# Stephanie Zhan

> Stephanie Zhan is a General Partner on Sequoia Capital's early-stage team, where she has been backing founders from the first check since 2015. A Stanford computer science graduate who grew up across Hong Kong and Beijing during the early internet era, she brings a global lens and a deep technical instinct to bets on AI, developer tools, and the physical world. She was first partner to Linear, Reflection AI, Skild AI, Ricursive Intelligence, Mach Industries, Middesk, and Tavus - a portfolio that reads like a map of the next decade of computing. Her TED AI talk on superintelligent AI captures what makes her unusual among her peers: she's not just predicting the future, she's actively funding the people building it.

- **Role:** Partner at Sequoia Capital
- **Organizations:** Sequoia Capital
- **Nationality:** American
- **Education:** B.S. Computer Science, Stanford University, International Baccalaureate - Bilingual Diploma, International School of Beijing, Secondary School, Chinese International School, Hong Kong
- **Known for:** General Partner at Sequoia Capital, one of the world's top venture firms, First Sequoia partner into Linear, Reflection AI, Skild AI, Ricursive Intelligence, Mach Industries, Middesk, and Tavus, Board member at Linear, Middesk, Rec Room, Reflection AI, Skild AI, and Ricursive Intelligence

## Career timeline

- **~2011-2012** — Associate Product Marketing Manager at Google Maps
- **~2013-2015** — Product Manager at Nest (Google-acquired smart home company)
- **2015** — Joined Sequoia Capital as early-stage investor; witnessed OpenAI's founding
- **2016** — Led Sequoia's investment in Rec Room (digital social platform)
- **2019** — Led Sequoia's investments in Linear (developer tools) and Middesk (B2B identity)
- **2022** — Led Sequoia's investment in Multis (Web3 financial infrastructure)
- **2023** — Led Sequoia's founding investment in Skild AI (physical superintelligence / robotics)
- **2024** — Led Sequoia's investment in Reflection AI (autonomous coding / frontier AI)
- **2025** — Led Sequoia's founding investment in Ricursive Intelligence (AI for chip design); gave TED AI San Francisco talk on superintelligent AI

## Achievements

- General Partner at Sequoia Capital, one of the world's top venture firms
- First Sequoia partner into Linear, Reflection AI, Skild AI, Ricursive Intelligence, Mach Industries, Middesk, and Tavus
- Board member at Linear, Middesk, Rec Room, Reflection AI, Skild AI, and Ricursive Intelligence
- 43 recorded investments with sweet spot of $5M
- Speaker at TED AI San Francisco (talk: 'Dreaming of daily life with superintelligent AI')
- Built a portfolio of companies that have collectively raised over $2.5B
- One of the earliest institutional backers tracking the AI robotics and autonomous agents wave

## Latest updates

- **2025-10** — Led Sequoia's founding investment in Ricursive Intelligence (AI for chip design)
- **2025-05** — Linear announced as one of 12 connectors in ChatGPT - a milestone for her earliest major investment
- **2025-04** — Celebrated Roelof Botha's tenure at Sequoia, crediting him for teaching her the craft of early-stage investing
- **2024-11** — Gave TED AI San Francisco talk: 'Dreaming of daily life with superintelligent AI'
- **2024-03** — Hosted Andrej Karpathy conversation at Sequoia AI Ascent; shared highlights on Twitter

## Links

- Website: https://stephaniezhan.com
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stephanie-zhan-4220364b
- Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/stephzhan

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/stephanie-zhan
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-05-08