They might get away with this in their community because the people who actually have business to transact with sequoia will know what to do. However, what about non-digeratti who just want to find out something? Are they now some irrelevant person that no one cares about, awkwardly standing outside of your imposing building?

This is ultimately a throwback to the high-design, austere, textless sites that hit the scene just before Google thankfully became relevant.

I assume that sequoia will revert back to a more sensible approach that conforms with the rest of the world wide web. How long it takes depends on how much kool-aid the relevant parties have sipped.