Good morning. Linda Yaccarino has stepped down after two years as CEO of X.
She was hired by Elon Musk with the goal of revitalizing the platform’s advertising business. Her most crucial responsibility turned out to be something else: a clean-up crew for Musk.
A global team of BI reporters has broken down how she went from Musk’s fixer to out of a job in two years.
In today’s big story, a Sequoia Capital partner’s tirade against Zohran Mamdani signals venture capital’s extreme new “fame game.”
What’s on deck:
Markets: Nvidia just made it into the stock market hall of fame. Test your knowledge of the market’s hottest company.
Tech: Big Tech is hiring contractors to train its AI chatbots not to lecture you.
Business: Federal workers react to the Supreme Court allowing DOGE cuts.
But first, they’re getting louder …
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Do you hear that? The clatter of keyboards. The clash of opinions. The clamor of social media posts going viral.
It’s the sound of tech investors becoming very loud online.
One of those investors is Sequoia Capital’s Shaun Maguire. In a July 4 post, Maguire wrote that New York City mayoral hopeful Zohran Mamdani “comes from a culture that lies about everything” and sought to advance “his Islamist agenda.”
Maguire’s post racked up more than 5 million views, became national news, and prompted an open letter demanding that Sequoia make a public apology, signed by self-identified employees of Microsoft, Google, and Apple.
Maguire’s response to the outrage heralds a new era: He doubled down.
A second open letter followed the first, this time offering support to Maguire, signed by the likes of Josh Wolfe and David Marcus.
In a market where the demand for capital outweighs the supply, investors can afford to ruffle feathers. It may even benefit them.
Venture capital is largely “a fame game,” says a VC at a multistage firm. “We all sell the same money. So brand awareness matters a lot, both in seeing and in winning deals.”
The situation is also precarious for founders who disagree with Maguire. Speaking out risks severing a critical relationship with Sequoia.
For early-stage VCs, that relationship can mean the difference between a modest outcome and a breakout win, especially when Sequoia leads a later round and drives up the valuation.
Good morning. Linda Yaccarino has stepped down after two years as CEO of X.
She was hired by Elon Musk with the goal of revitalizing the platform’s advertising business. Her most crucial responsibility turned out to be something else: a clean-up crew for Musk.
A global team of BI reporters has broken down how she went from Musk’s fixer to out of a job in two years.
In today’s big story, a Sequoia Capital partner’s tirade against Zohran Mamdani signals venture capital’s extreme new “fame game.”
What’s on deck:
Markets: Nvidia just made it into the stock market hall of fame. Test your knowledge of the market’s hottest company.
Tech: Big Tech is hiring contractors to train its AI chatbots not to lecture you.
Business: Federal workers react to the Supreme Court allowing DOGE cuts.
But first, they’re getting louder …
If this was forwarded to you, sign up here.
Do you hear that? The clatter of keyboards. The clash of opinions. The clamor of social media posts going viral.
It’s the sound of tech investors becoming very loud online.
One of those investors is Sequoia Capital’s Shaun Maguire. In a July 4 post, Maguire wrote that New York City mayoral hopeful Zohran Mamdani “comes from a culture that lies about everything” and sought to advance “his Islamist agenda.”
Maguire’s post racked up more than 5 million views, became national news, and prompted an open letter demanding that Sequoia make a public apology, signed by self-identified employees of Microsoft, Google, and Apple.
Maguire’s response to the outrage heralds a new era: He doubled down.
A second open letter followed the first, this time offering support to Maguire, signed by the likes of Josh Wolfe and David Marcus.
In a market where the demand for capital outweighs the supply, investors can afford to ruffle feathers. It may even benefit them.
Venture capital is largely “a fame game,” says a VC at a multistage firm. “We all sell the same money. So brand awareness matters a lot, both in seeing and in winning deals.”
The situation is also precarious for founders who disagree with Maguire. Speaking out risks severing a critical relationship with Sequoia.
For early-stage VCs, that relationship can mean the difference between a modest outcome and a breakout win, especially when Sequoia leads a later round and drives up the valuation.
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