David Sze
Advisory Partner at Greylock Partners
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Advisory Partner at Greylock since 2000. Portfolio of 16 verified investments skews 44% social/network-effects (Facebook Series D, LinkedIn Series B, Discord, Nextdoor), 31% media/entertainment (Pandora, Roblox). Known for backing winner-takes-all consumer platforms; zero B2B investments. Board member at LinkedIn (12 years), Observer at Facebook (6 years). Consistently on Forbes Midas List.
Background
David Sze is an Advisory Partner at Greylock, having joined the firm in 2000 1. He holds a BA from Yale University and an MBA from Stanford University 12. He is a Trustee of Yale University and Rockefeller University 2.
Before Greylock, Sze was SVP of Product Strategy at Excite, the early search engine, where he also served as GM of Excite.com and VP of Content and Programming for the Excite Network 1. Earlier in his career, he held roles in product marketing at Electronic Arts, development at Crystal Dynamics, management consulting at Marakon Associates and Boston Consulting Group, and worked at HBO 1.
Sze is known for some of the most successful consumer internet investments in venture capital history, including early investments in Facebook, LinkedIn, Pandora, Roblox, and Discord 13. He has been consistently named to the Forbes Midas List 1.
Stated Thesis
(Self-reported: These represent what Sze says publicly about his investing approach. See Inferred Thesis for analysis of actual investment behavior.)
Sze has described his investment focus as rooted in “media, mobile and network effect business convergence,” a thesis he brought to Greylock when he joined in 2000 1.
On his consumer-first orientation, Sze has stated: “I’m going to go join a consumer company because I really rotate around consumer, whether that’s venture or operating. I don’t rotate around venture to go to say enterprise” 4.
On evaluating opportunities, Sze looks for winner-takes-all dynamics: “Does this show the potential to be a winner takes most or winner takes all kind of business, if that’s the case, and you think you have the right team in place as well, which is the other critical aspect of that” 4.
Sze is known for deliberately seeking controversial investment opportunities that other partners might reject, leading Greylock’s early bets on Facebook, LinkedIn, and Discord by focusing on founder quality and network effects rather than consensus deals 4.
Inferred Thesis
The analysis below is based on 16 verified investments attributed to Sze from his Greylock profile, Wikipedia, and press coverage 1356.
Sector concentration (based on 16 verified investments): - Social / network-effect platforms: 7 of 16 (44%) — Facebook, LinkedIn, Nextdoor, Discord, Digg, Oodle, Medium - Media / entertainment: 5 of 16 (31%) — Pandora, Roblox, Revision3, VUDU, PullString - Gaming: 2 of 16 (13%) — Roblox, SGN - Other (adtech, telecom): 4 of 16 (25%) — SoftCoin, New Edge Networks, NOCpulse, WhoSay (some overlap with other categories)
Key patterns:
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Network-effects dominant: The strongest signal in Sze’s portfolio is a consistent focus on platforms with network effects. Facebook, LinkedIn, Discord, Nextdoor, and Roblox all derive value from user-to-user connections. 7 of 16 verified investments (44%) are in social/network-effect platforms.
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Stage distribution: Sze invests at growth stages with large check sizes. His LinkedIn Series B was $10M (2004), his Facebook Series D was $27.5M (2006), his Roblox investment was $50M (2018), and his Pandora investment was $35M (2009) 3567.
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Consumer-only portfolio: Zero enterprise or B2B investments in the verified portfolio. This is unusual for a partner at a firm that does significant enterprise investing, and perfectly matches his stated thesis.
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Long hold periods: Sze served on LinkedIn’s board from 2004 through its 2016 acquisition by Microsoft (12 years) and was a Facebook board observer from 2006 to 2012 (6 years) 3.
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Co-investor patterns: At the growth stage, frequently co-invests with large funds. On Facebook, co-invested alongside Accel Partners and other major investors 3.
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Geographic focus: Primarily San Francisco Bay Area companies.
Notable observations: Sze’s actual portfolio closely matches his stated thesis. He has consistently invested in consumer platforms with network effects for over two decades — a rare case where stated and inferred theses are strongly aligned. His transition to Advisory Partner suggests reduced deal activity.
Portfolio
| Company | Stage | Year | Sector | Status | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| NOCpulse | Early stage | ~2001 | Infrastructure | Acquired (Red Hat, 2002) | 18 |
| New Edge Networks | Early stage | ~2001 | Telecom | Acquired | 1 |
| SoftCoin | Early stage | ~2002 | Adtech | Acquired | 1 |
| Series B | 2004 | Social/Professional | Acquired (Microsoft, $26.2B) | 3 | |
| Digg | Series A | 2005 | Social/Media | Acquired | 19 |
| VUDU | Series A | 2005 | Media/Streaming | Acquired | 110 |
| Series D | 2006 | Social | IPO (Meta) | 3 | |
| Oodle | Series A | 2006 | Social/Classifieds | Acquired (QVC, 2012) | 111 |
| Revision3 | Series A | 2006 | Media | Acquired | 112 |
| SGN | Series A | 2008 | Gaming | Acquired | 113 |
| Pandora | Growth | 2009 | Media/Music | IPO | 5 |
| Nextdoor | Series A | 2012 | Social/Local | Public (NYSE: KIND) | 114 |
| PullString (fka ToyTalk) | Series A | ~2013 | Media/AI | Acquired (Apple, 2019) | 115 |
| Medium | Series A | 2014 | Media/Publishing | Active | 116 |
| Discord | Series A+ | 2016 | Social/Gaming | Active | 14 |
| Roblox | Series F | 2018 | Gaming/Social | Public (NYSE: RBLX) | 6 |
This table represents 16 verified investments. Years marked with ~ are estimates based on company founding dates and Sze’s reported involvement period. Early investments (NOCpulse, New Edge Networks, SoftCoin) pre-date comprehensive online databases; exact round designations are not available but were early-stage given Sze joined Greylock in 2000. Sze’s full portfolio likely includes additional investments not captured here.
