20VC: Sequoia's Shaun Maguire: Will We See WW3 Shortly | Why DEI is a Cancer for Society | Why Iran is the World's Greatest Evil | Why Trump is the Only Hope for Peace in the Middle East | Trump vs Harris: Who Wins & What Happens
The Twenty Minute VC (20VC): Venture Capital | Startup Funding | The Pitch
The Twenty Minute VC
4.4 • 637 Ratings
🗓️ 12 August 2024
⏱️ 63 minutes
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Summary
Shaun Maguire is a Partner at Sequoia Capital. At Sequoia he led their investment into SpaceX, The Boring Co and X among many others. Before Sequoia he co-founded a cybersecurity company called Expanse which Palo Alto Networks acquired for $1B. Before Expanse, Shaun worked at DARPA and was deployed to Afghanistan.
In Today's Episode with Shaun Maguire We Discuss:
1. Why Iran is the Greatest Evil in the World:
- What specifically makes Iran the greatest danger to the world today?
- How should the US respond to the threat posed by Iran?
- Does the US have to go to war with Iran knowing that they now have nuclear weapons?
- How did the Biden-Harris administration worsen relations both with Iran and Saudi?
- Is Trump the best chance we have of bringing peace and stability to the Middle East?
2. Russia, Ukraine, Gaza and Israel: What is the Right Next Step:
- Does Shaun believe that the US should remove funding from Ukraine?
- How would Trump change the US' relationship with Putin?
- What does Shaun believe is the right next step for the US in Gaza and Israel?
- What does Shaun mean when he says the public have no idea how much crazy s**** happens?
3. Freedom of Speech and DEI: Remnants of the Past:
- Does Shaun believe we live in a society with freedom of speech? How does it differ between the US and Europe?
- Is Shaun negative on the future of Europe? Does he agree with Larry Summers that "it is a museum"?
- How does Shaun evaluate the state of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI)?
- Why does Shaun believe that wokeness and cancel culture is one of the greatest dangers to society?
- When does Shaun believe that transgender becomes a problem in children? Where is the line?
4. The Election: Who Wins and What Happens:
- Does Shaun agree that Kamala is pulling ahead and Trump is now chasing her?
- How does Shaun analyse the chances of Trump winning?
- To what extent is it a real threat that there will be civil unrest if Trump does not win?
- Why does Shaun argue that too much blame is placed on Trump for Jan 6th and he did nothing that Hilary Clinton had not done in disputing prior elections?
- How does Shaun evaluate the appointment of JD Vance? Does Shaun agree with the echoes from the crowd for Trump to remove him?
5. Elon Musk, US Selling All BTC & Inside Sequoia:
- What does Shaun believe are the three qualities that make Elon Musk one of the greatest entrepreneurs of all time?
- Why does Shaun believe that it is a massive mistake for the US to sell all BTC holdings?
- Who is the best picker in Sequoia? Who is the best at sourcing?
- Does Shaun get told off internally for his opinions being shared so freely externally?
- What have been Shaun's biggest lessons from working alongside Doug Leone?
20VC: Sequoia's Shaun Maguire on Will We See WW3 Shortly | Why DEI is a Cancer for Society | Why Iran is the World's Greatest Evil | Why Trump is the Only Hope for Peace in the Middle East | Trump vs Harris: Who Wins & What Happens
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | I think there's a huge difference between having freedom of speech, being willing to use it, |
| 0:04.0 | and having lots of information warfare. |
| 0:06.0 | I don't think we had freedom of speech before Elon bought Twitter. |
| 0:10.0 | I think we're moving away from free speech very quickly in Europe. |
| 0:13.0 | The modern paradigm of DEI is toxic, woke ideology that is literally cancer for society. |
| 0:20.0 | The Iranian philosophy when you're losing |
| 0:23.0 | is to create chaos. So they're creating as much chaos in the world as they possibly can. The war in |
| 0:27.0 | Ukraine, America could not have botched the initial response more. Is Donald Trump the best chance |
| 0:33.3 | we have of alleviating the soon-to-be World War III in the Middle East? 100%. |
| 0:38.0 | Why? |
| 0:40.1 | This is 20VC with me, Harry Stebbings, and today we have a very special guest. |
| 0:44.7 | Doug Leone described this individual as the most interesting man in the world. |
| 0:49.2 | He's a partner at Sequoia. |
| 0:50.6 | He's led deals in SpaceX, X, The Boring Company, and many more. Before venture, he co-founded |
| 0:56.5 | a cyber security company called Expanse, which Palo Alto Networks acquired for $1 billion. And before |
| 1:02.9 | that, he worked for DARPA and was deployed to Afghanistan. Come on, that has to be the coolest |
| 1:07.8 | bio for any guest ever on 20VC. |
| 1:11.2 | It is, of course, Sean McGuire, partner at Sequoia. |
| 1:14.3 | This is perhaps the spiciest show we've ever done on 20VC. |
| 1:18.3 | But before we dive in, when a promising startup files for an IPO or a venture capital firm |
| 1:23.3 | loses its marquee partner, being the first to know gives you an advantage and time to plan |
| 1:28.4 | your strategic response. Chances are the information reported it first. The information is the |
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