eventually through a stroke of great luck, a fellow who started sequoia, don ballantyne, took a greatisk on me. emily: what qualities as a journalist made you a good investor? sir michael: i'm not sure i can make good investor. emily: [laughter] sir michael: we keep making mistakes. the venture businesses, other businesses we are in in sequoia -- very humbling pursuit here it as soon as you think you are good at it, you get chopped off at the knees. journalism was very helpful. you're often parachuted into stories. you have to get your bearings quickly. you've got to deal with imperfect information. and then you've got to have a point of view if you are a journalist or you make an investment decision if you are investor. you are trying to read people. you are trying to gauge sentiment. i found that i had been trained to make up my mind about a confusing set of information extremely helpful. emily: andreessen horowitz has perpetuated this idea that good vc's need to be former founders or ceo's. of which you are neither. sir michael: i think it's important to tell from someone's backgro