Shaun Maguire

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Shaun Maguire (born 1985) [1] is an American venture capitalist and right-wing political activist, currently a partner at Sequoia Capital. [2] [3] [4] Maguire was appointed as a member of the U.S. Department of Government Efficiency in 2025. [5]

Contents

Early life and education

In an interview with the Caltech Heritage Project, Maguire reported that he earned a 1.8 GPA in high school and failed his Algebra 2 course, and that his admission to Stanford University depended on letters of recommendation. [1] Maguire received his PhD in physics from Caltech. [2] Maguire has identified as Jewish, with ancestral ties to early Jewish settlers in California. [6]

Career

In 2010, Maguire cofounded Escape Dynamics. [7]

In 2011, he was recruited by DARPA's director Regina Dugan. In the role, he was deployed as a civilian contractor in Afghanistan. [8]

In 2012, Maguire co-founded cyber firm Expanse (previously called Qadium), which was acquired by Palo Alto Networks in 2020 for over $1 billion. [4] [9] [7] [10]

Maguire joined Google Ventures in 2016, where he worked for three years, before leaving for Sequoia Capital in 2019. [11]

Political activism

Maguire served as an advisor to President Donald Trump in his second term, assisting with intelligence community picks. [3] [12] Maguire manages the investments of Sequoia Capital in Elon Musk's companies, including SpaceX, The Boring Company, xAI, and X, and assisted Musk during his tenure at DOGE. [12] [13] Maguire supported Trump during the 2024 election. [14] [15]

Mamdani comments

On July 4, 2025, Maguire posted on X that New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani “...comes from a culture that lies about everything. It's literally a virtue to lie if it advances his Islamist agenda. The West will learn this lesson the hard way." [16] [17] [18] Maguire's comments were widely criticized as racist and Islamophobic, including by Dilawar Syed, former deputy administrator of the United States Small Business Administration. [19] [20] [21] Saudi entrepreneur Hisham Al-Falih criticized Maguire's comments, describing them as "appalling". [22]

Maguire defended his tweet on July 7, 2025. [23]

Following the post, a petition signed by 900 tech leaders circulated calling for Sequoia Capital to condemn Maguire's comments, investigate, and apologize. [9] On July 8, 2025, an open letter in support of Maguire circulated. [9] [24] In August 2025, Sequoia COO Sumaiya Balbale left the firm over Maguire's comments. The Financial Times reported that the comments had soured relations between Sequoia and its Middle Eastern investors. [25]

On October 21, 2025, Financial Times reported that Sequoia’s COO, Sumaiya Balbale, a practicing Muslim, resigned from the company in August 2025, describing Maguire's comments abut Mamdani as "Islamaphobic". [26] [27] [28]

