Pat Grady
- Growth
“My dad always said ‘when your values are clear, decision-making is easy.’ He was right.”
Backstory
My high school jobs were in construction. Compared to making $9 an hour putting down T-Lock shingles in 110-degree heat, studying for midterms was paradise. After college, I went into inside sales—50 dials a day yielded 200 conversations a month. At any point, you could hit a button and see how your metrics ranked. I almost killed myself making sure I was on top every day.
At Sequoia, we get to work for some of the best causes on the planet. That may sound like BS, but it’s something we really care about. The vast majority of the money we invest comes from universities, foundations and other nonprofits. I didn’t know it at the time, but my tuition at Boston College was funded in part by proceeds from Sequoia investments. Our returns make a real impact, which is a privilege and a tremendous responsibility—if we screw up, people lose out on scholarships and cancer research. Now that’s motivation.
On the lookout for
Sequoia partners and the founders we back are the same in one important regard: we have a desperate need to win.
Culture and vision are the two essential roles of a founder. You can hire for any other aspect of a business, but those can’t come from outside. They determine who you are and why you exist. I used to think culture was a fluffy thing people talked about when they didn’t have anything better to say. Boy, was I wrong. Culture is everything. It’s the most scalable system you have.
People at Sequoia have very different backgrounds and views of the world, but we work well together because we all want to help founders make a dent in the universe. We believe in the power of storytelling, and in the stories we tell the founders are the heroes. Every founder deserves a tremendous amount of respect for having the courage and vulnerability to start something—to ignore reason in pursuit of a dream. I’ve never had the guts to do that. Supporting founders on the epic journey of a startup is an honor, and a responsibility we don’t take lightly.
Get in touch with PatPersonal Side
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Press & Media
Current Companies
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Attentive is a personalized text messaging platform for innovative brands.Current Stage
Growth
PartnersPat Grady,
Sonya HuangPartnered In2019
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Cribl helps customers easily sift through data to find the nuggets they need.Current Stage
Growth
PartnersPat Grady,
Sonya HuangPartnered In2020
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Gather hosts virtual spaces for work and play.Current Stage
Growth
PartnersShaun Maguire,
Pat GradyPartnered In2021
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Hugging Face is a community-based repository for open-source ML technology.Current Stage
Growth
PartnersPat Grady,
Sonya HuangPartnered In2022
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Namely is an easy-to-use HR platform.Current Stage
Growth
PartnerPat Grady
Partnered In2015
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Neeva is search reimagined—ad-free, private and deeply personal.Current Stage
Growth
PartnersBill Coughran,
Jim Goetz,
Pat GradyPartnered In2019
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Notion is a collaborative workspace with notes, docs, wikis, and projects.Current Stage
Growth
PartnersMike Vernal,
Pat Grady,
Dannie HerzbergPartnered In2021
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Pilot provides bookkeeping, tax preparation and CFO services for startups and small businesses.Current Stage
Growth
PartnersPat Grady,
Michelle BailhePartnered In2020
Enduring Companies
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Amplitude is an analytics platform that enables organizations to see and predict which combination of features and actions translate to business outcomes.Current Stage
IPO
PartnersPat Grady,
Sonya Huang,
Ravi GuptaPartnered In2018
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Drift is a conversational marketing platform that uses chat, email, video and automation.Current Stage
Acquired
PartnerPat Grady
Partnered In2017
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Embark Trucks is transforming how goods move with self-driving trucks.Current Stage
IPO
PartnersPat Grady,
Jess LeePartnered In2018
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HubSpot builds all-in-one marketing software.Current Stage
IPO
PartnersPat Grady,
Jim GoetzPartnered In2011
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Medallia offers customer experience management software.Current Stage
IPO
PartnersDoug Leone,
Carl Eschenbach,
Pat GradyPartnered In2011
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Metaswitch, now part of Microsoft, powers voice, data and unified communications services.Current Stage
Acquired
PartnersJim Goetz,
Pat GradyPartnered In2008
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Okta is an identity-management service that securely and simply connects people to their applications.Current Stage
IPO
PartnerPat Grady
Partnered In2012
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OpenDNS, now part of Cisco, is a suite of consumer products aimed at making the internet faster, safer and more reliable.Current Stage
Acquired
PartnerPat Grady
Partnered In2009
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Qualtrics builds operating systemS for experience management.Current Stage
IPO
PartnersBryan Schreier,
Pat GradyPartnered In2012
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ServiceNow creates digital workflows that unlock productivity.Current Stage
IPO
PartnersDoug Leone,
Pat GradyPartnered In2009
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Snowflake is a data warehouse platform built for the cloud.Current Stage
IPO
PartnersPat Grady,
Carl EschenbachPartnered In2018
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Sumo Logic is a cloud-native continuous intelligence platform.Current Stage
IPO
PartnersPat Grady,
Andrew ReedPartnered In2014
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Sunrun offers homeowners affordable solar power.Current Stage
IPO
PartnerPat Grady
Partnered In2010
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Zoom brings teams together with cloud-based video communications.Current Stage
IPO
PartnersCarl Eschenbach,
Pat GradyPartnered In2016