8 ms·

Benchmark board seat is the rumored anon source of several of the negative stories about the company the last few months. As Gurleys patience with Travis soured

Benchmark board seat is the rumored anon source of several of the negative stories about the company the last few months. As Gurleys patience with Travis soured, their strategy shifted to stoking the PR crisis deeper so they can purge management and gain control. Other shareholders and employees should rightly be outraged.

elmar 9y ago
With Mr. Kalanick, Mr. Gurley is said to have a tight relationship. He is Uber’s most engaged board member and the closest thing Mr. Kalanick has to a consigliere https://mobile.nytimes.com/2017/03/18/technology/bill-gurley-uber-travis-kalanick-silicon-valley.html https://mobile.nytimes.com/2017/03/18/technology/bill-gurley...
- tristanj 9y ago
  Bill Gurley resigned from the board and another Benchmark partner took his place (Matt Cohler).
  - elmar 9y ago
    Uber board member Bill Gurley resigns after leading effort to remove CEO Travis Kalanick http://www.latimes.com/business/technology/la-fi-tn-uber-bill-gurley-20170621-story.html http://www.latimes.com/business/technology/la-fi-tn-uber-bil...
- cocktailpeanuts 9y ago
  Parent is talking about how the media was manipulated by Benchmark for their profit. You are using a media link as an evidence.
  - aetherson 9y ago
    Umberto Eco talks in Foucault's Pendulum about how when you believe a conspiracy theory, evidence against the conspiracy theory becomes evidence for the conspiracy theory because you believe it's part of the cover-up. In this case, I think the easier dismissal would be to simply say, "I think that Kalanick's relationship with Benchmark soured over time."
zero_intp 9y ago
Good Day Uber PR. From the outside, this looks like investors siding with money over prior relationships. The existing Uber direction and leadership have taken far too few prisoners, and the money begins to talk.
devy 9y ago
Benchmark capital might not value their potentially most profitable investment so far; but if what you said is true, they don't just trash their investments but also their business ethnics and tarnish their reputation.
WisNorCan 9y ago
Any evidence? The biggest crises seem to be outside of the board’s visibility: (1) Susan Fowler (2) TK berating a driver on video (3) TK and his exec team having a file on rape of someone in india (4) Greyball etc. etc. I think it is hard to argue that Benchmark made Suzan Fowler write her blog post etc. The counter argument is that Benchmark seems like the grown up and Uber is lucky to have them on their BoD.
- malandrew 9y ago
  Lucky? Read the Ravikant v Tolia complaint where Bill Gurley defrauded the employees of Epinions: http://blog.ericgoldman.org/personal/archives/2005/02/ravikant_v_toli.html http://blog.ericgoldman.org/personal/archives/2005/02/ravika...
  - calafrax 9y ago
    careful with the libel there. that would be allegedly defrauded. the case was settled and it is highly unlikely that the plaintiffs would have succeeded at trial.
    - malandrew 9y ago
      You're correct, alleged fraud that was settled out of court.
- _kyran 9y ago
  The whole Waymo thing seems like quite a big crisis as well.
  - WisNorCan 9y ago
    Yes and self-inflicted as well. Hard to blame on Benchmark. I worry that HN is being astroturfed by TK and his buddies. When there is a negative Uber story a throwaway account emerges to present an implausible pro-TK angle.
    - deleted 9y ago
deleted 9y ago
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evanweaver 9y ago
This lawsuit has a lot of ambiguity, but Benchmark is one of the more ethical firms in the valley. The idea that they would secretly and maliciously undermine their own portfolio company, then file this very public lawsuit about the same events, is crazy. The suit claims the board did not know about the bad acts. If the board was the source of the press about the bad acts, surely the primary claim would instantly be disproven in discovery. Perhaps a better way for Uber to have avoided the many, many PR crises would have be to not have done the bad acts in the first place.
valuearb 9y ago
Benchmark's suit against Travis is likely to increase Uber's value substantially (or at least protect it from collapse). Kalanick established very clearly he's a terribly incompetent CEO, anything that keeps him from ever regaining a position of authority is protecting every shareholder's investment.
- confiscate 9y ago
  Really? Travis built Uber from the ground up. Maybe you should build a billion dollar company before saying he is "clearly incompetent"? Because it's easy to "clearly" dismiss something from an ivory tower.
  - valuearb 9y ago
    There is a great Warren Buffett quote, "I try to buy stock in businesses that are so wonderful that an idiot can run them. Because sooner or later, one will." Uber is a potentially wonderful business. The business model is so wonderful Travis was able to raise funds almost instantly. He deserves credit for recognizing that, pursuing the idea and building it quickly. But while Uber has raised enormous amounts of investment, and used it to grow incredibly rapidly, it's never come close to making money. And worse, as it's grown management decisions have repeatedly damaged it. Given billions of dollars, anyone can hire tens of thousands of people and expand world-wide. Running a large organization so it protects the value that's already been created is a skill Travis clearly lacks. The examples are so numerous it's hard to pick the worst. But clearly his leadership, especially his mantra of "always be hustling" led subordinates to constantly cross lines that gained Uber very little at the cost of great risk. That's terrible leadership. His lack of focus has saddled Uber with many dozens of side businesses that suck resources and attention from their #1 and only important task, building Uber out world-wide. UberEats? Even the autonomous car effort was dumb. Autonomous cars are coming at some point, and they will be fully available for purchase when Uber needs them. What's far more important is building the Uber brand so it's on everyones devices and is their first choice for summoning a ride. Autonomous competitors will have to surmount that huge obstacle to even have a chance to chip away at Uber's lead. Uber is going to win, it's almost predestined at this point given it's enormous funding and market penetration advantage. The only way it can fail is if governments are convinced it should be reined in, and Kalanick's entire leadership has generated awful PR and made that possibility far more real than it ever should be. They continuously damage the one thing they are tasked with building, the Uber brand. How can that be regarded as anything but incredibly incompetent?
deleted 9y ago
[deleted]

