So, you'd be right, it looks like Sequoia did get in after the purchase of the domain, which could indeed indicate that the domain helped them in some way.
Best rebuttal by far.
Though, one could also argue they might not have been so eager to accept Sequoia's capital if they weren't spending $500,000 on things like domain names.
I'm not sure of the timeline as to when the various investments came in. From what I understand though, they had $14 million and then Sequoia got in: http://blogs.wsj.com/venturecapital/2011/03/24/sequoia-to-co...)
So, you'd be right, it looks like Sequoia did get in after the purchase of the domain, which could indeed indicate that the domain helped them in some way.
Best rebuttal by far.
Though, one could also argue they might not have been so eager to accept Sequoia's capital if they weren't spending $500,000 on things like domain names.