Roelof Botha – Profile, Net worth, Career
Highlights
- Roelof F. Botha was a CFO at Paypal.
- He previously held separate positions at Weebly and Tumblr which were acquired by square and yahoo respectively.
- He is currently a Partner at Sequoia Capital
We’ll explore the achievements and career highlights of Roelof Botha.
Who is Roelof Botha?
Roelof Botha is a South African venture capitalist currently at Sequoia Capital as a partner.
He has previously held positions on the boards of Meebo and YouTube, both of which were acquired by Google. He held positions at Weebly before it was acquired by Square and was also at Tumblr, which Yahoo eventually acquired.
Early Life
Born and bred in Pretoria, South Africa, in September 1973, Botha moved to Cape Town with his parents when he was just six.
He attended the University of Cape Town after high school and earned a BSc in Actuarial Science, Economics, and Statistics in 1996.
His American journey started with an MBA degree from the Stanford University Graduate School of Business.
Career
After graduation, Roelof dived straight into the professional world and landed a job as a business analyst at McKinsey & Co. in Johannesburg, a stint that lasted from 1996 to 1998. From there, he packed his bags and headed to the States.
Paypal
Back in 2000, while still a student at Stanford, Botha landed the role of corporate development director at PayPal. He climbed up the ladder to become the vice president of finance, and in September 2001, he became PayPal’s CFO.
PayPal spread its wings and went public in February 2002, only to be scooped up by eBay in October of the same year.
Botha was given a chance to stay on board as CFO after the acquisition. But he decided to move on and he joined Sequoia Capital in January 2003.
Sequoia
At Sequoia, Botha was the guiding hand behind the company’s investments in power players like YouTube, Instagram, and Square, to name just a few.
He was also instrumental in PayPal’s acquisition of Xoom. Fast forward to 2017, Botha was handed the reins as Sequoia’s Head of US operations.
In July 2022, Botha was promoted to Senior Steward of Sequoia’s global brand and operations.
He is on the board of directors for many companies like MongoDB, Evernote, Bird, Ethos, Natera, Square, Unity, and Xoom.
His past collaborations include work with AssureRX, FutureAdvisor, Instagram, Mixpanel, and Mu Sigma.
Family
Roelof is married to Huefin Chan and they have a daughter and son.
Investments
Botha has been leading Sequoia’s financial efforts in various emerging and fast growing businesses. In 2022, he was involved in a diverse range of ventures, including Ethos, Evernote, GenEdit, Landis, Pendulum, Skiff, and Temporal Technologies.
Net worth
Wallmine estimates that Roelof Botha has a tidy sum of at least $71.8 million to his name. He holds more than 153,000 shares in Natera Inc, valued at a whopping $64,902,096. Plus, as the Lead Independent Director at Natera Inc, he pulls in a cool $504,181.
Roelof Botha’s Quotes
- “Developer productivity alone has the potential to improve dramatically, with AI based co-pilots enabling transformation and disruption across a broad range of sectors..”
- “We’ve entered a new era of tech where, due to the return of a higher interest rate environment, there is renewed focus on operating efficiency and cash flow. Cost advantages are often overlooked and underestimated as the source of sustainable advantage in technology businesses.”
- “Great leaders and mentors “push you to new heights and they also have your back” – being demanding and supportive are inextricably linked. “
- “When you’re driving, you need to slow down before reaching a sharp curve, or you could skid off the road. That’s why we published the Black Swan memo. But if you want to maintain momentum, the time to start accelerating is when you’re at the apex of the turn.”
