Sequoia India Analyst Program
This is the 10th year of our analyst program. And as we invite applications for this year’s batch, here is a note which provides a view into the program and answers some questions that we usually get asked.
Our analyst program sees a few young people join us every year from a variety of backgrounds, most typically from startups and consulting firms, for a duration of two years. While analysts do a diverse set of things, they typically spend most time on — a) Identifying exceptional entrepreneurs who Sequoia can partner with b) Help the advisory team with the due diligence process and c) Help us support portfolio companies and work with founders and management teams.
New analysts every year keep us from getting stale. With their youth, each of them brings in new ideas, fresh perspectives that challenges our existing thinking. They help us go the extra distance in our attempts to reach founders. During diligence, they help us keep an ear to the ground. And they support Sequoia founders in a variety of ways — from research and strategy, improving reporting, to recruiting incredible people from their networks. Many analysts are still remembered fondly by Sequoia founders for their contributions to their companies.
During the two years, analysts engage deeply with the startup ecosystem and get front row seats to witness some of the best entrepreneurs building their companies. They learn to evaluate and run diligence on businesses across multiple industries and strengthen their business judgement and decision making.
Post the program, our analysts have pursued a variety of career trajectories. Here are some statistics — We have graduated 24 analysts till date. Two thirds of them (16) decided to pursue an MBA post the program (including one who dropped out from business school to become an entrepreneur :) ). 7 went to Harvard Business School, 4 went to Wharton, 3 went to Stanford and 2 went to Insead. 4 of our analysts are currently in school (TJ @ Stanford, Anish/Surabhi @ HBS and Priya @ Wharton). Of the 20 people in the workforce, 7 are entrepreneurs (2 backed by Sequoia), 5 are in operating roles in tech companies (such as Facebook, Amazon, Tinder, Craftsvilla) and 7 are in the investment world (including Ishaan and me at Sequoia; Ishaan went to HBS and joined us back and I just stuck around). We are quite proud of our analyst alumni.
Here’s what some of them are doing now -
Neha Singh — Co-founder, Tracxn
Sandhya Hegde — Partner, Khosla Impact
Vikram Chopra — Entrepreneur, Co-founder, FabFurnish and Cars24
Taru Kapoor — India head, Tinder
Kaushik Anand — India head, Google Capital, India
Ankiti Bose — Founder and CEO, Zilingo
Our best analysts have business acumen, are resourceful, analytical and have a lot of hustle. But most importantly, they are genuinely interested in helping entrepreneurs succeed and share our empathy on how challenging the journey is. If you know anyone who fits this bill, do ask them to get in touch with us at analystapplication.india@sequoiacap.com.
