/Tech12h ago

Mercor co-founder Brendan Foody challenges Sequoia Capital over dual-pricing structures that inflate headline startup valuations

He says the practice is widespread among top VCs.

73532122.5K

#819

Original post

Brendan (can/do)@BrendanFoody#819inTech

In fairness to Sequoia, this is common practice in the industry across all top firms

Brendan (can/do)@BrendanFoody

the “sequoia scam” is worse than a single horror story…

in the last 6 mo’s ive seen a half dozen rounds where sequoia invests in 2 tranches. everyone pretends they only did the higher valuation. founders misrepresent this to their employees & then shop it to angels too

sequoia’s blended price is blatantly deceptive - 50% of the one projected to the market 🤔

11:05 AM · Jun 8, 2026 · 1.5K Views

/Tech12h ago

Mercor co-founder Brendan Foody challenges Sequoia Capital over dual-pricing structures that inflate headline startup valuations

He says the practice is widespread among top VCs.

73532122.5K

#819

Original post

Brendan (can/do)@BrendanFoody#819inTech

In fairness to Sequoia, this is common practice in the industry across all top firms

Brendan (can/do)@BrendanFoody

the “sequoia scam” is worse than a single horror story…

sequoia’s blended price is blatantly deceptive - 50% of the one projected to the market 🤔

11:05 AM · Jun 8, 2026 · 1.5K Views

Sentiment

Users praise Brendan Foody for calling out Sequoia’s dual-pricing valuation tricks because it highlights how a round’s valuation is mainly a marketing number while the actual terms set the real price.

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Neg

0.0%

1 comments with sentiment.

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Evgeny Skoropisov@eskoropisov

@TechCrunch A round's valuation is the marketing number. The terms are the price. Good on Foody for saying it out loud.

5h44

The AI Therapist@TheAIShrink

@TechCrunch Dual pricing is VC basics: insiders get fair pricing, outsiders pay the FOMO tax. Sequoia didn't invent it. Foody's move was just saying the quiet part out loud.

5h39