Michael Moritz - Lessons From 40 Years of Investing and Writing - [Invest Like the Best, EP.491]

is a writer and former partner at Sequoia Capital. We cover the childhood imprint behind his drive, why total obsession breeds greatness at a ruinous cost to relationships, and what still sets extraordinary writing apart as AI floods the world with text. This episode is brought to you by⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠: Ramp. Ramp⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠'s mission is to help companies manage their spend in a way that reduces expenses and frees up time for teams to work on more valuable projects. Go to ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ramp.com/invest⁠ to sign up for free and get a $250 welcome bonus. Vanta.⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Vanta is trusted by thousands of businesses, Vanta continuously monitors your security posture and streamlines audits so you can win enterprise deals and build customer trust without the traditional overhead. Visit vanta.com/invest . Rogo. Rogo is an AI-powered platform that automates accounts payable workflows, enabling finance teams to process invoices faster and with greater accuracy. Learn more at Rogo.ai/invest . WorkOS. ⁠WorkOS⁠ is a developer platform that enables SaaS companies to quickly add enterprise features to their applications. Visit WorkOS.com⁠ to transform your application into an enterprise-ready solution in minutes, not months. Ridgeline. ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Ridgeline⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ has built a complete, real-time, modern operating system for investment managers. It handles trading, portfolio management, compliance, customer reporting, and much more through an all-in-one real-time cloud platform. Visit ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ridgelineapps.com . Timestamps: (00:00:00) Welcome to Invest Like The Best (00:02:16) Where Does One Person End? (00:11:15) The State of the World Today (00:15:08) The Unlived Life of Parents (00:17:33) Lee Iacocca, Eternal Outsider (00:21:03) His Most Revealing Question (00:26:03) Resisters, the Silent, and Collabos (00:33:30) The Profile of Steve Jobs (00:38:04) Frank Auerbach's Total Obsession (00:41:04) Why Don Valentine Hired Michael (00:46:44) Building Sequoia (00:49:49) What Michael Learned from Alex Ferguson (00:52:57) The Great Man Theory (01:00:36) Defining Extraordinary Writing (01:03:40) Stepping Back From Sequoia (01:06:54) A Philosophy of Parenting (01:09:00) The Next Book: Iran (01:11:44) The Kindest Thing 09.16.2026 Hosted by Patrick O'Shaughnessy

When I was reading your book, one of the lines or the ideas that has really stuck with me ever since is where does one person end and the next person begin. And this deep dive that you took into the impact of one's history, family history, heritage — on who a person is. I'm interested in this from so many angles as a parent, as a person interested in history, as a person interested in genetics — nature versus nurture. If I were to sum up the book in that question, what is your answer to that? What did you come away thinking after this deep study of your own family's history?

One of the things that came out of the book, which I didn't really expect, was discovering who I am and why I became whatever it is that I've become. And that was an unexpected gift of the writing. And it came from this exploration of my family's past, in particular, my parents. Going back and excavating the deep memories of childhood, the sort of atmosphere in our home and in the general milieu in which I grew up, helped me understand a lot about why I am who I am and react to certain things in the fashion that I do.