Sequoia partner spreads debunked Brown shooting theory, testing new leadership

Sequoia Capital accomplice Shaun Maguire is as soon as once more drawing undesirable consideration to the distinguished enterprise agency after falsely accusing a Palestinian scholar of being behind the December 13 Brown College mass taking pictures and the next homicide of an MIT professor.

In since-deleted posts on X, Maguire speculated that “it appears very probably” the coed was the perpetrator, pointing to Brown “actively scrubbing his on-line presence.” In actuality, authorities recognized the shooter as Claudio Manuel Neves Valente, a 48-year-old Portuguese nationwide who was later discovered lifeless in a New Hampshire storage facility. Brown officers stated they eliminated the coed’s digital footprint as a protecting measure in opposition to harmful hypothesis.

Quick Firm republished two of Maguire’s deleted posts on Friday (he has beforehand left inflammatory content material on-line and didn’t delete comments he made proposing that the MIT professor was focused for being Jewish). The incident follows months of controversial posts concentrating on Muslims and pro-Palestine activists, together with calling New York Metropolis Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani an “Islamist” in July. That put up led to a swift on-line backlash, with practically 1,200 founders and tech trade professionals signing an open letter urging Sequoia to take motion. An open letter later surfaced supporting Maguire.

The latest episode raises questions on whether or not Sequoia’s new management — managing companions Alfred Lin and Pat Grady, who took over final month — can or will rein in Maguire’s social media exercise. Chief working officer Sumaiya Balbale left the firm in August over Sequoia’s inaction on Maguire’s anti-Muslim feedback, based on earlier reporting by the Monetary Occasions. Former managing accomplice Roelof Botha, who stepped down in November, defended Maguire’s habits during an interview at TechCrunch Disrupt in October, calling Sequoia a believer in its companions’ proper to “free speech.”

“Internally, we have a good time range of opinions, and we want ‘spiky’ individuals inside Sequoia,” Botha stated, referring to Maguire. He provided that Maguire had a “particular profile” that appeals to sure founders. Maguire has led investments in quite a few protection tech and AI startups, and reportedly has deep connections with Elon Musk’s firms, managing Sequoia’s investments in Neuralink, SpaceX, The Boring Firm, X, and xAI.

Nevertheless, Botha acknowledged trade-offs to Maguire’s outspokenness. “Does it include trade-offs? Sure, it does,” he stated.

Lin and Grady haven’t publicly addressed Maguire’s conduct since taking on management.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations has known as for Maguire’s firing, telling Quick Firm that his accusations are “deeply irresponsible and extremely harmful.”

TechCrunch has reached out to Sequoia for remark.