00:00So like Sequoia raises funds relatively often, I would say. But what we're hearing is like that
00:06this is a big race, $7 billion. It's a very clear focus, later stage, mature companies.
00:11What else do we need to know? Yeah, absolutely. I mean, listen, this is the first
00:16fundraise we've seen since there's been a leadership change at Sequoia. So this is
00:21something that we've been tracking very closely. What is it going to look like under a new
00:25leadership with Pat Grady and Alfred Lin at the top of the firm? They came in at the end of
00:30last
00:30year. Right now, it looks like a lot more investing. This is about double the size of the last expansion
00:36fund that Sequoia raised in 2022 and comes in addition to $2.5 billion raised for its seed
00:42through growth investing last year. So just a lot more capital. And we're sort of seeing that writ
00:48large, aren't we? Klein and Perkins thrive. We know that others are in the market potentially
00:53raising. You highlight iconic capital, potentially general catalyst as well. Are all of them having
00:59to raise bigger and bigger funds because they need to write bigger and bigger checks to the bigger and
01:02bigger startups? Absolutely. I think right now there's a dynamic in venture capital where
01:07if you're a platform fund, you can't just be able to play in one stage. And so with this new
01:13capital,
01:14with Sequoia, it's for their latest stage investments. And it remarks back to some of their
01:18most successful investments, Wiz, which closed last month in a $32 billion sale to Alphabet,
01:24was something that Sequoia backed at the earliest stages but continue to double down on. We've said
01:28that about Thrive. We're seeing that now about Iconic, a firm that I profiled today backing
01:34Anthropic again and again. And so it's the new normal for funds to be having to add billions to
01:39their balance sheet. Okay. So, Natasha, let's show our audience who's leading this firm, right? The
01:44co-stewards, they're called. Not co-CEOs, not co-managing partners, co-stewards. There they are
01:49on the left of your screen. They're like tweed. Yeah. And they clearly have sartorial
01:55direction and synergy as well. But Alfred Lynn on the left, Pat Grady on the right. Just give the
02:01backstory of when they came in, the changes Sequoia made and set the scene for this new era
02:06at what is a very important and big venture firm. Yeah, absolutely. So last year, Roloff Botha
02:13handed the reins over to Alfred Lynn and Pat Grady. Now, Alfred Lynn was known as someone
02:17that was helping lead Sequoia's early stage practice. Pat Grady is someone that was known
02:21as leading Sequoia's later stage practice. Now we're seeing them both really be hand in hand
02:26and co-lead the firm together. And there's a few more changes. So we've reported on some
02:31shakeups on the early stage side of the house. We've also seen some people come back to Sequoia's
02:37fold. So most prominently, we saw Doug Leone, the former senior steward. So former top leader
02:42of the firm, come back into an active investing world. And we've also seen them beef out their
02:47growth stage investing ranks. So a lot of changes. And that's why really the new capital haul
02:53is something we were so desperate to get to the bottom of because we have just been wondering
02:58if we're going to see Sequoia refocus or we can see them expand. And for now, you definitely
03:03can tell that what Alfred and Pat's top priority will be will be expansion.
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