Sequoia Capital partner Shaun Maguire is once again drawing unwanted attention to the prominent venture firm. This follows his false accusation that a Palestinian student was responsible for the December 13 mass shooting at Brown University and the subsequent murder of an MIT professor.
In since-deleted posts on X, Maguire speculated it was “very likely” the student was the perpetrator, citing Brown University’s efforts to scrub the student’s online presence. In reality, authorities identified the shooter as Claudio Manuel Neves Valente, a 48-year-old Portuguese national later found deceased. University officials stated they removed the student’s digital footprint as a protective measure against precisely this kind of dangerous speculation.
Fast Company republished two of Maguire’s deleted posts on Friday. He has a history of leaving inflammatory content online and did not delete comments proposing the MIT professor was targeted for being Jewish. This incident follows months of controversial posts targeting Muslims and pro-Palestine activists, including a July post calling New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani an “Islamist.” That post prompted a significant online backlash, with nearly 1,200 founders and tech professionals signing an open letter urging Sequoia to take action. A separate letter of support for Maguire later surfaced.
The newest episode raises questions about whether Sequoia’s new leadership, managing partners Alfred Lin and Pat Grady, can or will rein in Maguire’s social media activity. According to earlier reporting by the Financial Times, the firm’s chief operating officer, Sumaiya Balbale, left in August over Sequoia’s inaction regarding Maguire’s anti-Muslim comments.
Former managing partner Roelof Botha, who stepped down in November, defended Maguire’s behavior during an interview at TechCrunch Disrupt in October. Botha called Sequoia a believer in its partners’ right to “free speech.” He stated that internally the firm celebrates diversity of opinions and needs “spiky” people, referring to Maguire. Botha noted that Maguire has a “specific profile” that appeals to certain founders. Maguire leads investments in numerous defense tech and AI startups and reportedly manages Sequoia’s investments in Elon Musk’s companies, including Neuralink, SpaceX, and xAI. However, Botha acknowledged trade-offs to Maguire’s outspokenness.
Lin and Grady have not publicly addressed Maguire’s conduct since taking over leadership.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations has called for Maguire’s firing, telling Fast Company that his accusations are deeply irresponsible and incredibly dangerous. TechCrunch has reached out to Sequoia for comment.