Sequoia's own history names 1972; Kleiner Perkins does not

The record

Sequoia Capital's own history page states: "In 1972, when Don Valentine founded Sequoia Capital, the term 'Silicon Valley' was less than two years old," and that Valentine "backed both Apple and video game pioneer Atari" out of "Sequoia's first $3 million fund." That is Sequoia's own account of its founding, naming a year, a founder, an initial fund size and two of its earliest investments. Kleiner Perkins' current "About" page states only that "for five decades we have partnered with intrepid founders to build iconic companies that made history" — wording consistent with, but not equivalent to, a stated 1972 founding, and one that names no specific year and no founder on that page.

What the sources establish

Sequoia's current page is explicit and specific; a firm's own history page, as this archive treats such pages throughout, is that firm's own account of itself, not an independently audited record, but it is a first-party statement carrying the founder's name and the year. Kleiner Perkins' current materials do not carry an equivalent statement on the page checked here. An archived 2001 snapshot of the firm's earlier site, preserved at the Internet Archive's Wayback Machine, states the firm had "for nearly 30 years... invested in hundreds of market-defining ventures" — consistent with, though not a precise restatement of, a 1972 start, and again without naming a founder on that page. Both firms are widely and consistently described elsewhere as founded in 1972, Sequoia by Don Valentine and Kleiner Perkins by Eugene Kleiner and Tom Perkins; only the Sequoia claim is stated in those exact terms, with a name and a year, on the firm's own live materials reviewed for this entry.

Scope and revision

Both firms operate limited-partnership funds today under significantly different personnel, fund families and strategies than in 1972; nothing in either page reviewed here should be read as describing either firm's current fund structure, which this entry does not address. The Kleiner Perkins page and archived snapshot are marketing copy, not a regulatory filing; a firm's Form ADV, not reviewed for this entry, would be the more authoritative source for an exact organization date if one were required for a legal purpose.

The decision in front of you

A reader who needs a precise, sourced founding date for Kleiner Perkins specifically should look past the firm's own current marketing page, which does not supply one, to a filing or archival document that does; for Sequoia, the firm's own current page already supplies the year and the founder by name.

• Is a "founded in 1972" claim about Kleiner Perkins sourced to the firm's own current materials, or to secondary retellings?
• Does the source distinguish an approximate phrase like "five decades" from a stated calendar year?
• Would a regulatory filing, rather than either firm's marketing page, better support the precise date a specific claim requires?

Two firms, one widely cited founding year, and two different levels of self-disclosure: Sequoia's own account is the more citable of the two for this specific fact.