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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