Last night, at an industry event hosted in San Francisco by this editor, venture capitalist Alfred Lin of Sequoia Capital sat down for a fireside conversation about the evolution of his storied investment firm, which has enjoyed a largely unblemished record of stunning success — a record since spoiled by its roughly $200 million investment in the crypto currency exchange FTX.
The investment, once a source of pride for the firm, has tarnished not only the firm but also Lin, who led the deal on behalf of Sequoia, was the firm’s point of contact with CEO Sam Bankman-Fried for a year-and-a-half and who spoke thoughtfully yesterday about how he feels today about a bet gone so wrong. For example, asked whether, looking back, there were signs that Lin sees now that he missed earlier, he answered after a pause: “I thought [Bankman-Fried] was very smart . . . he answers questions very logically and very succinctly. Could we have spotted any tells? I don’t know. There’s what I know ...
