Carl Eschenbach

Reviewed Updated Mar 23, 2026

This profile is AI-generated. If you spot an error, please help us fix it by sharing a URL to the correct information.

Carl Eschenbach is a Partner at Sequoia Capital's growth team since 2016, recently returning from co-CEO role at Workday (Dec 2022-Feb 2026). His 14-year VMware tenure grew the company from 200 employees/$30M to 20,000/$7B. He evaluates founders on 'SKQs' (skills, knowledge, qualities), prioritizing growth and founder self-awareness. Known for operational scaling expertise in enterprise infrastructure, cloud, SaaS, and cybersecurity; sits on boards of Palo Alto Networks, Zoom, Snowflake, UiPath.

Location Menlo Park, CA

Check Size $10M-$200M

Last Verified Investment Kumo (Series B) — 2022

Social @carl_eschenbach LinkedIn

Stage Focus

series-b growth

Sector Focus

infrastructure cloud saas cybersecurity ai developer-tools

Background

Carl Eschenbach is a partner on Sequoia Capital’s growth team, having first joined the firm in 2016 after a 14-year tenure at VMware ¹². At VMware, he held multiple executive roles including President, Chief Operating Officer, acting Chief Financial Officer, and Executive Vice President of Worldwide Field Operations, helping grow the company from 200 employees to 20,000 and from $30 million in revenue to $7 billion ¹²³.

Before VMware, Eschenbach held positions at NET, 3Com, Inktomi, and a brief stint at EMC before being recruited away by VMware co-founder Diane Greene ²³. He attended DeVry University on a wrestling scholarship transfer, a decision he has described as a “crucible moment” that launched his technology career ¹.

In December 2022, Eschenbach left Sequoia to become co-CEO of Workday alongside co-founder Aneel Bhusri ⁴. He became sole CEO of Workday in February 2024 ⁴. In February 2026, Eschenbach departed Workday and returned to Sequoia Capital as a partner ⁵⁶.

Eschenbach was inducted into the National Wrestling Hall of Fame in 2020 as an Outstanding American ⁷. He serves or has served on the boards of Palo Alto Networks (since 2013), Zoom, Snowflake, UiPath, Aurora, Armis, Cohesity, Gong, and Workday ¹⁸⁹¹⁰¹¹¹².

Stated Thesis

(Self-reported: These represent what Eschenbach says publicly about his investing approach. See Inferred Thesis for analysis of actual investment behavior.)

Sequoia’s website describes Eschenbach’s focus areas as “infrastructure, SaaS, cloud and selling into the enterprise, or building businesses bottoms up” ¹.

When evaluating founders, Eschenbach has said he focuses on “SKQs — skills, knowledge and qualities,” noting that while skills and knowledge can be taught, qualities like integrity, teamwork, drive, passion, and resilience typically cannot ¹¹³.

On what drives investment decisions, Eschenbach has stated that growth is his top priority: the most important factor when making an investment. He has also emphasized that for early-stage companies with limited data, the focus is on the founder — how self-aware they are, their ability to recruit, and their track record ¹⁴.

Eschenbach has described his approach to scaling as grounded in operational experience: at Sequoia he helps portfolio companies “develop operating models, grow and scale revenue and build winning go-to-market strategies” ¹.

Inferred Thesis

Based on 16 verified investments made during Eschenbach’s tenure at Sequoia (2016-2022, and 2026-present), his actual investment behavior reveals the following patterns:

Stage distribution: Eschenbach invests exclusively at growth stage. All 16 verified deals were Series B or later rounds, consistent with his role on Sequoia’s growth team. He does not lead seed or Series A investments.

Sector breakdown: Enterprise infrastructure and cloud dominate: 5 of 16 (31%) are enterprise infrastructure/data management (Snowflake, Cohesity, Grafana, Kumo, ThousandEyes). 4 of 16 (25%) are cybersecurity (Palo Alto Networks, Armis, Salt Security, StackRox). 3 of 16 (19%) are enterprise SaaS/revenue tools (Gong, CaptivateIQ, Medallia). 2 of 16 (13%) are automation/productivity (UiPath, Cresta). 1 of 16 (6%) is communications (Zoom). 1 of 16 (6%) is autonomous vehicles (Aurora).

Operational value-add pattern: Eschenbach’s distinctive edge is deep go-to-market expertise from scaling VMware’s sales organization from $30M to $7B revenue. His portfolio companies consistently cite his help with enterprise sales scaling, forecasting, and channel strategy ¹⁵¹⁶. This is not typical of most growth investors, who tend to focus on governance and financial engineering.

Co-investor patterns: Eschenbach frequently co-invests with fellow Sequoia partners Pat Grady and Bill Coughran. His Snowflake investment was co-led with Grady ⁴. Many of his investments are alongside other top-tier firms: Greylock and Andreessen Horowitz (Cresta), GV and Sutter Hill (ThousandEyes), Bain Capital Ventures (Armis) ¹⁷¹⁸¹⁹.

Geographic focus: Predominantly U.S.-based companies, with notable Israeli investments including Armis and Gong ¹²²⁰.

