Last night, at an industry event hosted in San Francisco by this editor, venture capitalist Alfred Lin of Sequoia Capital sat down for a one-on-one conversation about the evolution of his storied investment firm, which has enjoyed a largely unblemished record of stunning success — a record since marred 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 Sequoia but also Lin, who led the deal on behalf of Sequoia and who was also the firm’s point of contact with CEO Sam Bankman-Fried for a year and a half. He spoke thoughtfully yesterday about how he feels today about a bet gone so wrong.
Asked, for ex …