LIMITLESS: This Is Far Bigger Than The Internet Boom | Shaun Maguire
Shaun Maguire, partner at Sequoia and former physicist turned investor, joins the Limitless Podcast to explore why we’re on the verge of a technological renaissance.
From AI and silicon photonics to humanoid robots and space infrastructure, Shaun makes the case that the next 20 years will make the internet boom look tame. We dive deep into why America needs 10 SpaceX-level companies, the return of hardware innovation, the energy constraints of the future, and how frontier technologies like Neuralink and Mars colonization might reshape civilization.
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TIMESTAMPS
0:00 Intro
6:36 Who’s Shaun Maguire?
9:24 Investing in the AI Age
13:06 Hardware Manufacturing
21:58 Hardware Precedes Software Revolutions
42:20 Energy
49:53 Space Solar Reflectors
55:45 Space Economy
1:04:15 Elon Musk
1:14:24 Robotics
1:17:39 Neuralink
1:25:22 Doom Scenarios
1:32:02 Closing Thoughts
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RESOURCES
Shaun Maguire
https://x.com/shaunmmaguire
Sequoia Capital
https://www.sequoiacap.com/
Josh Kale
https://x.com/Josh_Kale
David Hoffman
https://x.com/TrustlessState
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Not financial or tax advice. See our investment disclosures here:
https://www.bankless.com/disclosures
The Chopping Block: 2024 Election Debate feat. Mike Novogratz & Shaun Maguire - Ep. 729
Welcome to The Chopping Block – where crypto insiders Haseeb Qureshi, Tom Schmidt, Tarun Chitra, and Robert Leshner slice into the juiciest topics in crypto. This week, Robert Leshner welcomes two special guests: Mike Novogratz, CEO of Galaxy, and Shaun Maguire, general partner at Sequoia Capital, for a one-of-a-kind debate on how the upcoming 2024 U.S. presidential election could shape the future of crypto. With the stakes higher than ever, they explore what a Harris or Trump presidency could mean for crypto regulation, market infrastructure, and the populist undercurrents driving the industry forward. From blockchain voting possibilities to the macroeconomic forces impacting Bitcoin and stablecoins, the conversation pushes beyond policy to the heart of crypto's role in tomorrow's world. This episode delivers crucial insights on the political forces that could redefine crypto’s trajectory in the U.S. and beyond.
Show highlights
🔹 Crypto in the Election Crosshairs: Mike Novogratz and Shaun Maguire debate how a Trump or Harris presidency could reshape the U.S. crypto landscape.
🔹 Deregulation vs. Innovation: Trump’s pro-deregulation stance meets Harris’s pro-innovation campaign promises. Which path is better for crypto growth?
🔹 Crypto's Populist Appeal: How Trump’s base connects with crypto’s populist movement and why that resonates with “the people at the bottom” of the income bracket.
🔹 Deep State and Political Jaywalking: Shaun Maguire dives into the concept of “political jaywalking” and its impact on trust in U.S. elections.
🔹 The Future of Blockchain Voting: Could blockchain-based voting bring transparency to elections? The crew weighs in on the feasibility and timing of decentralized voting.
🔹 Bitcoin's Role in Macro Trends: With U.S. debt surging, Mike and Shaun share their thoughts on Bitcoin as a hedge, whether Trump or Harris takes office.
🔹 The Crypto Political Machine: A look at how crypto insiders engage with political campaigns and the industry’s impact on down-ballot races.
🔹 Wildcard Assets: How a national Bitcoin reserve might impact U.S. fiscal policy – could it ever happen under Harris?
