Pat Grady

Sequoia’s @carl_eschenbach says the SaaSpocalypse narrative is "completely overblown," and that it's not a zero-sum game between incumbent SaaS and AI-native newcomers: "Incumbency is incredibly powerful in enterprise. Incumbency is even more powerful when a company like Workday has a 98% gross retention rate across 11,000 customers, with 65%+ of them being Fortune 500 companies. They’re not going anywhere." "That all being said, [with] the pace and rate of change that can happen outside of the big incumbents and big SaaS companies...[new companies] have an opportunity to start completely fresh, and start from scratch." "They get to leverage all the technologies and all the models that are out there, and build agents and agentic solutions faster than anyone else. And they're going to be able to go into the enterprise and provide value on day one, either on their own, or on top of and through some of these SaaS companies."

@Alfred_Lin is this about the pushups?

Never underestimate a subtle challenge to someone who is relentless.

"There's a foundation model maximalist POV that the labs are going to do everything, in every nook and cranny of the economy." "I have a hard time imagining that version of the future coming to fruition, because people do business with people." - Sequoia partner @gradypb "Between a job to be done, and the raw capabilities of a model, there's a lot that needs to happen to shape it into the path of least resistance for you to travel down as a user to get to the right answer with the least amount of pain." "And there's probably a person in between who's going to do that work. And as a customer, you want to do business with that person."

Sequoia's @gradypb says systems of record software companies are relatively safe from AI disruption, but that systems of engagement companies built on top of them are in trouble: "The first wave of the on-prem to cloud transition was transitioning systems of record — the Workdays, Salesforces, and Servicenows of the world." "The second layer on top of that was the systems of engagement. The systems of record might own the core database, but then there are a bunch of different workflow applications that reside on top." "I think what we're going to see with the wave of AI software is a third layer on top of those." "It's the layer that does the work. It's the agents getting deployed. They may or may not need those workflows beneath them, but certainly need access to everything that's sitting in that system of record." "As a result, I think those systems of record companies are relatively safe. They may not catch a lot of net new workloads, because those might go to the AI native companies. But I think overall they're pretty safe." "I think some of those workflow-based companies in the middle are in trouble, because they're neither the systems of record nor the agentic capability that's getting deployed. So they'll have to figure out how to become like that agent harness, so to speak, for whatever job needs to be done."

@carl_eschenbach @sequoia @gradypb @Alfred_Lin Congrats to you and Sequoia !! We are all beyond excited…

Net gain for all founders. Congrats my friend. @carl_eschenbach

@carl_eschenbach @sequoia @gradypb @Alfred_Lin Welcome back Carl!

@CarlEschenbach is #goals! Amazing operator, investor, founder advisor and colleague. I could not be more excited to get to work with him again! Welcome home!

Welcome back home, Carl. @sequoia

Excited to work with @carl_eschenbach again!

One of my favorite quotes comes from Bob Myers. He says you should aspire to live a live where: “The people who know you the best should love you the most.” No one embodies this more than Carl Eschenbach. I’m so happy for you my friend. Welcome home.

@carl_eschenbach @tbpn 🤣

@tbpn See you at noon with @gradypb. I'll be the one in the suit.

BREAKING: @carl_eschenbach is back at Sequoia as a partner. He’ll be live on TBPN today at 12pm PT

Figma’s best days are still ahead. I’m long the company, and super long @zoink!

big!

THE LEGEND RETURNS!!!!!! Welcome home, Carl :')

Immediate and overwhelming response to the VC push-up debacle Welcome back to @sequoia, an all-time great partner @carl_eschenbach

The one question I always ask with companies is: Do I believe their best days are ahead or behind them? With Sequoia being run by @gradypb and @andrew__reed it was so clear to me I am so excited for their days ahead. Seeing this with the return of the OG, that excitement goes up another level.

@gradypb @Alfred_Lin congratulations on getting @carl_eschenbach back in the fold. He's a great leader and will be an amazing resource to both Sequoia as well as the larger founder ecosystem, I have always valued his advice and insight on our board, he says it like it is and is extremely supportive. Carl - love your note, and your sharing the principles of your next chapter.

If you’ve ever wondered why @carl_eschenbach has such impeccable hair… here is the answer. That executive-caliber cut is once again available for the benefit of all @sequoia founders. Welcome home, Carl!