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> Travis’s failure to make good on this promise Is this what happens when a CEO has a large voting block of shares (b/c he's smart enough to learn from previou

by OzzyB 9y ago

> Travis’s failure to make good on this promise Is this what happens when a CEO has a large voting block of shares (b/c he's smart enough to learn from previous founders' experience with VCs), and a VC firm that finds they can't have it their way (like they've been used to), publicly shame him for "not doing what he promised (us)"? Last I checked they ousted _him_ and now they want to play "victim" because they're finding it hard to find a replacement? Maybe none feels they're able to fill his shoes or do as good a job as he's done? Last I checked Uber was still a tremendous success regardless of all their bad press and missteps/deeds. Sorry, I just find it hard to sympathize with these people.

ChuckMcM 9y ago
Not really a question of sympathizing, it's the fascination of watching warfare at these levels. Travis getting himself a right to appoint three directors, just before he is asked to step down, which he does and appoints himself as a director and has tickets for two more. While Benchmark was organizing other members of the Board to fire him, and now dealing a counter play to Travis' board seat strategy. It's rare this stuff goes on where people can see it.
- ShabbosGoy 9y ago
  It also serves as a cautionary tale; as an entrepreneur, be very careful whom you accept money from. In many cases, it's a Faustian deal.
  - HarryHirsch 9y ago
    a Faustian deal Faustian deal indeed. The only way to read Faust is as the story of someone who is in over his head and screws up at every turn. Every thing that Faust touches turns to shit. There's nothing Faustian about Faust.
    - Hydraulix989 9y ago
      Almost everyone that uses that phrase uses it in OP's context, making your comment seem like mere pedantry.
      - hughw 9y ago
        But welcome pedantry (to me).
        HarryHirsch 9y ago
        And topical. Travis Kalanick plays Faust, Matt Cohler from Benchmark plays Mephisto. Susan Fowler plays Gretchen (or perhaps Marthe Schwerdtlein, no one applies for a leading position at any large company without doing diligence through inside contacts, and no one can tell me that she didn't know that Uber was full to the rafters with perverts and sex maniacs).
  - vcao2 9y ago
    It also serves as a cautionary tale; as a venture capitalist, be very careful whom you provide capital to. It has been obvious for years that Travis Kalanick will run Uber into the ground, unless controlled. This is not new. One of the reasons there isn't a CFO is so he doesn't have to justify his awful ideas. It's good to see Benchmark is finally admitting that they (and the rest of the board) have failed to do their job; by failing to more adequately govern Uber. Uber is a looming disaster for investors, and I pity employees there who think their options are going to make them rich. That will only be true for a very, very few, because Travis has made decisions that will leave most of them with basically nothing.
    - rtx 9y ago
      As a customer they have my Support. Travis and team have created something amazing.
    - ryanwaggoner 9y ago
      This is a pretty laughable comment to make about a guy who took a company from $0 to $70 billion. Uber has completely changed transportation for millions of people around the globe. You might be right that Uber needs someone different for the next phase, but you make him sound like Michael Scott.
      - jon_richards 9y ago
        Wasn't Michael Scott also extremely successful in the show?
        ryanwaggoner 9y ago
        I've watched like 4 episodes of the office, but we're talking about the same guy, right? The one who is a middle manager at a small sales office in Scranton? Pretty far cry from growing a company from $0 to billions in revenue, creating hundreds of thousands of jobs, and upending a global industry. In 8 years.
        9y ago
- elmar 9y ago
  Create a board that reflects the ownership of the company (2007) http://venturehacks.com/articles/board-structure http://venturehacks.com/articles/board-structure as a side-note actually current Uber board doesn't reflect the ownership Benchmark as ~13,5% and one board seat Travis as ~10% and three board seats
  - kashkhan 9y ago
    Someone who had the power, voted to give him those seats. Maybe they were stupid, maybe not. Travis may not be a nice person, but he is good at playing this game and is beating the capitalists at their own game. Why should I cry for benchmark?
    - elmar 9y ago
      Travis is probably the best entrepreneur ever in fundraising, so good he managed to at such later stage to keep control and even have a disproportionate power in relation to is ownership. Mobody is crying for Benchmark and this lawsuit looks ridiculous and it's going to affect their deal flow quality for many years to come.
  - elmar 9y ago
    Just wondering if Travis could ever imagined the Uber success he could have funded Uber Angel round of $1,2M by inself he had the money to do it. Everything being equal he now would own 20% but probably would have the same problem with Benchmark.
- shostack 9y ago
  Fascinating indeed. Do you happen to have any recommended reading for those of us interested in learning how things really happen at the board level? There's so much politics and intrigue that goes on behind the scenes that rarely becomes public.
  - ChuckMcM 9y ago
    Recommended reading? not really. I expect most people would find the real stuff just sad. Much of the drama seems to be politics mixed with greed. I've served on a couple of boards (private companies) once as an independent director and once as a technical adviser and remember wondering once if the folks I was dealing with were just bored or if they really didn't care one way or the other. That said, I've also worked with board members at companies that were very engaged and very involved with their companies and the companies involved benefited from their attention. The only common thread was that generally the board members had a whole lot less to lose if the company failed than the executive staff did, and so they often assume that the executive staff is motivated to make things succeed, and seem disinclined to second guess the CEO and their team's tactics. Of course things get unpleasant when the tactics make them look bad as we've seen in Uber and Theranos as well. There are various places that recruit people to serve on boards. Some people feel like it 'boosts' their executive street cred if they are on the boards of several companies. I'm not one of the people who is impressed by something like that but I recognize that some folks are and its part of the VC "game". (sort like having rare Magic the Gathering cards I guess, "I play Unicorn Startup on your Bootstrapped Lifestyle Business.") It would probably make for an interesting subplotline in Silicon Valley.
valuearb 9y ago
"They" ousted him, but "they" can't force him to leave? Sounds like a pretty big contradiction.
deleted 9y ago
[deleted]

by OzzyB 9y ago

ChuckMcM 9y ago

Not really a question of sympathizing, it's the fascination of watching warfare at these levels. Travis getting himself a right to appoint three directors, just before he is asked to step down, which he does and appoints himself as a director and has tickets for two more. While Benchmark was organizing other members of the Board to fire him, and now dealing a counter play to Travis' board seat strategy. It's rare this stuff goes on where people can see it.

