George Robson
28 Jul 2026etn Raise $1.6M Seed Round and Go 5 Days A Week
Sequoia's George Robson on European Deep Tech & Sovereignty
Sequoia partner George Robson recounts going from building a consumer subscription business at Revolut and founding a healthcare startup to joining Sequoia's London office via Roelof Botha. On sovereignty he argues Europe should pursue being 'indispensable' rather than isolation, pointing to strengths in photonics (Eindhoven, Grenoble, Zurich), chip design around Cambridge, Motorsport Valley engineering near Milton Keynes, robotics, and defense companies like Helsing and Stark. He also discusses Jensen Huang's open-source letter, the coexistence of open and closed models, the risks of distillation, and says Sequoia is excited about photonics and sovereign GPU orchestration in the EU.
8 Nov 2025Armis raises $435M, Attio updates, Sequoia shifts, Google Maps joins, Palantir dips Big Short 2 more
George Robson (Sequoia): Leadership Change, $950M Funds & Kickstart
After some technical difficulties, Sequoia partner George Robson explains Roelof Botha stepping down after 23 years and the handover to Alfred Lin and Pat Grady, plus what he learned from Botha's culture of excellence and polymath investing. He recounts joining Sequoia at 25 during COVID after co-founding the Kickstart accelerator at LSE and meeting Revolut through it, and walks through the $950 million seed and venture funds, his Europe/US focus, and how AI has changed company building versus five years ago. He closes with advice for young people — don't go into VC, seek agency, become a student of industry — and the hosts read Sean Maguire's tweet praising Botha's embrace of risk.
7 Nov 2025etn. Episode 8
Sequoia's George Robson on Roelof Botha's Exit & New Funds
After some technical difficulties, Sequoia's George Robson details Roelof Botha's transition after 23 years, with Alfred Lin and Pat Grady taking over after the US/Europe business distributed $52 billion back to investors. He recounts co-founding the Kickstart accelerator at university, meeting Revolut pre-seed, and joining Sequoia at 25 during COVID, then explains the new $950M funds, the evergreen structure, and a seed-first, geography-agnostic approach. He closes with advice for young founders — get agency, observe great operators, become a student of industry, and don't join VC — and the hosts read Shaun Maguire's tribute tweet on Roelof's appetite for risk.