Shaun Maguire is an American venture capitalist and political activist, currently a partner at Sequoia Capital. [1] [2] [3] Maguire was appointed as a Member of the U.S. Department of Government Efficiency in 2025. [4]
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. [5] Maguire received his PhD in physics from Caltech. [1]
In 2010, Maguire cofounded Escape Dynamics. [6]
In 2012, Maguire co-founded cyber firm Expanse (previously called Qadium), which was acquired by Palo Alto Networks in 2020 for over $1 billion. [3] [7] [8] [9]
Maguire served as an advisor to President Donald Trump in his second term, assisting with intelligence community picks. [2] [10] 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. [10] [11] Maguire supported Trump during the 2024 election. [12] [13]
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." [14] [15] [16] Maguire's comments were widely criticized as racist and Islamophobic, including by Dilawar Syed, former deputy administrator of the United States Small Business Administration. [17] [18] [19] Saudi entrepreneur Hisham Al-Falih criticized Maguire's comments, describing them as "appalling". [20]
Maguire defended his tweet on July 7, 2025. [21]
Following the post, a petition signed by 900 tech leaders circulated calling for Sequoia Capital to condemn Maguire's comments, investigate, and apologize. [7]
On July 8, 2025, an open letter in support of Maguire circulated. [7] [22]
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