There’s a time-honored disaster control technique, by which one says not anything and waits for the outrage to go. For Sequoia Capital, the tactic labored lovely neatly this week. Whilst spouse Shaun Maguire first of all weathered grievance over an inflammatory social media put up, that preliminary indignation cooled briefly. Now, some appear to assume that Maguire’s defiant stance will also be strengthening his place. Industry Insider if truth be told referred to as it “just right for deal drift” — controversy as aggressive benefit.
Sequoia’s calculated gamble carries actual possibility, although. Some other provocative put up from Maguire that hits the flawed nerve, a shift in political winds, or escalating penalties may briefly become their unflappable spouse from an asset right into a legal responsibility the company can now not have the funds for to forget about.
A disaster communications skilled who has controlled recognition failures for dozens of main manufacturers tells this editor, “Corporations like Sequoia are bulletproof till they aren’t.”
What came about
Sequoia’s hands-off means was once put to the check previous this week when the storied challenge company discovered itself within the eye of a hurricane over Maguire’s inflammatory feedback about New York Town mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani. Maguire referred to as him an “Islamist” who “comes from a tradition that lies about the entirety” in a July 4th tweet on X that has since been seen greater than 5 million occasions. Multiple thousand signatures have poured in since on a petition tough that Sequoia condemn the remarks, examine Maguire’s habits, and make an apology.
There’s been numerous speak about why Sequoia hasn’t finished this, with many retailers noting that Maguire isn’t simply any spouse. This standing owes in part to his friendship with Stripe’s co-founder. In line with studies, at a 2015 Founders Fund tournament, Maguire—then a Founders Fund-backed entrepreneur—defended Collison all the way through a controversy with Anduril’s Palmer Luckey about quantum computing, incomes Collison’s friendship. The relationship proved precious when Maguire joined Google Ventures in 2016; he helped protected a $20 million Stripe funding all the way through his first week. When Maguire left Google Ventures in 2019, Collison in my opinion really useful him to Sequoia’s companions. (Stripe has been in Sequoia’s portfolio since 2010, with the company making an investment greater than $500 million over 15 years.)
Maguire additionally led Sequoia’s funding in Bridge, a stablecoin platform that Stripe received for $1.1 billion, and is reportedly Sequoia’s hyperlink to Elon Musk, although that is most likely fairly overstated. Musk and Sequoia’s international managing director, Roelof Botha, are each local South Africans and feature identified each and every different for greater than 25 years, courting again to their time in combination on the then-nascent PayPal, the place Botha was once recruited in my opinion through Musk.
In spite of that lengthy dating, the 2 haven’t at all times noticed eye to eye. Botha was once extremely important of Musk’s control taste when Musk was once CEO of the merged X.com/PayPal corporate, the place Botha was once CFO. Botha as soon as advised veteran journalist Ebbe Dommisse, “I feel it might have killed the corporate if Elon had stayed on as CEO for 6 extra months. The errors Elon was once making on the time had been amplifying the danger of the trade.” However Musk was once at odds with just about that complete staff on the time, and the ones tensions have lengthy since been resolved.
The larger level right here: while you’re managing tens of billions of bucks in property and your company’s recognition rests on backing winners like Google, Stripe, and Nvidia, you don’t simply solid apart a rainmaker.
In the meantime, Maguire’s conduct suggests he’s no longer backing down. After issuing a 30-minute video on X closing weekend by which he apologized for offending such a lot of — announcing he was once making some degree a couple of political ideology and no longer one a couple of faith — he has doubled down with more and more competitive posts this week. He has claimed he has “opposite engineered” his critics’ “command construction” and threatened to “embarrass” somebody who escalates in opposition to him. He added that that is him at “1% throttle” and warned other folks to not “fuck w youngsters of the web.”
The silent remedy
Sequoia has precedent for its strategy to this example. The company has traditionally given its companions area to specific themselves publicly, with figures like Doug Leone and Michael Moritz (who left the company in 2023) representing other political views.
However there’s a the most important distinction between political variety and inflammatory rhetoric and obviously to a few, Maguire’s feedback lengthen past partisan politics into territory that alienates each political fighters and possible trade companions.
It’s additionally price remembering that even for Sequoia, there’s a vivid line. Michael Goguen, some other, previous rainmaker with the company, was once promptly proven the door when Sequoia discovered of a sexual abuse lawsuit filed in opposition to him. The scenarios are hardly ever similar; Goguen’s problems had been felony and private, no longer ideological. On the identical time, Sequoia has proven it isn’t prepared to circle the wagons at any value, no longer if its recognition is at stake.
Probably, a number of elements tell Sequoia’s do-nothing PR technique, together with how briefly other folks, confronted with a relentless flurry of stories, transfer on from a scandal. The company may be working in a special political panorama at the moment within the U.S. Along side Donald Trump’s victory and the rollback of DEI tasks has come new tolerance for debatable speech. What would possibly were career-ending at an previous cut-off date is now weathered extra simply.
The company may be most likely banking on the truth that whilst founders need companions who have compatibility the normal, extra genteel VC mould, they would like a hit ones much more. Startups being courted through more than one top-tier corporations would possibly no longer like or trust Maguire, but if Sequoia comes calling with its observe file and nearly bottomless wallet, maximum founders are going to welcome the company with open hands.
There’s additionally the very actual risk that Sequoia is operating on a contingency plan. (Sequoia declined to touch upon Maguire’s posts when reached through TechCrunch previous this week.)
Nonetheless, Sequoia’s silence carries dangers. Now not the entire signers were showed, however the petition in opposition to Maguire contains the names of a few distinguished Center Jap executives and founders who’ve attested to signing it, and so they constitute the type of numerous, international skill pool that drives innovation. Through no longer addressing the talk, Sequoia dangers being noticed as tacitly endorsing Maguire’s perspectives.
Put in a different way, although the challenge capital global has traditionally been remarkably forgiving of debatable figures with remarkable deal drift, the company is playing with its recognition in an more and more hooked up international marketplace the place alienating complete areas and communities carries actual trade penalties.
Whether or not that wager will pay off relies on how lengthy the talk lingers, how a lot trade it if truth be told prices Sequoia, and whether or not Maguire can withstand the urge to push issues previous Sequoia’s personal tolerance threshold. (He has mentioned he doesn’t put up the rest that hasn’t been “excrutiatingly idea out.”)
Historical past means that established monetary corporations with robust observe data generally tend to survive their scandals, even severe ones. When Apollo World Control’s Leon Black resigned in 2021 over his $158 million bills to Jeffrey Epstein, the company’s inventory slightly moved and shareholders gave the impression in large part unfazed. Apollo simply persisted its competitive deal-making underneath new management.
In a similar way, Kleiner Perkins survived Ellen Pao’s high-profile gender discrimination lawsuit in 2015. However it took years and necessarily an totally new staff for the storied challenge company to regain its footing in Silicon Valley’s hierarchy. The lesson right here is also that whilst debatable companions may also be persevered, the restoration timelines can range considerably relying on how corporations care for the disaster.
For now, the disaster communications skilled, who requested to not be named, has some recommendation for Maguire and, through extension, Sequoia. In regards to the video Maguire revealed within the aftermath of his preliminary feedback, the knowledgeable mentioned, “I did assume that apology addressed the ambiguities in [Maguire’s] put up. However it’s a 30-minute video — it’s a must to be truly to observe this.”
If there’s a subsequent time, the pro mentioned, Maguire will have to “do two movies — one for 3 mins” and some other, longer video, for somebody who needs to stay staring at.
Occasionally, the knowledgeable added, “much less is extra.”
