Just over three years after taking the reins as the leader of Sequoia Capital, Roelof Botha is stepping down as Senior Steward of the storied venture capital firm. The firm announced Tuesday that partners Alfred Lin and Pat Grady will succeed him as co-Stewards.
Alfred Lin joined the firm in 2010 and has led major investments into category-defining companies like Airbnb, DoorDash, and Kalshi. Pat Grady has been a partner for nearly nineteen years and has led Sequoia’s growth-stage investing since 2015, backing iconic companies such as ServiceNow, OpenAI, and the legal AI platform Harvey.
Botha assumed the leadership role in mid-2022 and immediately oversaw a period of upheaval. He took the helm just as a downturn decimated the public markets, severely slashing the valuations of many companies across Sequoia’s portfolio. The firm also wrote off two hundred million dollars when its investment in the cryptocurrency exchange FTX collapsed. This was a small loss in the bigger scheme of things for Sequoia but a financial hit all the same. Furthermore, in 2023, amid growing political tensions between the United States and China and regulatory pressures on both sides, Sequoia spun off its India and China operations into separate independent firms.
This year, Sequoia became embroiled in a controversy over partner Shaun Maguire’s comments attacking New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani. Maguire called the politician an Islamist who comes from a culture that lies about everything. Though Maguire later walked back some of those remarks, they led to a sizable online backlash and debate. In August, Sequoia’s chief operating officer, Sumaiya Balbale, a practicing Muslim, quit over the firm’s decision not to discipline Maguire following his remarks.
Asked about Balbale, Botha said that as a matter of routine, Sequoia does not comment on personnel matters and that he appreciated everything Balbale had contributed to the firm. Asked about Maguire, Botha stated that internally, the firm celebrates a diversity of opinions and needs spiky people inside of Sequoia. Botha continued that some of their partners are very active in philanthropy or other private dealings and are just not as vocal as Shaun might be on social media. He said the firm has always honored the right to free speech of each of its individual partners.
During that same interview, Botha maintained that his role as Senior Steward is not one of absolute command, stressing that other partners hold nearly as much power to steer the firm’s direction. He said his title is Steward for a reason, noting it is just a notch above usher in the dictionary. Then, in a comment that drew laughter from attendees, he added that it was mostly because Global Supreme Leader was not available.
When asked who might succeed him as leader of the firm given its historic emphasis on ensuring smooth hand-offs, Botha responded that Alfred Lin, Pat Grady, Luciana Lixandru, who leads Sequoia’s European investments, and Andrew Reed, a partner whose investments in Figma and Klarna went public this year, have incredible depth and operate as a team. Botha also pointed out that every investor at Sequoia votes on investment decisions, stating they want the triumph of ideas, not the triumph of seniority.
The transition news, however, suggests the Steward position carries real weight. While Sequoia has continued to rack up major investment wins during Botha’s tenure, the leadership change comes as the firm seeks to move past a challenging period into its next phase.
Indeed, Sequoia, one of the world’s most prominent venture capital firms, recently renovated its office, installing a wall where every investor handwrote this reminder: We are only as good as our next investment. Last week, the firm announced a seven hundred fifty million dollar early-stage fund targeting Series A startups, as well as a two hundred million dollar seed fund.