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A classic coup d'état. This is the danger of taking VC and hiring a COO that clearly wants to be CEO. 1. Wait for a misstep by the current leader. 2. Play it
by staunch 11y ago
A classic coup d'état. This is the danger of taking VC and hiring a COO that clearly wants to be CEO.
1. Wait for a misstep by the current leader.
2. Play it up as a huge problem that could threaten the company.
3. Suggest that maybe someone else could do better.
- deleted 11y ago[deleted]
- grinich 11y agoWhat does this have to do with raising VC? Those kind of things happen at any large company. (Zenefits has over 1500 people on staff and growing rapidly.)
- jonknee 11y agoYou lose board seats and thus your ambitious COO can start a board fight against you and take your job.
- exw 11y ago> 2. Play it up as a huge problem that could threaten the company. It absolutely was a HUGE problem. Even if he was set up, Conrad created a toxic culture that had to change. Parker never seemed to understand that he could not flout laws & regulations like Uber; Uber has leverage because consumers love their product, and is able to put pressure on the incumbents and regulators; in contrast, NOBODY would stand up to defend Zenefits, and regulators will shut them down unless they clean up their act asap. Edit: fixed typo (thanks @gingerrr)
- gingerrr 11y agoI completely agree with your point, just wanted to say as a sidenote I think the word you wanted is "flout" rather than "flaunt".
- flylib 11y agoas a counter point Zenefits already won against the state of Utah when they tried banning them so yes people have already stood up to defend them http://fortune.com/2015/04/13/zenefits-utah-ban-insurance/ http://fortune.com/2015/04/13/zenefits-utah-ban-insurance/
- alexqgb 11y agoFYI: The laws of the State of Utah and those of Washington are not interchangeable at your convenience.
- alexqgb 11y agoExcept that here, it really is a huge problem. There's nothing to "play up" when you're being formally investigated for a massive number of Class B felonies. http://techcrunch.com/2015/11/25/zenefits-under-investigation-for-allegedly-allowing-unlicensed-brokers-to-sell-health-insurance/ http://techcrunch.com/2015/11/25/zenefits-under-investigatio...
- z6 11y agoExactly. I don't think it's a bad thing though. Just because you had an idea or built a MVP doesn't make you a good CEO.
- fweespeech 11y agoCompliance problems in the insurance industry are big enough they could sink a startup of Zenefits size. They can't absorb 8 figure fines.