Alfred Lin
Encyclopedia
Alfred Lin is a venture capitalist at Sequoia Capital
and currently sits on the board of Stella & Dot. Alfred focuses on consumer internet, enterprise and mobile companies. He was born in Taiwan
and moved to New York City at the age of six or seven.
Prior to Sequoia Capital, Alfred was the Chairman, COO and CFO of Zappos.com
which was acquired by Amazon.com
in 2009. While at Zappos, Alfred managed all financial, administrative and strategic operations. Previously, Alfred was the VP of Finance and Business Development of Tellme Networks
(MSFT) and co-founded Venture Frogs, an incubator and investment firm with Tony Hsieh
. Venture Frogs invested in companies such as Ask Jeeves (ASKJ), OpenTable
(OPEN), MongoMusic (MSFT) and even Zappos.com
(AMZN). Prior to Venture Frogs, Alfred was the VP of Finance and Administration at LinkExchange
which was sold to Microsoft
for $265M.
TechCrunch
has stated that Alfred has the "Midas touch" since "Every company he’s worked for has been acquired, and the smallest deal was $265 million."
Alfred holds a B.A. in Applied Mathematics from Harvard
and an M.S. in Statistics from Stanford
.
Sequoia Capital
Sequoia Capital is a Californian venture capital firm located on Sand Hill Road in Menlo Park, California. The Wall Street Journal has called Sequoia Capital "one of the highest-caliber venture firms", and noted that it is "one of Silicon Valley's most influential venture-capital firms"...
and currently sits on the board of Stella & Dot. Alfred focuses on consumer internet, enterprise and mobile companies. He was born in Taiwan
Taiwan
Taiwan , also known, especially in the past, as Formosa , is the largest island of the same-named island group of East Asia in the western Pacific Ocean and located off the southeastern coast of mainland China. The island forms over 99% of the current territory of the Republic of China following...
and moved to New York City at the age of six or seven.
Prior to Sequoia Capital, Alfred was the Chairman, COO and CFO of Zappos.com
Zappos.com
Zappos.com is an online shoe and apparel shop currently based in Henderson, Nevada.In July 2009, the company announced it would be acquired by Amazon.com in an all-stock deal worth about $1.2 billion. Since its founding in 1999, Zappos has grown to be the largest online shoe store.-Inception:Zappos...
which was acquired by Amazon.com
Amazon.com
Amazon.com, Inc. is a multinational electronic commerce company headquartered in Seattle, Washington, United States. It is the world's largest online retailer. Amazon has separate websites for the following countries: United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Japan, and...
in 2009. While at Zappos, Alfred managed all financial, administrative and strategic operations. Previously, Alfred was the VP of Finance and Business Development of Tellme Networks
Tellme Networks
Tellme. Networks, Inc. is a company founded in 1999 by Mike McCue and Angus Davis, based out of Mountain View, California, in the United States, that specializes in telephone-based applications....
(MSFT) and co-founded Venture Frogs, an incubator and investment firm with Tony Hsieh
Tony Hsieh
Tony Hsieh is the CEO of online shoe and clothing shop Zappos.com. Prior to joining Zappos, Hsieh co-founded and sold the internet advertising network LinkExchange to Microsoft in 1999 for $265 million.-Early life:...
. Venture Frogs invested in companies such as Ask Jeeves (ASKJ), OpenTable
OpenTable
OpenTable is an online real-time restaurant reservation service founded by Chuck Templeton in San Francisco, CA in 1998. Reservations are free to end users; the company charges restaurants monthly and per-reservation fees for their use of the system. In 1999, the website began operations...
(OPEN), MongoMusic (MSFT) and even Zappos.com
Zappos.com
Zappos.com is an online shoe and apparel shop currently based in Henderson, Nevada.In July 2009, the company announced it would be acquired by Amazon.com in an all-stock deal worth about $1.2 billion. Since its founding in 1999, Zappos has grown to be the largest online shoe store.-Inception:Zappos...
(AMZN). Prior to Venture Frogs, Alfred was the VP of Finance and Administration at LinkExchange
LinkExchange
LinkExchange was a popular internet advertising cooperative, originally known as Internet Link Exchange or ILE.It was founded in March 1996 by 23-year-old Harvard graduates Tony Hsieh and Sanjay Madan. Ali Partovi later joined them as a third partner...
which was sold to Microsoft
Microsoft
Microsoft Corporation is an American public multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services predominantly related to computing through its various product divisions...
for $265M.
TechCrunch
TechCrunch
TechCrunch is a web publication that offers technology news and analysis, as well as profiling of startup companies, products, and websites. It was founded by Michael Arrington in 2005, and was first published on June 11, 2005....
has stated that Alfred has the "Midas touch" since "Every company he’s worked for has been acquired, and the smallest deal was $265 million."
Alfred holds a B.A. in Applied Mathematics from Harvard
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
and an M.S. in Statistics from Stanford
Stanford University
The Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University or Stanford, is a private research university on an campus located near Palo Alto, California. It is situated in the northwestern Santa Clara Valley on the San Francisco Peninsula, approximately northwest of San...
.