How did VCs in the '90s treat founders so 'kindly'? In June 1993, Sequoia Capital and Sutter Hill Ventures jointly invested $2 million in a chip startup with only three people, valuing the company at around $6 million. That company was Nvidia. Rumor has it that Sequoia founder Don Valentine told Jensen Huang at the time that if he lost the money, he would 'kill him.' Some netizens joked: So this is why Jensen Huang always wears his 'leather armor' wherever he goes