Summary: The recession is acting as a great filter that keeps out non-passionate founders. Also, Sequoia does some of its best investments in recessions.
The interesting thing is that this recession is acting as a filter not just for founders but also for VCs. See WSJ's "VCs head for the door" [1]
My favorite part though was this line from Mr. Moritz:
"Oddly enough in recessionary times, customers are prepared to take more risk with a young company if they believe that that company offers them a tremendous advantage that will help them become more efficient or lower their costs."
I have one data point in support of this at my start up but would love to hear if y'all are seeing more.