Hosts
⭐️Robert Leshner, CEO & Co-founder of Superstate
Guests
⭐️Mike Novogratz, CEO of Galaxy
⭐️Shaun Maguire, general partner at Sequoia Capital
Disclosures
Timestamps
00:00 Introduction
02:03 Shaun’s Argument for Trump
05:10 Mike's Argument for Harris
11:10 Political Bias and Prediction Markets
18:25 Flynn & Political Jaywalking
24:26 Macroeconomic Implications for Crypto
30:29 Bitcoin Price Predictions Post-Election
32:38 Gold & Central Bank Dynamics
34:41 Nation States & Bitcoin Reserves
37:35 Military Technology & Future Dominance
39:10 Presidential Campaign Issues & AI
47:44 Election Integrity & Blockchain Voting
53:17 Crypto's Influence in Politics
56:42 $WLFI Endeavors
01:00:17 Closing Thoughts
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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
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
Does Venture Capital Investment Violate the Ethos of Crypto? Sequoia Says No - Ep. 367
Shaun Maguire and Michelle Bailhe, partners at Sequoia, discuss their long term view and thesis about crypto, what do they look for to invest in a crypto project, the takeaways from the blowup of Terra, the insolvency of crypto companies, and much more. Show highlights:
what is Sequoia’s long term view and thesis about the crypto industry
how different our lives will look in 20 years from now due to blockchain technology
how Sequoia had to adapt to invest in this new asset class and what are the similarities and differences with investing in traditional startups
when a product or service on the internet should be offered in a decentralized or centralized way
how Sequoia decides whether to invest in the entity behind a project or in the tokens
whether having venture capitalists involved at all goes against the ethos of decentralization
why Shaun believes that Ethereum proved that decentralization can be achieved even when you start being centralized
whether people underestimate the value that VCs can add to a project
why Shaun believes that Solana is moving towards decentralization
Sequoia’s thesis about privacy in crypto and the potential of zero-knowledge proofs
how Michelle sees the macroeconomic environment impacting crypto and whether this cycle is different from the previous ones
the importance of product market fit in crypto projects
what crypto projects should be focusing on and the business model they should be pursuing
the main takeaways of the Terra collapse and how it was a major setback for algo stablecoins
how crypto founders should always do the right thing even though there is no clear regulation
whether SBF is the Berkshire Hathaway of crypto today
the lessons to be learned from the potential insolvency of some crypto lenders and investment firms
how demand for blockspace will keep increasing and whether a single blockchain could supply all that space
the future of the metaverse and how it can be defined
Michelle’s mental model for crypto and the phases for achieving worldwide adoption
Thank you to our sponsors!
Crypto.com: https://crypto.onelink.me/J9Lg/unconfirmedcardearnfeb2021
Beefy Finance: https://beefy.finance/
Ava Labs: https://www.avax.network/
EPISODE LINKS
Shaun Maguire:
Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/shaunmmaguire
Sequoia Profile: https://www.sequoiacap.com/people/shaun-maguire/
Michelle:
Twitter: https://twitter.com/michellebailhe
Sequoia Profile: https://www.sequoiacap.com/people/michelle-bailhe/
Michelle’s investment thesis: https://www.sequoiacap.com/article/ask-not-wen-moon-ask-why-moon/
Bear Market:
Michelle’s Twitter thread: https://twitter.com/michellebailhe/status/1526373378516365312?s=20&t=c7vdmdg2mnQ34rsAGIm0lg
Insolvency of crypto lenders:
Voyager: https://www.coindesk.com/business/2022/06/22/voyager-digital-requests-loan-repayment-from-3ac-considers-issuing-default-notice/
BlockFi: https://decrypt.co/103422/blockfi-secures-250-million-line-of-credit-from-ftx
Celsius: https://www.theblock.co/linked/151522/crypto-lending-firm-celsius-pauses-withdrawals-and-transfers-citing-market-conditions
Celsius possible bankruptcy: https://www.theblock.co/linked/154100/crypto-lender-celsius-hires-more-advisors-ahead-of-possible-bankruptcy-wsj
Previous Unchained Coverage:
Why Possible Insolvencies by Celsius and 3AC Could Spell Disaster for Crypto: https://unchainedpodcast.com/why-possible-insolvencies-by-celsius-and-3ac-could-spell-disaster-for-crypto/
Cobie and Chris Burniske on How to Navigate a Crypto Bear Market: https://unchainedpodcast.com/cobie-and-chris-burniske-on-how-to-navigate-a-crypto-bear-market-ep-354/
** For more episode links and details visit the Unchained website **
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EP 22: Crypto Debate with Shaun Maguire & Zach Weinberg + Interview with Papa Founder Andrew Parker
(00:00) Intro
(02:57) Introducing Shaun Maguire
(09:52) DARPA to cyber security
(15:41) Paying in Bitcoin
(17:27) Wife’s family fleeing their country for safety
(27:27) Crypto in autocratic nations
(31:20) Middlemen
(35:30) Investing in equity
(36:28) Blockchain video games
(37:36) Uniswap
(40:33) Future use cases
(42:56) Following where young people are excited
(49:27) Introducing Andrew Parker
(51:15) How Logan and Andrew met
(55:12) Andrew’s background
(57:30) Telehealth – MD Live
(58:52) The idea for Papa
(1:02:19) State of health insurance
(1:04:12) Pals
(1:07:17) Papa members
(1:11:54) Size of Papa
(1:13:40) Justifying Papa to health plans
(1:16:41) Impacting outcomes
(1:19:23) Market of Medicare vs Medicare Advantage
(1:21:49) Family care
(1:24:07) Employer healthcare plans
(1:29:00) Fundraising
(1:35:31) Miami tech
(1:38:27) Papa.com
(1:42:13) Closing
🎙 Listen to the show
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About the Show
A Saturday morning podcast hosted by Logan Bartlett (Partner and Managing Director at Redpoint Ventures) covering the tech news with his friends and other people with industry expertise.
