Just over three years after becoming Sequoia Capital’s top leader, Roelof Botha is stepping down from his senior management role at the storied venture capital firm. The company announced Tuesday that partners Alfred Lin and Pat Grady will replace him as co-stewards.
Lin joined the storied company in 2010 and has led major investments in category-defining companies such as Airbnb, DoorDash, and Kalshi. Meanwhile, Pat Grady has been a partner for nearly 19 years and has led Sequoia’s growth-stage investments since 2015, supporting iconic companies such as ServiceNow, OpenAI, and legal AI platform Harvey.
Botha assumed the role of supreme leader in mid-2022 and immediately oversaw a tumultuous period. He took the helm just as the economic downturn decimated the public markets and slashed the valuations of many of the companies in Sequoia’s portfolio. The company also wrote down $200 million when its investment in cryptocurrency exchange FTX exploded. Although it was a small loss in the larger scheme of things for Sequoia, it was still a financial blow. Additionally, in 2023, Sequoia separated its India and China operations into separate, independent companies amid rising political tensions between the United States and China and increased regulatory pressure from both sides.
This year, Sequoia was embroiled in controversy over comments made by partner Sean Maguire attacking New York mayoral candidate Zoran Mamdani, calling the politician an “Islamist” who “comes from a culture of lying about everything.” Maguire later retracted some of these statements, but they caused considerable backlash and discussion online. In August, Sequoia’s chief operating officer, Sumaiya Barbare, who is Muslim, resigned over the company’s decision not to discipline Maguire following his comments. This was first reported by the Financial Times and discussed last week when I sat on stage with Botha at TechCrunch Disrupt.
Asked about Barbare, Botha said that as usual, Sequoia does not comment on personnel matters and that he appreciates all that Barbare has contributed to the company. When asked about Maguire, Botha said, “We value diverse opinions within the company, and we need sharp-minded people within Sequoia.”
Mr Botha continued: [other] It’s a personal deal and Sean just hasn’t been as vocal about it as he has been on social media. And we have always respected the free speech rights of our individual partners. ”
In the same interview, Botha insisted that his role as senior steward was not one of absolute command, stressing that other partners have roughly equal authority in guiding the direction of the company. “There’s a reason my title is steward. It’s just a step up from ‘guide’ in the dictionary,” he said. “That’s mainly because the world’s highest leader was absent,” he added, in a comment that drew laughs from those in attendance.
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When TechCrunch Editor-in-Chief Connie Loizos asked Botha who would succeed him as leader, given the company’s history of focusing on ensuring a smooth transition (Bota himself was promoted multiple times during his rise to the top of the company), Botha replied: Grady. Luciana Lixandre, head of Sequoia’s European investments. “We have incredible depth and we work as a team,” said partner Andrew Reid, who disclosed investments in Figma and Klarna this year.
Botha also noted that all Sequoia investors vote on investment decisions. “We want ideas to win, not seniority to win,” he said.
But this transition news suggests that the stewardship position actually matters. Sequoia has continued to generate strong investment returns during Mr. Botha’s tenure, but the latest leadership change comes as the company moves through a difficult period and is moving to the next stage.
In fact, Sequoia, one of the world’s most prominent venture capital firms, recently renovated its offices and installed a wall with handwritten notes for all of its investors that read, “We’re only as good as our next investment.”
Last week, the company announced a $750 million early-stage fund and a $200 million seed fund for Series A startups.
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