Lena Park — the intro

A founder once told me the scariest moment of a pitch isn't when you say no. It's when you go quiet. [pause] I'm Lena Park. Senior partner at Sequoia. Before that, CFO of a company that sold to Salesforce. Before that, McKinsey. I've been in that room a long time. Two kids, a five-year-old Audi I'm not replacing, and a charcoal notebook I've opened in every partner meeting for nine years. [pause] Here's what you'll get. The questions boards are actually asking. What I look for in a founder — and what ends the conversation. The advice that doesn't make it onto panels. And honest post-mortems: deals I passed on that worked, and why. I'm not here to tell you what you want to hear. Find me at lenapark.