Executive Producer: Rashad Assir
Producer: Leah Clapper
Mixing and editing: Justin Hrabovsky
Check out Unsupervised Learning, Redpoint's AI Podcast: https://www.youtube.com/@UCUl-s_Vp-Kkk_XVyDylNwLA
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About the Show
Logan Bartlett is a Software Investor at Redpoint Ventures - a Silicon Valley-based VC with $6B AUM and investments in Snowflake, DraftKings, Twilio, and Netflix. In each episode of The Logan Bartlett Show, we sit down with the people behind today’s most important startups and extract the tactics, lessons, and frameworks they’ve learned the hard way. Conversations span hiring to GTM, product, growth, fundraising and everything in between - collectively forming the ultimate playbook to make you a better CEO, investor or board member.
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Sequoia Capital explains what crypto founders want from VCs
Sequoia Capital has been invested in crypto since 2015, but the VC firm recently raised the stakes by announcing its first sector-specific fund: a $500 million Sequoia Crypto Fund focused on liquid tokens and digital assets.
In this episode of The Scoop, Sequoia partners Shaun Maguire and Michelle Bailhe sit down with host Frank Chaparro to discuss Sequoia’s new fund and explain how the power dynamic between venture firms and crypto native founders has evolved.
So what are these crypto-native founders looking for when it comes to selecting VC firms? Maguire believes they are looking for funds that can keep pace with the fast-paced crypto industry:
“Crypto moves so fast, crypto founders want to work with funds that can move incredibly fast, they want to work with funds that deeply understand their problems, deeply understand the landscape. Those properties are primarily going to live within crypto specific funds rather than in generalist funds.”
The crypto-specific fund structure certainly seems to be working well for Sequoia, which recently led a $135 million Series A+ investment in LayerZero Labs, along with FTX Ventures and A16Z.
In fact, Bailhe believes that this is why Sequoia’s technical knowledge and understanding of the problems in cross-chain interoperability that LayerZero Labs is attempting to solve made such an impact on co-founder Bryan Pellegrino.
“I remember him saying, ‘You really tried to engage on the way that we had constructed LayerZero and how it was working, versus focusing on kind of the easy questions…’” Bailhe recalled. “They felt like they would get people who were deeply committed to crypto.”
Episode 27 of Season 4 of The Scoop was recorded remotely with The Block’s Frank Chaparro, and Shaun Maguire & Michelle Bailhe, Partners at Sequoia.
Listen below, and subscribe to The Scoop on Apple, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher or wherever you listen to podcasts. Email feedback and revision requests to podcast@theblockcrypto.com.
This episode is brought to you by our sponsors Fireblocks, Coinbase Prime & Cross River
Fireblocks is an enterprise-grade platform delivering a secure infrastructure for moving, storing, and issuing digital assets. Fireblocks enables exchanges, lending desks, custodians, banks, trading desks, and hedge funds to securely scale digital asset operations through the Fireblocks Network and MPC-based Wallet Infrastructure. Fireblocks serves over 725 financial institutions, has secured the transfer of over $1.5 trillion in digital assets, and has a unique insurance policy that covers assets in storage & transit. For more information, please visit www.fireblocks.com.
About Coinbase Prime
Coinbase Prime is an integrated solution that provides institutional investors with an advanced trading platform, secure custody, and prime services to manage all their crypto assets in one place. Coinbase Prime fully integrates crypto trading and custody on a single platform, and gives clients the best all-in pricing in their network using their proprietary Smart Order Router and algorithmic execution. For more information, visit www.coinbase.com/prime.
About Cross River
Cross River is powering today’s most innovative crypto companies, with banking and payments solutions you can rely on, including fiat on/off ramp solutions. Whether you are a crypto exchange, NFT marketplace, or wallet, Cross River’s API-based, all-in-one platform enables banking as a service, ACH & wire transfers, push-to-card disbursements, real-time payments, and virtual accounts and subledgers. Request your fiat on/off ramp solution now at crossriver.com/crypto.