Board involvement: Eschenbach takes board seats in nearly all investments, not just board observer roles. He sat on boards of Zoom, Snowflake, Palo Alto Networks, UiPath, Aurora, Armis, Cohesity, and Gong simultaneously ¹.

Notable gap: Despite Sequoia’s broad mandate covering consumer, fintech, and crypto, Eschenbach invests exclusively in enterprise/B2B companies. His stated thesis and actual behavior are well-aligned in this regard — unusually consistent for a growth investor.

Portfolio

Company	Year	Stage	Source
Palo Alto Networks	2013	Board (pre-Sequoia)	⁸
Zoom	2017	Series D	²¹²²
Cohesity	2017	Growth	²³
Snowflake	2018	Growth	⁴²⁴
UiPath	2018	Series C+	⁹¹⁰
Armis	2019	Series C	²⁰
Aurora	2019	Series B	¹¹²⁵
Gong	2019	Series C	¹²
ThousandEyes	2019	Series D	¹⁹
Medallia	~2017	Growth	¹
Salt Security	2020	Series B	²⁶
StackRox	~2019	Growth	¹
Cresta	2021	Series B	¹⁷
Retool	~2020	Growth	¹
Grafana	2021	Series C	²⁷
Kumo	2022	Series B	²⁸
CaptivateIQ	~2021	Growth	¹

This table represents Eschenbach’s known portfolio at Sequoia. Notable exits include: Zoom (IPO 2019), Snowflake (IPO 2020), UiPath (IPO 2021), Aurora (IPO 2021), Medallia (IPO 2019), Palo Alto Networks (IPO 2012, board joined 2013), ThousandEyes (acquired by Cisco ~$1B, 2020), StackRox (acquired by Red Hat, 2021), and Armis (acquired by Insight Partners at $1.1B valuation).

In Their Own Words

On his investment philosophy:

“Complacency kills companies, and it can make you fall behind as a person, as well.” — Carl Eschenbach, Sequoia Capital “Seven Questions” interview, 2019 ¹³

“If you don’t bring passion, enthusiasm and energy to the table as a founder, you’re already behind.” — Carl Eschenbach, Sequoia Capital “Seven Questions” interview, 2019 ¹³

“I lean on my heart more than anything else, and it rarely steers me wrong.” — Carl Eschenbach, Sequoia Capital “Seven Questions” interview, 2019 ¹³

On scaling companies:

“Simplicity scales. Complexity doesn’t. And what happens when companies grow is that you have more and more layers of management, you have more and more compliance, you have more and more controls, you have more people touching the customers.” — Carl Eschenbach, Notre Dame Mendoza College of Business talk, 2020 ¹⁵

“The most important metric is your forecasting accuracy.” — Carl Eschenbach, Gong blog, 2020 ¹⁶

“One of the failures I see is people raise a new round…they immediately start to hire sales reps…they go from 70 or 80 percent making their number, and it drops to 40 percent.” — Carl Eschenbach, Gong blog, 2020 ¹⁶

On teams and leadership:

“Everyone says there is no ‘I’ in ‘Team,’ and I actually disagree with that. I attribute this to wrestling — in wrestling, you typically have 10 or 12 people on a team, but when you go on the mat you are an individual. The only way you can impact that team overall is through your performance.” — Carl Eschenbach, Notre Dame Mendoza College of Business talk, 2020 ¹⁵

On portfolio companies:

“From the first time Sequoia spent the day with Chris Urmson, we knew he was a special technologist and leader who was laser-focused on solving one of the hardest technical challenges of our generation.” — Carl Eschenbach on Aurora, Aurora Voices blog ²⁵

“Contact centers are in dire need of new technology to keep pace with the growing digital economy.” — Carl Eschenbach on Cresta, Cresta press release, March 2021 ¹⁷

“Gong has unlocked a world of potential with their AI-based approach to increasing revenue teams’ effectiveness.” — Carl Eschenbach, Gong Series C press release, December 2019 ¹²

On Zoom:

“Everyone knew Zoom was doing well. You saw the energy and excitement in the market.” — Carl Eschenbach, Sequoia Zoom company story ²⁹

“That initial investment was a launchpad. It wasn’t just about the $100 million, it was the marketing that came out of that.” — Carl Eschenbach on the Zoom Series D, Sequoia Zoom company story ²⁹

What Founders Say

Eric Yuan, CEO of Zoom, on Eschenbach’s board contribution: “Having Carl and Pat on the board has been really helpful. We need people who understand how to steer a business from small startup to Fortune 500 company. They have that experience.” — Eric Yuan, Sequoia Zoom company story ²⁹

Amit Bendov, CEO and co-founder of Gong, on Eschenbach’s departure from the Gong board: “Carl’s vast enterprise sales experience and first-hand knowledge scaling tech companies were incredibly helpful to Gong over the past three years. I’m truly grateful for his guidance and counsel and wish him amazing success on his new journey.” — Amit Bendov, Gong press release, January 2023 ³⁰

No additional independently sourced founder testimonials found beyond the above. Sequoia’s website and portfolio company press releases contain additional endorsements, but these are firm marketing materials rather than independent founder statements.