Quotes from Aileen Lee

There are so many people who try so hard and have such big dreams, and it doesn't happen for them.

I've learned that you really cannot judge a book by its cover.

There are a lot of benefits to having a team of young people, but there are many benefits to having people who've made a lot of mistakes.

Seed stage is an investment area that is really important for early stage startups. It feels like there is a need for trusted, experienced people to work with and to guide startups at this level.

The question for Dropbox is whether, when they run out of private sources for funding, they will be able to maintain that valuation when they go to public sources for funding and their valuation is set on the public markets.

A lot of the entrepreneurs and founders have big dreams and are on a mission to build things that the world has never seen before.

Male founders who come across as Type B are more likely to get the benefit of the doubt.

You have to get under the hood and spend some quality time with someone to understand what they're really good at.

The reality is that in a tech environment that is 90 percent to 100 percent male, it's not super-encouraging for females to be successful. It's just a lot of things that contribute to that: things that people do or things that people say that they may not realize have unintended consequences.

Having been a venture-backed CEO, and having an established background in working with consumer-focused companies, I've built a strong network of entrepreneurs and people who can help startups.

My dad was a dentist; my mom managed his office.

If you're a digital startup, building and highlighting your social proof is the best way for new users to learn about you.

Sequoia is a firm that a lot of people across tech and the Valley look to, and I think they're setting an important example in adding new diversity to their team.

Female users are the unsung heroines behind the most engaging, fastest growing, and most valuable consumer Internet and e-commerce companies.

We used to tie-dye T-shirts and sell them to classmates. We used to make egg rolls and sell them at street fairs. I worked at the mall. My parents probably spent more money on the gas driving me to different jobs than I made.

Spend the first six to 12 months building a great product or service that people love, rather than chasing investors. When the time comes to engage investors, you will be meeting them from a position of strength. This makes all the difference.

Many entrepreneurs, and the venture investors who back them, seek to build billion-dollar companies.

Why do investors seem to care about 'billion dollar exits?' Historically, top venture funds have driven returns from their ownership in just a few companies in a given fund of many companies.

There are not many people from top-tier venture capital firms who are focused on the seed stage.

I think it's embarrassing for our industry that we have such low diversity across senior-level management at all of the mainstream, top-tier venture capital firms.

Top creative and innovative talent wants to live in a vibrant, transit-friendly, global city that offers access to not only great jobs but also great food, entertainment and culture.

Super early-stage companies have a village that form around them for support.

If someone was having some surgery that was going to put them out for three months, it's something you should consider, with a man or a woman. What is the impact of having the C.E.O. or visionary out for three months?