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Mike Moritzopolis

The legendary investor is knee-deep in an epic third act that combines being a modern Ron Conway, a civic-minded political organizer, mega-philanthropist, and the full-blown Robert Moses of Northern California.

The city was Jan Sramek’s brainchild, but he probably couldn’t have gotten the ball rolling without Sir Mike Moritz, who became the linchpin of the plan.
The city was Jan Sramek’s brainchild, but he probably couldn’t have gotten the ball rolling without Sir Mike Moritz, who became the linchpin of the plan. Photo: Michael Kovac/Getty Images
Theodore Schleifer
September 6, 2023

In October 2017, at Sequoia Capital’s offices in Menlo Park, the legendary investor Mike Moritz found himself scrutinizing a group of unusual mid-20th century maps. Moritz, an avid painter, has been known to walk around with a sketchbook and draw when the mood strikes him. That day, however, he was looking at some sketches of Solano County, a largely agricultural area some 100 miles northeast from Sand Hill Road. The maps had been unfurled on the table by Nat Friedman, an entrepreneur who had come to feel out Moritz on a friend’s moonshot idea: building a new city from scratch.