Sundar Pichai, Marc Andreessen, and other Silicon Valley leaders paid tribute to late Sequoia Capital founder Don Valentine

Tributes began pouring in for Don Valentine, founder of Sequoia Capital, after the firm announced his death on Friday. He was 87.

Valentine was widely considered one of the preeminent figures in Silicon Valley's tech industry, and his firm is one of the most successful and most enduring venture firms today. His early bets include video game company Atari in 1975 and Apple in 1978, which solidified Sequoia's reputation as one of the biggest and best venture firms in Silicon Valley.

Valentine was known for asking aspiring founders "Who cares?" in response to their pitches, a trait many other Silicon Valley leaders admired and emulated. He stepped aside from Sequoia in the mid-1990s, but was still involved with the firm until very recently.

Several leaders in Silicon Valley, including Google CEO Sundar Pichai and Andreessen Horowitz founder Marc Andreessen, shared memories and tributes to Valentine on Twitter Friday.

"Don's impact on the beginnings of Silicon Valley and the entire tech industry will not be soon forgotten," Pichai wrote on Twitter Friday. "Thoughts are with his family and the entire Sequoia team. May he rest in peace."

-Sundar Pichai (@sundarpichai) October 25, 2019

-OM (@om) October 25, 2019

-Marc Andreessen (@pmarca) October 25, 2019

-Andrew Reed (@andrew__reed) October 25, 2019

-Mamoon Hamid (@mamoonha) October 25, 2019

-Roelof Botha (@roelofbotha) October 25, 2019