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Episode Description
Pat Grady and Alfred Lin are partners at Sequoia and were recently named as the storied firm’s new co-stewards. Alfred joined the firm in 2010, where he has led major investments into category-defining companies like Airbnb, DoorDash, and Kalshi. Pat has been a partner at the firm for nearly 19 years and has led Sequoia’s growth-stage investing since 2015, backing companies like Snowflake, OpenAI, and Harvey. In this episode, we unpack how Sequoia actually works: their partnership model, how they pick outliers, and what stewardship means inside one of the most respected firms in venture capital.
Some highlights:
- Consensus doesn’t matter, conviction does
- Freedom within frameworks: see, pick, win, help, harvest
- Mid-funnel decisions are the most important
- The two fears that lead to bad decisions
- To do this business well, you need courage
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Timestamps:
(0:00) Intro
(1:01) Initial mindset as stewards
(4:30) The business of outliers
(6:27) Managing the inputs in venture
(12:11) Sourcing coverage goals
(17:57) Seeing the right companies
(22:36) Proprietary map of talent
(24:39) The impact of great engineers
(29:06) Picking winners with conviction
(36:26) Coaching asymmetry into picking
(43:16) Mentoring younger investors
(46:45) Frameworks on picking
(53:20) What it takes to win
(58:32) How to onboard with a founder
(1:02:59) Proudest board seats
(1:06:12) 2026 in the new roles
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