Sean Maguire, a partner at Sequoia Capital, is once again drawing unwanted attention to his high-profile venture firm after falsely accusing a Palestinian student of involvement in the Dec. 13 Brown University shooting and subsequent killing of an MIT professor.
In a since-deleted post to X, Maguire noted that Brown was “actively erasing his online presence” and speculated that it “seems very likely” that the student was the perpetrator. In fact, authorities identified the gunman as 48-year-old Portuguese Claudio Manuel Neves Valente, who was later found dead in a storage facility in New Hampshire. Brown officials said they removed the students' digital footprints as a safeguard against dangerous speculation.
On Friday, Fast Company republished two of Maguire's deleted posts. (Maguire has previously left inflammatory content online and did not delete comments suggesting the MIT professor was targeted because he is Jewish.) The incident follows months of controversial posts targeting Muslims and pro-Palestinian activists, including calling New York Mayor-elect Zoran Mamdani an “Islamist” in July. The post sparked an immediate backlash online, with nearly 1,200 founders and technology industry professionals signing an open letter calling on Sequoia to take action. An open letter supporting Maguire subsequently surfaced.
The latest episode raises questions about whether Sequoia's new management team (managing partners Alfred Lin and Pat Grady, who took over last month) can or will rein in McGuire's social media activity. The Financial Times previously reported that Chief Operating Officer Sumaiya Barbare resigned from the company in August over Sequoia's inaction in response to Maguire's anti-Muslim comments. Former managing partner Roelof Botha, who resigned in November, defended Maguire's actions in an October interview with TechCrunch Disrupt, calling Sequoia a believer in the right of its partners to “free speech.”
“We value diversity of opinion within our company, and we need 'edgy' people within Sequoia,” Botha said, referring to Maguire. He said Maguire has a “particular profile” that appeals to certain founders. Maguire has led investments in numerous defense technology and AI startups, has deep ties to Elon Musk's companies, and reportedly manages Sequoia's investments in Neuralink, SpaceX, The Boring Company, X, and xAI.
But Botha acknowledged the trade-off with Maguire's outspokenness. “Does that come with tradeoffs? Yes, that's right,” he said.
Mr. Lynn and Mr. Grady have not publicly addressed Mr. Maguire's conduct since taking over.
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The Council on American-Islamic Relations called for Maguire's removal, telling Fast Company that Maguire's accusations were “grossly irresponsible and incredibly dangerous.”
TechCrunch has reached out to Sequoia for comment.