elmar 9y ago

With Mr. Kalanick, Mr. Gurley is said to have a tight relationship. He is Uber’s most engaged board member and the closest thing Mr. Kalanick has to a consigliere https://mobile.nytimes.com/2017/03/18/technology/bill-gurley-uber-travis-kalanick-silicon-valley.html https://mobile.nytimes.com/2017/03/18/technology/bill-gurley...

tristanj 9y ago
Bill Gurley resigned from the board and another Benchmark partner took his place (Matt Cohler).
- elmar 9y ago
  Uber board member Bill Gurley resigns after leading effort to remove CEO Travis Kalanick http://www.latimes.com/business/technology/la-fi-tn-uber-bill-gurley-20170621-story.html http://www.latimes.com/business/technology/la-fi-tn-uber-bil...
cocktailpeanuts 9y ago
Parent is talking about how the media was manipulated by Benchmark for their profit. You are using a media link as an evidence.
- aetherson 9y ago
  Umberto Eco talks in Foucault's Pendulum about how when you believe a conspiracy theory, evidence against the conspiracy theory becomes evidence for the conspiracy theory because you believe it's part of the cover-up. In this case, I think the easier dismissal would be to simply say, "I think that Kalanick's relationship with Benchmark soured over time."

zero_intp 9y ago

Good Day Uber PR. From the outside, this looks like investors siding with money over prior relationships. The existing Uber direction and leadership have taken far too few prisoners, and the money begins to talk.

devy 9y ago

Benchmark capital might not value their potentially most profitable investment so far; but if what you said is true, they don't just trash their investments but also their business ethnics and tarnish their reputation.

