20VC: Sequoia Partner, Pat Grady on Why Data Is The New Oil, Why We Will See The Return of The Apprenticeship Model in VC & The Defining Characteristics of The Next Generation of Great Software
The Twenty Minute VC (20VC): Venture Capital | Startup Funding | The Pitch
The Twenty Minute VC
4.4 • 637 Ratings
🗓️ 13 March 2017
⏱️ 27 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Pat Grady is a Partner @ Sequoia Capital, one of the world's leading funds with prior investments in the likes of Apple, Google, Whatsapp, Paypal, Stripe and many more. At Sequoia, Pat has made investments in many past guests of this show and the SaaStr podcast including Zoom, Namely and Qualtrics, just to name a few. Prior to Sequoia, Pat spent 3 years with the team at Summit Partners.
In Today’s Episode You Will Learn:
1.) How Pat made his way into the world of VC and one of the most famous funds in the world, Sequoia?
2.) How does Pat view the apprenticeship model in VC? How can VCs attempt to develop and convey the founder empathy when they have not been a founder? Do 'career VCs' get the same respect from founders?
3.) What does Pat believe to be the defining characteristics of the next generation of great software? What are the commonalities?
4.) Pat has said before that 'data is the new oil', what makes Pat think this? How does this affect his investment thesis going forward? Are there elements of being 'data long' that make Pat nervous?
5.) How does Pat think the data incumbency advantage can be mitigated? What can startups do to build a moat?
Items Mentioned In Today’s Show:
Pat’s Fave Book: The Boys In The Boat
Pat's Fave Blog: CB Insights
Pat’s Most Recent Investment: Namely
As always you can follow Harry, The Twenty Minute VC and Pat on Twitter here!
Likewise, you can follow Harry on Snapchat here for mojito madness and all things 20VC.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | You are listening to the 20 minute VC with your host Harry Stebbings at H. Debings with 2Bs on Snapchat |
| 0:05.1 | and writing some hopefully more intellectual thoughts on MahitoVC.com. Now this week is a week I've wanted |
| 0:10.3 | to do since starting the podcast over two years ago. This week we're featuring undoubtedly |
| 0:14.5 | one of the world's greatest funds. They've made investments in the likes of Google, Apple, |
| 0:18.9 | WhatsApp, Stripe, PayPal, the list really is endless. |
| 0:22.2 | Have you guessed it? Yes, this week we are being joined by Sequoia Capital. And joining us in the |
| 0:25.9 | hot seat from Sequoia, we have Pat Grady. Now, Pat is a partner at Sequoia, where he's made |
| 0:30.2 | investments in many past guests of this show and the Sasta podcast, including the likes of Zoom, Namely and Qualtrix, just to name a few. |
| 0:40.5 | Prior to Sequo, Pat spent three years with the team at Summit Partners. |
| 0:44.4 | And I'd also like to say a huge thanks to Sarah Guo for making the intro to Pat today, |
| 0:46.4 | without which the episode would not have been possible. |
| 0:49.9 | But before we dive into the show today, there are some products that you simply cannot remember what life was like before them. |
| 0:51.8 | For me, that's x.a.I. They bring you Amy and Andrew, |
| 0:55.1 | their AI-powered personal assistance for scheduling meetings. And the beauty of Amy or Andrew is |
| 1:00.0 | you interact with them like you would any other person. And it allows you to avoid the tedious |
| 1:04.0 | hours of email ping pong in order to schedule one meeting. Even better though. There's no sign in, |
| 1:09.1 | no password, no download. All you do is |
| 1:11.3 | C-C Amy at X.A.I. Absolutely fantastic. And you can check it out now at X.coma.I. It really is a must. |
| 1:18.1 | And on the topic of streamlining, traditionally long and cumbersome workflows, you must check |
| 1:22.1 | out Workable, the all-in-one recruiting software for ambitious companies. From posting a job to |
| 1:26.8 | tracking and managing candidates, |
| 1:28.5 | Workable provides everything you need to hire better. Transparent communication, organized candidate |
... |
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