scripod.com

Uncapped with Jack Altman

Alt Capital

Conversations with people I admire about things I’m genuinely interested in.
2025/10/22
AI Ready

Uncapped #29 | Thomas Laffont from Coatue

Thomas Laffont is the co-founder of Coatue, one of the world’s largest technology investment platforms active in both the public and private markets. Thomas leads the firm’s private investment platforms across early-stage and growth, and oversees their software investments across private and public markets. Coatue has partnered with some of the most enduring and impactful companies of the last two decades, including Applied Intuition, Canva, Databricks, Figma and Rippling. Thomas began his career at the Creative Arts Agency, where he represented artists in film and television. A few highlights: The system of record being over Wanting to be a founder’s second call Investing with a wide aperture Tom Cruise validating star quality Working with family --- Timestamps: (0:00) Intro (0:25) Making sense of the current cycle (5:31) Investing from inception through IPO (10:36) Depreciation of the system of record (14:04) Value beyond databases (18:46) Winning strategies in venture (23:43) Operating at early-stage (28:56) Navigating investing conflicts (34:29) Wide aperture lens of investing (36:45) Star quality being a reality (40:30) Firm strategy and decision making (48:25) Everything that’s great about golf (54:34) Working with family (57:20) Advice to young professionals --- More on Thomas: https://www.coatue.com/ https://x.com/thomas_coatue More on Jack: https://www.altcap.com/ https://x.com/jaltma --- https://linktr.ee/uncappedpod Email: friends@uncappedpod.com
Uncapped #29 | Thomas Laffont from Coatue
2025/10/15

Uncapped #28 | Roelof Botha from Sequoia

Roelof Botha joined Sequoia in 2003 and serves as the managing partner and steward. Roelof led early investments in YouTube, Instagram, Natera, and MongoDB among others. He currently sits on the board of Natera, Unity, Block (fka Square), MongoDB, Ethos, Pendulum, Airtime, and Flow Engineering. Roelof also co-led Sequoia’s backing of Elon Musk’s acquisition of Twitter (now X) in 2022. Prior to Sequoia, Roelof was the CFO of PayPal and led the company’s IPO at the age of 28, and later through its acquisition by eBay. We covered: Paranoia that drives success Venture not being an asset class Full contact conversations Cost being the secret to Silicon Valley The next trillion dollar markets --- Timestamps: (0:00) Intro (0:52) Becoming the steward (5:16) Keeping healthy paranoia (9:26) Drivers of joy as a leader (11:17) Current venture playing field (13:38) Venture is not an asset class (18:50) Advice to new managers (19:47) Decision making at Sequoia (30:11) Investing across stages (37:12) Component of cost (46:57) Conflicting investments (50:48) The next trillion dollar markets (59:30) Team building --- More on Roelof: https://x.com/roelofbotha https://www.sequoiacap.com/people/roelof-botha/ More on Jack: https://www.altcap.com/ https://x.com/jaltma --- https://linktr.ee/uncappedpod Email: friends@uncappedpod.com --- This episode is presented for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice or an offer to sell, or a solicitation of an offer to buy, any securities. The discussion herein similarly does not constitute a solicitation with respect to any Sequoia fund or an offer of investment advisory services. Investments identified herein are discussed solely for illustrative purposes and there is no guarantee that current or future investments of Sequoia will be similar in quality or kind.
Uncapped #28 | Roelof Botha from Sequoia