WisNorCan 9y ago

Any evidence? The biggest crises seem to be outside of the board’s visibility: (1) Susan Fowler (2) TK berating a driver on video (3) TK and his exec team having a file on rape of someone in india (4) Greyball etc. etc. I think it is hard to argue that Benchmark made Suzan Fowler write her blog post etc. The counter argument is that Benchmark seems like the grown up and Uber is lucky to have them on their BoD.

malandrew 9y ago
Lucky? Read the Ravikant v Tolia complaint where Bill Gurley defrauded the employees of Epinions: http://blog.ericgoldman.org/personal/archives/2005/02/ravikant_v_toli.html http://blog.ericgoldman.org/personal/archives/2005/02/ravika...
- calafrax 9y ago
  careful with the libel there. that would be allegedly defrauded. the case was settled and it is highly unlikely that the plaintiffs would have succeeded at trial.
  - malandrew 9y ago
    You're correct, alleged fraud that was settled out of court.
_kyran 9y ago
The whole Waymo thing seems like quite a big crisis as well.
- WisNorCan 9y ago
  Yes and self-inflicted as well. Hard to blame on Benchmark. I worry that HN is being astroturfed by TK and his buddies. When there is a negative Uber story a throwaway account emerges to present an implausible pro-TK angle.
  - deleted 9y ago

deleted 9y ago

[deleted]

evanweaver 9y ago

This lawsuit has a lot of ambiguity, but Benchmark is one of the more ethical firms in the valley. The idea that they would secretly and maliciously undermine their own portfolio company, then file this very public lawsuit about the same events, is crazy. The suit claims the board did not know about the bad acts. If the board was the source of the press about the bad acts, surely the primary claim would instantly be disproven in discovery. Perhaps a better way for Uber to have avoided the many, many PR crises would have be to not have done the bad acts in the first place.

valuearb 9y ago

Benchmark's suit against Travis is likely to increase Uber's value substantially (or at least protect it from collapse). Kalanick established very clearly he's a terribly incompetent CEO, anything that keeps him from ever regaining a position of authority is protecting every shareholder's investment.

confiscate 9y ago
Really? Travis built Uber from the ground up. Maybe you should build a billion dollar company before saying he is "clearly incompetent"? Because it's easy to "clearly" dismiss something from an ivory tower.
- valuearb 9y ago
  There is a great Warren Buffett quote, "I try to buy stock in businesses that are so wonderful that an idiot can run them. Because sooner or later, one will." Uber is a potentially wonderful business. The business model is so wonderful Travis was able to raise funds almost instantly. He deserves credit for recognizing that, pursuing the idea and building it quickly. But while Uber has raised enormous amounts of investment, and used it to grow incredibly rapidly, it's never come close to making money. And worse, as it's grown management decisions have repeatedly damaged it. Given billions of dollars, anyone can hire tens of thousands of people and expand world-wide. Running a large organization so it protects the value that's already been created is a skill Travis clearly lacks. The examples are so numerous it's hard to pick the worst. But clearly his leadership, especially his mantra of "always be hustling" led subordinates to constantly cross lines that gained Uber very little at the cost of great risk. That's terrible leadership. His lack of focus has saddled Uber with many dozens of side businesses that suck resources and attention from their #1 and only important task, building Uber out world-wide. UberEats? Even the autonomous car effort was dumb. Autonomous cars are coming at some point, and they will be fully available for purchase when Uber needs them. What's far more important is building the Uber brand so it's on everyones devices and is their first choice for summoning a ride. Autonomous competitors will have to surmount that huge obstacle to even have a chance to chip away at Uber's lead. Uber is going to win, it's almost predestined at this point given it's enormous funding and market penetration advantage. The only way it can fail is if governments are convinced it should be reined in, and Kalanick's entire leadership has generated awful PR and made that possibility far more real than it ever should be. They continuously damage the one thing they are tasked with building, the Uber brand. How can that be regarded as anything but incredibly incompetent?

deleted 9y ago

[deleted]