Aileen Lee

I grew up in New Jersey and played sports and rode my bike around. It was ...
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Immigrants play a huge role in the founding and value creation of today's tech companies. We ...
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The world is diverse, and having a professional team that mirrors the world is going to ...
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You have to get under the hood and spend some quality time with someone to understand ...
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Relative to all the start-ups out there, getting a valuation of $1 billion is rarely accomplished.

Comscore, Nielsen, MediaMetrix and Quantcast studies all show women are the driving force of the most important net trend of the decade, the social web.

Consider the social proof of a line of people standing behind a velvet rope, waiting to get into a club. The line makes most people walking by want to find out what's worth the wait. The digital equivalent of the velvet rope helped build viral growth for initially invite-only launches like Gmail, Gilt Groupe, Spotify, and Turntable.fm.

Each major wave of technology innovation has given rise to one or more super-unicorns - companies that could change your life to work at or invest in if you're not lucky/genius enough to be a co-founder.

Especially when it comes to social and shopping, women rule the Internet.

From a pretty early age, I developed an interest in travel. I told my parents I wanted to live abroad, and they said, 'Well, you have to have money to do those things.'

History suggests the 2010s will give rise to a super-unicorn or two that reflect the key tech wave of the decade, the mobile web.

Female users are the unsung heroines behind the most engaging, fastest growing, and most valuable consumer Internet and e-commerce companies.

I am committed to ensuring San Francisco remains a center for tech and the innovation capital of the world.

I did not grow up thinking that I wanted to be an engineer. I had read some articles about girls becoming increasingly scientifically illiterate and that girls lacked confidence in their capabilities when it came to quantitative skills. And I just thought that was kind of wrong.

I grew up in New Jersey and played sports and rode my bike around. It was a really nice time - kids didn't have cellphones then - and you knew everyone in the town.

I have a tremendous network of friends and colleagues at other firms.

I think it's embarrassing for our industry that we have such low diversity across senior-level management at all of the mainstream, top-tier venture capital firms.

I was ringside for Amazon and Google.

I work with tiny companies, so I don't really live in unicorn world, to be honest.

If someone was having some surgery that was going to put them out for three months, it's something you should consider, with a man or a woman. What is the impact of having the C.E.O. or visionary out for three months?

If you're a digital startup, building and highlighting your social proof is the best way for new users to learn about you.

In the future, the best retail sites will know you much better and show you things that are much more relevant.

Immigrants play a huge role in the founding and value creation of today's tech companies. We wonder how much more value could be created if it were easier to get a work visa.

If you're looking to grow your user base, is there a best way to cost-effectively attract valuable users? I'm increasingly convinced the best way is by harnessing a concept called social proof, a relatively untapped gold mine in the age of the social web.

I've learned that you really cannot judge a book by its cover.

It's awesome that you have a female CFO and a female GC, but if you look at the investing partners, and it's 15 dudes, I do think those people are going to get left behind if they don't get with where the world is going.

Many entrepreneurs, and the venture investors who back them, seek to build billion-dollar companies.

Most VC firms are looking to bring in women because of the great consumer cycle.

Male founders who come across as Type B are more likely to get the benefit of the doubt.

Savvy companies are quietly changing up their boards of directors and teams, and this is giving them better collective intelligence, more community admiration, and better financial results.

Relative to all the start-ups out there, getting a valuation of $1 billion is rarely accomplished.

Sequoia is a firm that a lot of people across tech and the Valley look to, and I think they're setting an important example in adding new diversity to their team.

Some companies are worth paying for up front.

Some investors may grumble about entrepreneurs wanting 'unicorn valuations.' But let's be honest: most investors want them, too, and are supporting the massive capitalization of these companies.

Starbucks did this magical thing where it took a product that people didn't really care that much about and made it this treat. It makes you feel better about your day and gives you a chance to reflect, makes you feel a little special.

Spend the first six to 12 months building a great product or service that people love, rather than chasing investors. When the time comes to engage investors, you will be meeting them from a position of strength. This makes all the difference.

Starting a company and being a founder is really hard, and most companies fail. You really have to have a deep commitment and belief in it and be willing to see it through many ups and downs.

Super early-stage companies have a village that form around them for support.

The role and importance of females in companies can make a big difference.

There are a lot of benefits to having a team of young people, but there are many benefits to having people who've made a lot of mistakes.

The world is diverse, and having a professional team that mirrors the world is going to be more helpful for us.

There is very little diversity among founders in the Unicorn Club.

There are so many people who try so hard and have such big dreams, and it doesn't happen for them.

There's an opportunity to make your board - and your company - smarter by adding diversity, especially of gender.

Top creative and innovative talent wants to live in a vibrant, transit-friendly, global city that offers access to not only great jobs but also great food, entertainment and culture.

We used to tie-dye T-shirts and sell them to classmates. We used to make egg rolls and sell them at street fairs. I worked at the mall. My parents probably spent more money on the gas driving me to different jobs than I made.

We're in this incredible age where new brands are making people's lives easier, more convenient, more personalized.

What is social proof? Put simply, it's the positive influence created when someone finds out that others are doing something. It's also known as informational social influence.

When companies are private, founders can share more about their future dreams with investors, report less, and the shares are illiquid, constraining short-term changes in valuation.

What's the word to describe the thing that all of us are trying to do, which is to found or work for or invest in a company that is the winner of all winners?

Why do investors seem to care about 'billion dollar exits?' Historically, top venture funds have driven returns from their ownership in just a few companies in a given fund of many companies.

Women are going to be a huge force in developing Web and mobile companies.

When I go visit my mom in the retirement community where my parents live, she has a bunch of friends, and she will say, 'These neighbors I play bridge with have a son with an idea,' and it goes from there.

Women are thought to be more social, more interested in relationships and connections, better at multi-tasking.

Women are the routers and amplifiers of the social web. And they are the rocket fuel of ecommerce.

You can't get into the trap of paying for customer acquisition.

You have to get under the hood and spend some quality time with someone to understand what they're really good at.