ShabbosGoy 9y ago
It also serves as a cautionary tale; as an entrepreneur, be very careful whom you accept money from. In many cases, it's a Faustian deal.
- HarryHirsch 9y ago
  a Faustian deal Faustian deal indeed. The only way to read Faust is as the story of someone who is in over his head and screws up at every turn. Every thing that Faust touches turns to shit. There's nothing Faustian about Faust.
  - Hydraulix989 9y ago
    Almost everyone that uses that phrase uses it in OP's context, making your comment seem like mere pedantry.
    - hughw 9y ago
      But welcome pedantry (to me).
      - HarryHirsch 9y ago
        And topical. Travis Kalanick plays Faust, Matt Cohler from Benchmark plays Mephisto. Susan Fowler plays Gretchen (or perhaps Marthe Schwerdtlein, no one applies for a leading position at any large company without doing diligence through inside contacts, and no one can tell me that she didn't know that Uber was full to the rafters with perverts and sex maniacs).
- vcao2 9y ago
  It also serves as a cautionary tale; as a venture capitalist, be very careful whom you provide capital to. It has been obvious for years that Travis Kalanick will run Uber into the ground, unless controlled. This is not new. One of the reasons there isn't a CFO is so he doesn't have to justify his awful ideas. It's good to see Benchmark is finally admitting that they (and the rest of the board) have failed to do their job; by failing to more adequately govern Uber. Uber is a looming disaster for investors, and I pity employees there who think their options are going to make them rich. That will only be true for a very, very few, because Travis has made decisions that will leave most of them with basically nothing.
  - rtx 9y ago
    As a customer they have my Support. Travis and team have created something amazing.
  - ryanwaggoner 9y ago
    This is a pretty laughable comment to make about a guy who took a company from $0 to $70 billion. Uber has completely changed transportation for millions of people around the globe. You might be right that Uber needs someone different for the next phase, but you make him sound like Michael Scott.
    - jon_richards 9y ago
      Wasn't Michael Scott also extremely successful in the show?
      - ryanwaggoner 9y ago
        I've watched like 4 episodes of the office, but we're talking about the same guy, right? The one who is a middle manager at a small sales office in Scranton? Pretty far cry from growing a company from $0 to billions in revenue, creating hundreds of thousands of jobs, and upending a global industry. In 8 years.
        9y ago
elmar 9y ago
Create a board that reflects the ownership of the company (2007) http://venturehacks.com/articles/board-structure http://venturehacks.com/articles/board-structure as a side-note actually current Uber board doesn't reflect the ownership Benchmark as ~13,5% and one board seat Travis as ~10% and three board seats
- kashkhan 9y ago
  Someone who had the power, voted to give him those seats. Maybe they were stupid, maybe not. Travis may not be a nice person, but he is good at playing this game and is beating the capitalists at their own game. Why should I cry for benchmark?
  - elmar 9y ago
    Travis is probably the best entrepreneur ever in fundraising, so good he managed to at such later stage to keep control and even have a disproportionate power in relation to is ownership. Mobody is crying for Benchmark and this lawsuit looks ridiculous and it's going to affect their deal flow quality for many years to come.
- elmar 9y ago
  Just wondering if Travis could ever imagined the Uber success he could have funded Uber Angel round of $1,2M by inself he had the money to do it. Everything being equal he now would own 20% but probably would have the same problem with Benchmark.
shostack 9y ago
Fascinating indeed. Do you happen to have any recommended reading for those of us interested in learning how things really happen at the board level? There's so much politics and intrigue that goes on behind the scenes that rarely becomes public.
- ChuckMcM 9y ago
  Recommended reading? not really. I expect most people would find the real stuff just sad. Much of the drama seems to be politics mixed with greed. I've served on a couple of boards (private companies) once as an independent director and once as a technical adviser and remember wondering once if the folks I was dealing with were just bored or if they really didn't care one way or the other. That said, I've also worked with board members at companies that were very engaged and very involved with their companies and the companies involved benefited from their attention. The only common thread was that generally the board members had a whole lot less to lose if the company failed than the executive staff did, and so they often assume that the executive staff is motivated to make things succeed, and seem disinclined to second guess the CEO and their team's tactics. Of course things get unpleasant when the tactics make them look bad as we've seen in Uber and Theranos as well. There are various places that recruit people to serve on boards. Some people feel like it 'boosts' their executive street cred if they are on the boards of several companies. I'm not one of the people who is impressed by something like that but I recognize that some folks are and its part of the VC "game". (sort like having rare Magic the Gathering cards I guess, "I play Unicorn Startup on your Bootstrapped Lifestyle Business.") It would probably make for an interesting subplotline in Silicon Valley.

valuearb 9y ago

"They" ousted him, but "they" can't force him to leave? Sounds like a pretty big contradiction.

deleted 9y ago

[deleted]