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An open letter voicing support for a Sequoia Capital partner is circulating online after the VC’s remarks about New York mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani generated backlash.
Sequoia Capital has faced pressure to act after its partner, Shaun Maguire, called Mamdani an “Islamist” — a remark Maguire has said was political, not religious or racial. An open letter signed by hundreds of self-identified founders, investors, and tech workers called on the VC firm to take disciplinary action against Maguire.
Now, a letter of support is generating signatures of its own.
“On July 4, Shaun published a post on X,” the letter reads. “Whether one agrees with his views or not, his words were not hate speech – they were the reflections of a principled thinker and a partner to countless founders who span geographies, faiths, and political beliefs.”
“The calls to punish or remove him are part of a larger and worrying trend: ideological mobbing disguised as a moral virtue,” the letter continued.
“We know Shaun personally. He has helped build careers, fund companies, and elevate voices across divides,” the letter said. “We’ve experienced his integrity, intellectual honesty, and commitment to the global founder community firsthand. Attempts to paint him as bigoted are not only false – they’re defamatory.”
Sequoia Capital declined to comment when reached by Business Insider.
“I appreciate people supporting me,” Maguire told BI on Tuesday when asked about the letter. He said an “unbelievable number of people,” including “many very prominent people,” have reached out to express their support for him in recent days.
Maguire also said he believes he is being targeted for his pro-Israel advocacy. “I have been one of the most vocal pro-Israel voices the last 18 months and the pro-Palestine mob saw an opportunity to come after me and they capitalized on it,” he said.
He also said he “made a mistake in not realizing that most people don’t know the distinction between an Islamist and Islam,” and that the media has been “irresponsible” in not looking into his claims about Mamdani being an Islamist.
Founders who appear to have signed the open letter include Jason Finger, founder of Seamless, which merged with GrubHub; David Marcus, former president of PayPal; Josh Wolfe, founder of Lux Capital; Moshe Shalev, founder of Decart; and Tom Pachys, founder of EX.CO.
The above signees did not immediately respond to requests for comments from BI.
Read the letter in full below:
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An Open Letter in Support of Shaun Maguire
We, the undersigned founders, investors, operators, and technologists from across the industry, are writing to express our unequivocal support for Shaun Maguire and to denounce the coordinated effort to silence him for expressing personal convictions.
On July 4, Shaun published a post on X. Whether one agrees with his views or not, his words were not hate speech – they were the reflections of a principled thinker and a partner to countless founders who span geographies, faiths, and political beliefs.
The calls to punish or remove him are part of a larger and worrying trend: ideological mobbing disguised as a moral virtue.
We know Shaun personally. He has helped build careers, fund companies, and elevate voices across divides. We’ve experienced his integrity, intellectual honesty, and commitment to the global founder community firsthand. Attempts to paint him as bigoted are not only false – they’re defamatory.
We reject the framing of ideological disagreement as violence. We reject the chilling message that nuanced or unpopular opinions make one unfit to serve. And we reject the idea that the tech industry must conform to a narrow ideological orthodoxy in order to be “inclusive.”
We call on our peers across the ecosystem to stand against ideological bullying – whether it targets Jews, Muslims, Christians, atheists, liberals, conservatives, or anyone in between.
Shaun has stood by peers and founders in their most difficult moments. It’s time we return the favor.
Respectfully,
The undersigned
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