratic questioning]] method to probe founders' assumptions, financial discipline, and strategic priorities.<ref name=":6" /> Valentine was often skeptical of hype-driven trends such as the early "[[Information superhighway|Information Highway]]" rhetoric, which he saw as distractions from the real business applications.<ref>Meyer, Michael. ''High Tech, High Risk.'' Accessed 10 Nov. 2025.</ref> Valentine was known for demanding brevity in business plans.<ref name=":6" /> He once required an entrepreneur to rewrite an entire proposal onto the back of a business card.<ref name=":6" /> Valentine was also a proponent of [[San Francisco Bay Area|Bay-area]] companies, preferring to invest in companies based in Northern California, arguing that leaving Silicon Valley meant leaving behind more opportunity than could be found elsewhere.<ref name=":6" />
Valentine was a chairman of [[NetApp]] and Traiana. He served on the boards of many other technology companies including [[Apple Inc.|Apple]], [[Atari, Inc.|Atari]], [[C-Cube]], [[Cisco Systems]], [[Electronic Arts]], [[Linear Technology]], [[LSI Logic]], [[Microchip Technology]], [[NetApp]], [[Oracle Corporation|Oracle]], [[PMC-Sierra]].<ref name=":12" /><ref>{{Cite web |title=Sequoia – Donald Valentine |url=https://www.sequoiacap.com/people/donald-valentine/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191027072714/https://www.sequoiacap.com/people/donald-valentine/ |archive-date=October 27, 2019 |access-date=October 27, 2019 |website=Sequoia Capital}}</ref> Valentine was featured in the documentary film ''[[Something Ventured]]'' which premiered in 2011, which investigated the emergence of American venture capitalism in the mid-20th century.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Rao |first=Leena |date=August 6, 2013 |title=Something Ventured: VC Titans Don Valentine And Tom Perkins Will Take The Stage At Disrupt SF |url=https://techcrunch.com/2013/08/06/something-ventured-vc-titans-don-valentine-and-tom-perkins-will-take-the-stage-at-disrupt-sf/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160528223717/http://techcrunch.com/2013/08/06/something-ventured-vc-titans-don-valentine-and-tom-perkins-will-take-the-stage-at-disrupt-sf/ |archive-date=May 28, 2016 |accessdate=December 4, 2015 |website=TechCrunch}}</ref>
Although best known for the major successes made by Sequoia, Valentine also made some unsuccessful investments. Valentine’s backing of Pizza Time Theatre, which overexpanded before failing, together with a string of poorly performing retail and grocery investments, led to him preferring the quickly growing technology markets over the generally slower consumer sectors.<ref name=":3">“He Keeps on Ticking.” ''Upside, U.S. Ed.'' [Foster City, United States], vol. 9, no. 8, Sept. 1997, p. 58.</ref><ref name=":4" />
== Legacy == Valentine has been recognized as one of the key individuals who created the modern venture capital industry.<ref name=":2" /> During his tenure, Sequoia Capital became a successful technology investment firm, backing companies such as Google, YouTube, PayPal, NVIDIA, Airbnb, LinkedIn, Zappos, Square, Stripe, and WhatsApp. As the founder of [[Sequoia Capital]], he has been referred to as the "grandfather of [[Silicon Valley]] venture capital."<ref name="forbes2" /><ref name="news.com200411">{{cite web |last=Gilbert |first=Alorie |date=November 27, 2004 |title=Legendary venture capitalist looks ahead |url=http://news.cnet.com/Legendary-venture-capitalist-looks-ahead/2008-1082_3-5466478.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140201175102/http://news.cnet.com/Legendary-venture-capitalist-looks-ahead/2008-1082_3-5466478.html |archive-date=February 1, 2014 |access-date=October 7, 2011 |publisher=CNET News}}</ref> The [[Computer History Museum]] credited him as playing "a key role in the formation of a number of industries such as semiconductors, personal computers, personal computer software, digital entertainment and networking."<ref name=":02" />
Empirical research places Sequoia in that small group of elite VC firms that consistently outperform market averages in all key dimensions: better [[Initial public offering|IPO]] outcomes, [[market share]], and more effective governance.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Krishnan |first=C. N. V. |last2=Ivanov |first2=Vladimir I. |last3=Masulis |first3=Ronald W. |last4=Singh |first4=Ajai K. |date=2011 |title=Venture Capital Reputation, Post-IPO Performance, and Corporate Governance |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/41409651 |journal=The Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis |volume=46 |issue=5 |pages=1295–1333 |issn=0022-1090}}</ref> Valentine’s disciplined, market focused approach influenced later generations of Sequoia partners, including [[Michael Moritz]] and [[Alfred Lin]], who helped carry the firm’s philosophy into new eras of technology and global expansion.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Griffin |first=Tren |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.7312/grif18482 |title=A Dozen Lessons for Entrepreneurs |date=2017 |publisher=Columbia University Press |isbn=978-0-231-18482-3 |doi=10.7312/grif18482.31}}</ref>
Internationally, the structure and approach to investing by Sequoia Capital, largely shaped by Valentine, have extended into areas such as artificial intelligence and digital media, with [[HongShan|Sequoia Capital China]] backing major global companies such as [[ByteDance]].<ref>{{Cite report |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/resrep59331.8 |title=Leading AI-Intensive Firms: A Few Stylized Facts |last=Lippoldt |first=Douglas |date=2024 |publisher=Centre for International Governance Innovation |pages=9–18}}</ref> Journalists have described Valentine as tough, deeply knowledgeable, and uncompromising in his expectations, crediting him with shaping Silicon Valley’s standards for company building and board governance.<ref name=":3" />
== Death == Valentine died on October 25, 2019, in [[Woodside, California]], at the age of 87.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/25/obituaries/don-valentine-sequoia-capital.html|title=Don Valentine, Founder of Sequoia Capital, Is Dead at 87|first=Erin|last=Griffith|date=October 25, 2019|newspaper=The New York Times|access-date=October 28, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191028060501/https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/25/obituaries/don-valentine-sequoia-capital.html|archive-date=October 28, 2019|url-status=live}}</ref> He is survived by three children and seven grandchildren who all live in the [[Bay Area]].{{Citation needed|date=May 2026}}
==References== {{reflist}}
==External links== {{Commons category|Don Valentine}} * [https://web.archive.org/web/20100710085117/http://www.sequoiacap.com/us Sequoia Capital U.S.] * [http://www.sequoiacap.com/us/donald-valentine/ Sequoia website profile] * {{YouTube|nKN-abRJMEw|Stanford Business School presents Don Valentine, Sequoia Capital: "Target Big Markets"}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Valentine, Don}} [[Category:American venture capitalists]] [[Category:2019 deaths]] [[Category:Fordham University alumni]] [[Category:American financial company founders]] [[Category:1932 births]] [[Category:American technology company founders]] [[Category:American chairpersons of corporations]] [[Category:American Roman Catholics]] [[Category:American people of Danish descent]] [[Category:20th-century American businesspeople]]