In Their Own Words
“I’m going to go join a consumer company because I really rotate around consumer, whether that’s venture or operating. I don’t rotate around venture to go to say enterprise.” — David Sze, 20VC podcast 4.
“Does this show the potential to be a winner takes most or winner takes all kind of business, if that’s the case, and you think you have the right team in place as well, which is the other critical aspect of that.” — David Sze, 20VC podcast 4.
What Founders Say
No independently sourced founder testimonials found.
Sources
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Greylock Partners, “David Sze” team page, accessed March 2026. https://greylock.com/team/david-sze/↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩
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Yale University, “David Sze, ‘88 BA, MBA,” Board of Trustees, accessed March 2026. https://www.yale.edu/board-trustees/current-trustees/david-sze↩↩
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Committee of 100, “David Sze” member profile, accessed March 2026. https://www.committee100.org/members/david-sze/↩↩↩↩↩↩↩
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Deciphr.ai summary, “20VC: Greylock’s David Sze on His Biggest Lessons Working with Mark Zuckerberg and Reid Hoffman,” accessed March 2026. https://www.deciphr.ai/podcast/20vc-greylocks-david-sze-on-his-biggest-lessons-working-with-mark-zuckerberg-and-reid-hoffman-the-rise-of-preemptive-rounds-how-to-think-through-price-discipline-today-and-how-truly-strong-venture-partnerships-function↩↩↩↩↩↩
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VCSheet, “David Sze (Greylock),” accessed March 2026. https://www.vcsheet.com/who/david-sze↩↩↩
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PitchClub.io, “$50m to $2.5b in 3 Years. Inside Greylock’s Gamble on Roblox,” accessed March 2026. https://www.pitchclub.io/p/inside-greylock-s-gamble-on-roblox↩↩↩
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Greylock Partners, “Congratulations Roblox! (NYSE: RBLX),” accessed March 2026. https://greylock.com/portfolio-news/congratulations-roblox/↩
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“Red Hat Files S-3 on Behalf of Former NocPulse, Inc. Shareholders.” BusinessWire, November 26, 2003. https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20031126005368/en/Red-Hat-Files-S-3-Behalf-NocPulse-Shareholders. Accessed April 2026. ↩
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“Series A - Digg - 2005-10-28.” Crunchbase Funding Round Profile. https://www.crunchbase.com/funding_round/digg-series-a–44dc7666. Accessed April 2026. ↩
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“Series A - Vudu - 2005-06-01.” Crunchbase Funding Round Profile. https://www.crunchbase.com/funding_round/vudu-series-a–ef87f876. Accessed April 2026. ↩
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“Oodle Raises $11 Million in Funding From JAFCO, Greylock Partners and Redpoint Ventures.” BusinessWire, March 21, 2007. https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20070321005292/en/Oodle-Raises-11-Million-Funding-JAFCO-Greylock. Accessed April 2026. ↩
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“Revision3 funding details.” Tracxn. https://tracxn.com/d/companies/revision3/__01q-7S1QvyOmSSpwECZFtbtDaksRybUui1__wcM_DAA. Accessed April 2026. ↩
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“Social Gaming Network (SGN) Snags 15 Million in Series A Funding.” GlobeNewsWire, May 13, 2008. https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2008/05/13/1314911/0/en/Social-Gaming-Network-SGN-Snags-15-Million-in-Series-A-Funding.html. Accessed April 2026. ↩
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“Nextdoor announces $18.6 million in funding From Benchmark Capital, DAG Ventures, Greylock Partners and Shasta Ventures.” Nextdoor press release, July 2012. https://about.nextdoor.com/press-releases/nextdoor-announces-18-6-million-in-funding-from-benchmark-capital-dag-ventures-greylock-partners-and-shasta-ventures. Accessed April 2026. ↩
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“ToyTalk Raises $15 Million In Series C Round Led By Khosla Ventures.” TechCrunch, December 9, 2014. https://techcrunch.com/2014/12/09/toytalk-raises-15-million-in-series-b-round-led-by-khosla-ventures/. Accessed April 2026. ↩
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“Blogging Platform Medium Closes $25M Round Led By Greylock.” TechCrunch, January 28, 2014. https://techcrunch.com/2014/01/28/blogging-platform-medium-reportedly-closes-25m-round-led-by-greylock/. Accessed April 2026. ↩