Pat Grady: Sequoia Partner on Investing Lessons from Doug Leone, Roelof Botha and Alfred Lin | E1174

ℹ️ EPISODE INFO

Released

July 8, 2024

Duration

1h 12m

Channel

The Twenty Minute VC

Watch on YouTube

▶ Open ↗

📝 EPISODE DESCRIPTION

Pat Grady is one of the most successful growth investors of the last decade. As the Head of Sequoia’s growth investing practice, Pat has invested in companies with a combined market cap exceeding $250BN. Among Pat’s immense portfolio is Hubspot, Snowflake, ServiceNow, Okta, Amplitude, Zoom and Qualtrics. Pat is also one of the best acquirers of talent in venture hiring Andrew Reed, Matt Huang, Julien Bek. ----------------------------------------------- Timestamps: (00:00) Intro (01:18) Background (06:58) Bleeding Green Through Brand Hits & Challenges (08:44) Balancing Accountability & Culture at Sequoia (10:07) How Investment Process Evolved Over Time (15:26) A Founder Who Outperformed & Accelerated the Most (18:11) Pat’s Founder Evaluation Framework (21:07) Reflecting on Founder Selection Mistakes (22:54) Does Sequoia Really See Everything? (26:45) Who’s the Best Sourcer & Picker at Sequoia (29:39) Pat’s Favorite Winning Story (36:09) Impact of Investors on Enterprise Value (41:03) Maintaining Focus Amid Diverse Investment Strategies (44:14) Learnings in Hiring Investment Talent (48:14) Insights on Timing Sales & Holding Investments (52:50) Pat’s Strengths & Weaknesses (54:55) The Advantage of Sequoia on Your Cap Table (59:02) The Hardest Aspect of Pat’s Job Today (01:00:57) Foreseeing Sequoia's Challenges in the Next Decade (01:03:11) Quick-Fire Round ----------------------------------------------- In Today’s Episode with Pat Grady We Discuss:

1. The Sequoia Investment Process: What is the Sequoia investment process today? How has it changed over time? What could be improved about the process? Where is it weak? What is the biggest strength of the process? How do Sequoia remove politics from the investment decision-making process? Are the best deals “contrarian”? What does Pat mean when he says you do not “get extra points for being contrarian and right”?

1. What Sequoia Look for When Investing: What is Pat’s framework for assessing founders? How does it differ when investing early vs late? Team, traction, TAM, how does Pat rank the three when investing? What have been Pat’s biggest lessons on market sizing? Does Pat take market timing risk? How much weight does Pat place on “traction” when investing? How sustainable is PMF?

1. The Three Core Pillars of Venture: Sourcing: What does Pat rank Sequoia for sourcing? Who is the best at sourcing in the firm? Selecting: How does Pat rank Sequoia at picking? How has it changed over time? What could Sequoia do to improve their picking ability? Servicing: What does Pat give Sequoia for their “value add”? To what extent does Pat truly believe that venture investors do add value?

1. Pat Grady: AMA: Pat has hired some of the best in the next generation of venture investors; what are his biggest lessons in what he looks for when hiring investing talent? What is his single biggest takeaway from working with Alfred Lin, Roelof Botha and Doug Leone? What are his biggest takeaways from working with Hubspot, Snowflake and ServiceNow? ----------------------------------------------- Subscribe on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3j2KMcZTtgTNBKwtZBMHvl?si=85bc9196860e4466 Subscribe on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-twenty-minute-vc-20vc-venture-capital-startup/id958230465 Follow Harry Stebbings on Twitter: https://twitter.com/HarryStebbings Follow Pat Grady on Twitter: https://twitter.com/gradypb Follow 20VC on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/20vchq Follow 20VC on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@20vc_tok Visit our Website: https://www.20vc.com Subscribe to our Newsletter: https://www.thetwentyminutevc.com/contact ----------------------------------------------- #20vc #harrystebbings #patgrady #sequoia #venturecapital #founder #ceo #hubspot #snowflake #hiring

🎤 SPEAKERS

• Pat Grady

  guest

• Harry Stebbings

  host

🧾 EPISODE SUMMARY

In this episode of The Twenty Minute VC, featuring Pat Grady and Harry Stebbings, Pat Grady: Sequoia Partner on Investing Lessons from Doug Leone, Roelof Botha and Alfred Lin | E1174 explores Sequoia’s Pat Grady Dissects Great Founders, Venture Craft, And Desperation Pat Grady, Sequoia Capital partner and U.S./Europe leader, reflects on his upbringing, his fear of irrelevance, and how a sense of ‘desperation’ fuels both his life and Sequoia’s culture. He breaks down Sequoia’s entire venture value chain—sourcing, picking, winning, building, and harvesting—sharing how the firm evaluates founders, markets, and its own mistakes. Grady emphasizes founder-market fit, “vectors” of talent and motivation, and the importance of apprenticeship over rigid processes in improving investment decisions. He also discusses Sequoia’s platform, data systems, Arc program, global strategy shifts, and the cultural risks that could one day make Sequoia irrelevant.

🔗 RELATED EPISODES

Saam Motamedi: Why Series B Won’t Make Money & Why $1M ARR is a BS Milestone for Series A | E1177

Mark Roberge: The Framework for How Startups Should Scale into the Enterprise -Stage 2 Capital|E1176

Ara Mahdessian: ServiceTitan Would Not Be the Success if We Raised VC Earlier | E1175

Avi Eyal: Making $2.3BN on Monday, Stripe & PillPack from Entrée Capital MP | E1173

Matt Clifford: The Bull & Bear Case for China's Ability to Challenge the US' AI Capabilities | E1172

Samir Vasavada: The Real Story of Vise: The Regrets, Mistakes and Mis-Hires | E1171