#22 Alfred Lin

Alfred Lin on Forbes

Alfred Lin - I find a variety of products and technologies interesting, but what they have in common is that they have disruptive business models.

The latest Tweets from Alfred Lin (@Alfred_Lin). Partner @sequoia. Formerly @zappos. Board member @airbnb @doordash @houzz @humble @stelladot @zipline. San Francisco, CA, USA

Today, at the Post-Seed conference in San Francisco, Alfred Lin, the former COO and CFO of Zappos and now a Sequoia Capital partner, was asked a variety of on-stage questions about the current market.

Alfred Lin on Forbes

I was standing on hallowed ground. But I was determined not to wither in awe. I glanced quickly around the high-ceilinged lobby of Sequoia Capital, at the flat screen TVs and the framed logos of the once obscure companies that the venture capital fund has helped grow into giants: Apple, Cisco, Google, LinkedIn, Oracle, PayPal, WhatsApp, Yahoo, and—small by comparison but growing ever-faster—Airbnb. Those logos reminded me that Sequoia Capital is more than just Silicon Valley history, that its companies have shaped civilization as we know it. Every CEO in the world wants to meet with Sequoia Capital. I had an hour and I needed to give the pitch of my life.

Alfred Lin is a partner at Sequoia Capital and works with inspiring founders focused on disrupting the mobile, marketplace, commerce, consumer services, and online-to-offline sectors. He currently represents Sequoia on the boards of Airbnb, DoorDash, Houzz, Humble Bundle, Kiwi, Stella & Dot and Zipline, and was previously on the Board of Achievers (HAWK).

Alfred Lin, the COO/CFO of Zappos, has left the company and will join Sequoia Capital. Lin was the no. 2 executive at Zappos at the time of its acquisition by Amazon, and has had a nearly flawless resume as an entrepreneur over the years. Every company he’s worked for has been acquired, and the smallest deal was $265 million. See our post “Alfred Lin Has The Midas Touch: The Man With $2 Billion In Acquisitions Under His Belt.”

Partner, Sequoia Capital

Alfred Lin focuses on consumer internet, enterprise and mobile investments. He is a Director of Achievers, Airbnb, Houzz, Humble Bundle, Kiwi, Romotive and Stella & Dot. Prior to joining Sequoia Capital in 2010, Alfred was Chairman and COO/CFO of Zappos.com (AMZN). Prior to Zappos.com, Alfred was VP of Finance and Business Development of Tellme Networks (MSFT). Previously, Alfred was Co-Founder and General Manager of Venture Frogs, LLC and invested in companies such as Ask Jeeves (IACI), MongoMusic (MSFT), MyAble (OPWV), OpenTable (OPEN), Tellme (MSFT) and Zappos.com (AMZN). Alfred began his startup career as VP of Finance of LinkExchange (MSFT). Alfred has a B.A. in Applied Mathematics from Harvard and an M.S. in Statistics from Stanford.

Alfred Lin is an American venture capitalist at Sequoia Capital.[2][3][4] Lin was the COO, CFO, and Chairman of Zappos.com until 2010.[5][6]