References

  1. 1 2 "Shaun Maguire (PhD '18), Quantum Researcher and Venture Capitalist". Heritage Project. 2023-01-04. Retrieved 2025-07-08.
  2. 1 2 Schleifer, Theodore; Haberman, Maggie; Swan, Jonathan (2024-12-07). "The Silicon Valley Billionaires Steering Trump's Transition". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved 2025-07-06.
  3. 1 2 Tiffany, Kaitlyn (2024-10-15). "What's With All the Trumpy VCs?". The Atlantic. Retrieved 2025-07-06.
  4. 1 2 "Shaun Maguire". Forbes. Retrieved 2025-07-06.
  5. ↑ O'Kane, Charles Rollet, Rebecca Bellan, Dominic-Madori Davis, Julie Bort, Sean (2025-03-26). "19 founders and VCs working with Elon Musk's DOGE". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2025-07-06.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  6. ↑ "Shaun Maguire on Jewish heritage". ABC news. 2025-09-17. Retrieved 2025-09-17.
  7. 1 2 "Shaun Maguire: Positions, Relations and Network - MarketScreener". www.marketscreener.com. Retrieved 2025-08-12.
  8. ↑ Silverman, Jacob (2025-07-22). "The metamorphosis of Shaun Maguire". Business Insider. Retrieved 2025-10-27.
  9. 1 2 3 Au-Yeung, Angel. "The Sequoia Investor Whose Anti-Mamdani Posts Set Off a Silicon Valley Storm". WSJ. Retrieved 2025-07-09.
  10. ↑ "Shaun Maguire". Heritage Project. Retrieved 2025-08-12.
  11. ↑ Loizos, Connie (2025-07-12). "Sequoia bets on silence". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2025-10-27.
  12. 1 2 Schleifer, Theodore; Mac, Ryan; Boyce, Lily; Grind, Kirsten (2024-12-24). "The Men and Women Swirling Around Elon Musk". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved 2025-07-06.
  13. ↑ Tecotzky, Alice. "DOGE under Musk unites Trumpworld vets with tech industry giants". Business Insider. Retrieved 2025-07-06.
  14. ↑ Chernova, Yuliya (2025-01-21). "At Trump's Inauguration, Tech and Venture Cement Their Insider Status". Wall Street Journal. ISSN   0099-9660 . Retrieved 2025-07-06.
  15. ↑ Sorkin, Andrew Ross; Mattu, Ravi; Warner, Bernhard; Kessler, Sarah; Merced, Michael J. de la; Hirsch, Lauren; Livni, Ephrat (2024-05-31). "Why Megadonors Are Unfazed by Donald Trump's Guilty Verdict". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved 2025-07-06.
  16. ↑ Maguire, Shaun [@shaunmmaguire] (2025-07-04). "Mamdani comes from a culture that lies about everything It's literally a virtue to lie if it advances his Islamist agenda The West will learn this lesson the hard way" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  17. ↑ Sorkin, Andrew Ross; Warner, Bernhard; Kessler, Sarah; Merced, Michael J. de la; Kaye, Danielle (2025-07-08). "A Prominent Investor Is Criticized Over Mamdani Comments". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved 2025-07-09.
  18. ↑ Novet, Jordan (2025-07-07). "Tech founders call on Sequoia Capital to denounce VC Shaun Maguire's Mamdani comments". CNBC. Retrieved 2025-07-09.
  19. ↑ "Sequoia's Shaun Maguire slammed for racist jibe at Zohran Mamdani: 'Comes from a culture that lies'". July 6, 2025.
  20. ↑ Syed, Dilawar [@dilawar] (2025-07-06). "Silicon Valley was built by entrepreneurs of all backgrounds. @sequoia owes its success to them, including my early team @FreshworksInc . Disagree with a candidate's policies, fine. But this attack is Islamophobic. Tech leaders must speak out—we can't normalize bigotry" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  21. ↑ "Shaun Maguire's racist remarks about Zohran Mamdani ignite social media outrage: 'Comes from a culture that lies'". Indiatimes. 2025-07-06. Retrieved 2025-07-06.
  22. ↑ "Sequoia Partner Maguire's Posts on Mamdani Spark Founder Petition" . Retrieved Sep 18, 2025.
  23. ↑ Murray, Conor. "Sequoia VC Shaun Maguire Keeps Pushing Mamdani 'Islamist' Claims". Forbes. Retrieved 2025-07-09.
  24. ↑ Berg, Madeline; Vlamis, Kelsey; Li, Katherine (2025-07-09). "Read the open letter circulating in support of the Sequoia partner who called Zohran Mamdani an 'Islamist'". Business Insider. Retrieved 2025-07-09.
  25. ↑ Morris, Stephen; Hammond, George; Murgia, Madhumita (21 October 2025). "Sequoia COO quit over Shaun Maguire's comments about Islamism". Financial Times.
  26. ↑ "Sequoia COO quit over Shaun Maguire's comments about Mamdani". www.ft.com. Retrieved 2025-10-23.
  27. ↑ Holloman, Christer. "Sequoia Capital COO Quits After Partner's Tweet About Zohran Mamdani". Forbes. Retrieved 2025-10-23.
  28. ↑ "Sequoia Capital faces cash flow concerns as COO resigns amid free speech row - CNBC TV18". CNBCTV18. 2025-10-22. Retrieved 2025-10-23.
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