Sequoia bets on silence | TechCrunch

There is a strategy for managing time reservation, as one says nothing and anger is expected to pass. For Sequoia Capital, the strategy worked well this week. While partner Sean Maguire initially survived criticism on a inflammatory social media, this initial discontent cools quickly. Now, it seems that some believe that Maguire United’s position may enhance its position. It is actually called “good for the deal” – the controversy as a competitive feature.

The calculated gambling of Sekoya carries real risks. Another provocative position of Maguire, who strikes the wrong nerve, turns into political winds, or the consequences of escalation that can quickly convert its non -healing partner from one of the assets to a responsibility that the company cannot ignore.

This editor, a professional in Crisis Communications, tells the reputable disasters of dozens of major brands, “companies like lead resistor so that they are not so.”

What happened

Sikoya’s testing approach was laid earlier this week when the adventure company found the same floors in the eye of the storm about Maguire’s comments about the mayor of New York City mayor Zahran Mamdani. It was called “Islamic”, which “comes from a culture that lies in everything” in a tweet on the fourth of July on X, which was seen more than five million times ago. More than a thousand signatures have been poured into a seam demanding the condemnation of Sikoya these notes, investigation of Maguire’s behavior, and apology.

There was a lot of talk about the reason why Sikoya did not do so, as many outlets noted that Maguer was not just a partner. This situation is partially condemned by his friendship with the co -founder of the Patrick Koleson. According to reports, at the 2015 Fund Fund event, Maguire-who was then a businessman supported by the founders of the Founders with the Palmer Luckey from Anduuril about quantum computing, and gained the friendship of Colison. The connection proved value when Maguire joined Google Ventures in 2016; Help secure an investment of a $ 20 million bar during its first week. When Maguire Google Ventures left in 2019, Colison personally recommended SEQUOIA partners. (Stripe has been in the Sequoia portfolio since 2010, when the company has invested more than $ 500 million over 15 years).

Maguire also led Sequoia’s investments in Bridge, the Stablecoin platform that Stripe has acquired for $ 1.1 billion, and is said to have Sequoia with Eleon Musk, although it is hardly its only link. The leader of Musk and the Global Sequoia, Roelof Botha, both of them are indigenous South Africa and know each other for more than 25 years, and they return to their time together in the emerging PayPal, where Botha was recruited personally by Musk.

Despite that long relationship, the two did not always see face face. Botha was strongly criticizing the MUSK management style when Musk was the CEO of X.com/paypal, where Botha was financial manager. “I think it would have been killing the company if Illon remained as an executive president for another six months. The mistakes made by Elon at that time were the risk of work,” said Batha. But Musk was at odds with his entire crew at the time, and these tensions have been resolved long ago.

The biggest point here: When you run tens of billions of dollars in assets and your company’s reputation is based on supporters such as Google, Stripe and Nvidia, you do not easily touch the rain maker.

Meanwhile, Maguire’s behavior indicates that it does not retreat. After issuing a 30-minute video on X at the end of last week, he apologized for offending many-saying that he was referring to a political ideology and not in a religion-he had increasingly doubled with aggressive positions this week. He claimed that he was “the opposite of the engineering” of the “leadership structure” and threatened to “embarrass” anyone who is escalating against him. He added that this is in “1 % suffocating” and warned people against “curse on Internet children.”

Silent treatment

Sikoya has a precedent for its approach in this position. The company historically gave its partners to express themselves publicly, with personalities such as Doug Lyon and Michael Moritz (who left the company in 2023) representing different political views.

But there is a decisive difference between political diversity and burning discourse clearly and for some, Maguire comments go beyond party policy into lands that alienate both political opponents and potential commercial partners.

It should also be noted that even for Sequoia, there is a bright line. Michael Jojwin, a Ring maker earlier with the company, was immediately shown when Sikoya learned about the sexual assault issues against him. Parking is not exactly comparable. Googuen issues were legal, personal, not ideological. At the same time, Sequoia showed that he is not ready for the vehicle circle at any cost, and not if it was at stake.

It is assumed that many factors report Sequoia strategy that nothing, including the speed faced by people, with a continuous group of news, of a scandal. The company is also working in a different political scene now in the United States along with Donald Trump’s victory and the decline in Dei initiatives, as a new tolerance of controversial discourse. What may be a professional end in time in time is now more easily.

Besides the changing political wind, the company is likely to be a banking company that although the founders want partners to suit the traditional VC template, they want more than that. You may not like startups that are destroyed by many higher -level companies or agree with Maguire, but when Sequoia comes with their busy record and almost endless pockets, most of the company’s founders welcome open arms.

Of course, there is a very real possibility, too, that Sequoia is working on the emergency plan. (Sequoia refused to comment on Maguire’s posts when accessed by Techcrunch earlier this week.)

However, Sikoya’s silence carries risks. Not all the two positions have been confirmed, but the petition against Maguire includes the names of some executives and prominent founders in the Middle East who have witnessed signing it, and they represent a kind of a variety of global talents on which the future of Sikoya depends. By not addressing the controversy, Sekoya risks that he suffers from Maguire implicit opinions.

In other words, although the world of investment capital was significantly emptied significantly for controversial figures with exceptional deals, the company received gambling with its reputation in an increasingly increasingly global market as the entire regions and societies alienate real commercial consequences.

Whether this bets pays its fruits it will depend on the period in which the controversy lasts, and the amount of actions it actually costs Sikoya, and whether Maguire can resist the desire to pay things somewhat at the threshold of tolerance in Sikoya. (He said he did not publish anything that he was not “thinking greatly.”)

History indicates that financial companies created with strong tracking records tend to overcome their scandals, even dangerous companies. When Apollo Global Management resigned in 2021 due to his $ 158 million paid to Ceving Epstein, the company’s shares barely moved and shareholders seemed largely unwanted. Apollo just continued to make an aggressive deal under a new leadership.

Likewise, Kleiner Perkins survived the gender discrimination suit in Ellen Pao in 2015. But it took years and a completely new team for the adventure company, the floors to restore its feet in the hierarchical sequence of Silicon Valley. The lesson here may be that although controversial partners can be tolerated, the recovery schedules can vary greatly depending on how to deal with companies with the crisis.

At the present time, at the Crisis Communications professional, who requested not to name it, some tips for Maguire, and thus Sequoia. Regarding the video, which was published in the wake of his initial comments, the expert said: “I think the apology is a mystery [Maguire’s] mail. But it is a 30-minute video-you have to be truly Interested in watching this. “

If there is next time, the professional said, Maguire must “perform videos – one for three minutes” and another longer video, for anyone who wants to continue watching.

Sometimes, the expert added, “less”.