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I've emailed about this, but can respond here too. I'm the sole-founder of WakaTime and there is no ongoing legal dispute. Priyanka Sharma and I worked on a ma

by welder 9y ago

I've emailed about this, but can respond here too. I'm the sole-founder of WakaTime and there is no ongoing legal dispute. Priyanka Sharma and I worked on a massage on-demand startup which didn't take off. We decided to see if investors would be interested in my WakaTime project, and Priyanka asked to be listed on the WakaTime "About" page to build her confidence when talking to potential investors. I also agreed to pitch WakaTime on TechCrunch with her, although they listed her incorrectly as CEO! She was CEO of the massage startup, Kneady, but never WakaTime! It's unfortunate that Priyanka Sharma now uses the WakaTime TechCrunch article to charge early-stage startups for advice through Heavybit. It's also unfortunate if HN caves to her threats of ownership without asking for any proof. If she was a founder of WakaTime, she should be able to produce a stock purchase or other agreement, or even documentation about an "ongoing legal dispute". I've already reached out to HN via email offering proof of ownership, so hopefully HN unburies this post.

beaugunderson 9y ago
This response is fishy as hell. I don't know what Priyanka's title was at WakaTime but I viewed her as the public face of the company, as judged by the dozens of emails I have from WakaTime that all came from her, her activity in the Slack, her blog posts which were removed from the WakaTime blog, etc. Here's one example of an email from Priyanka on behalf of WakaTime: https://i.imgur.com/PYHuc8s.png https://i.imgur.com/PYHuc8s.png And the removal of her blog posts: https://github.com/wakatime/wakatime-blog/commit/5d671e9aab64e712fed73c3c1a994b555539d663 https://github.com/wakatime/wakatime-blog/commit/5d671e9aab6... Edit: And an interesting Twitter thread: https://twitter.com/downey/status/861908826223759360 https://twitter.com/downey/status/861908826223759360 This makes me want to stop paying for WakaTime.
- welder 9y ago
  > Here's one example of an email from Priyanka on behalf of WakaTime At the time I was happy when she said she would send the newsletter emails for me, but now I see she just wanted people to think she was the public face for WakaTime to further a tech founder persona. Yea I made a mistake letting her send newsletters on behalf of WakaTime, but that doesn't mean she can claim to have built WakaTime. > This response is fishy as hell. I didn't raise a fuss when I should have because I didn't want to cause her trouble, but then she demanded a large sum of money from me in exchange for giving me WakaTime... when she never owned WakaTime. That's what I consider fishey.
  - beaugunderson 9y ago
    Are you saying she didn't write the content of the newsletters, or moderate the Slack, or write those blog posts? I don't think anyone is contending that she wrote the code but I know my own interest in WakaTime would have waned without the community and the newsletters. I am still unsatisfied with your version of events because it seems to discount that Priyanka did any work at all.
    - doomjunky 9y ago
      Her first blog post was on: 2014-12-16 Her last blog post was on: 2015-03-31 This doesn't look like an sophisticated engagement.
      - beaugunderson 9y ago
        Here's a Google Trends chart for 'WakaTime': https://i.imgur.com/VHeJPYY.png https://i.imgur.com/VHeJPYY.png That first spike is December 2014. Interesting timing! The last Slack notification email I have from her is from 10/26/2015. Why is it so hard to believe that she did a year or so's worth of work for WakaTime? Why are her contributions to be valued less because they aren't code?
- quadlock 9y ago
  Alan is the least fishy guy I know amd I don’t doubt his word for a second.
- vanesa- 9y ago
  Then maybe you should investigate more, for example using the waybackmachine and finding out that Alan founded WakaTime almost 2 years before she ever appeared on the website. He didn't even know her when he started WakaTime. Also read: https://news.ycombinator.com/reply?id=15617309&goto=item%3Fid%3D15593589%2315617309 https://news.ycombinator.com/reply?id=15617309&goto=item%3Fi... She's very good at making people believe her lies.
kimjongman 9y ago
https://youtu.be/pRpeEdMmmQ0?t=1m58s https://youtu.be/pRpeEdMmmQ0?t=1m58s waka waka eh eh

by welder 9y ago

beaugunderson 9y ago

This response is fishy as hell. I don't know what Priyanka's title was at WakaTime but I viewed her as the public face of the company, as judged by the dozens of emails I have from WakaTime that all came from her, her activity in the Slack, her blog posts which were removed from the WakaTime blog, etc. Here's one example of an email from Priyanka on behalf of WakaTime: https://i.imgur.com/PYHuc8s.png https://i.imgur.com/PYHuc8s.png And the removal of her blog posts: https://github.com/wakatime/wakatime-blog/commit/5d671e9aab64e712fed73c3c1a994b555539d663 https://github.com/wakatime/wakatime-blog/commit/5d671e9aab6... Edit: And an interesting Twitter thread: https://twitter.com/downey/status/861908826223759360 https://twitter.com/downey/status/861908826223759360 This makes me want to stop paying for WakaTime.

welder 9y ago
> Here's one example of an email from Priyanka on behalf of WakaTime At the time I was happy when she said she would send the newsletter emails for me, but now I see she just wanted people to think she was the public face for WakaTime to further a tech founder persona. Yea I made a mistake letting her send newsletters on behalf of WakaTime, but that doesn't mean she can claim to have built WakaTime. > This response is fishy as hell. I didn't raise a fuss when I should have because I didn't want to cause her trouble, but then she demanded a large sum of money from me in exchange for giving me WakaTime... when she never owned WakaTime. That's what I consider fishey.
- beaugunderson 9y ago
  Are you saying she didn't write the content of the newsletters, or moderate the Slack, or write those blog posts? I don't think anyone is contending that she wrote the code but I know my own interest in WakaTime would have waned without the community and the newsletters. I am still unsatisfied with your version of events because it seems to discount that Priyanka did any work at all.
  - doomjunky 9y ago
    Her first blog post was on: 2014-12-16 Her last blog post was on: 2015-03-31 This doesn't look like an sophisticated engagement.
    - beaugunderson 9y ago
      Here's a Google Trends chart for 'WakaTime': https://i.imgur.com/VHeJPYY.png https://i.imgur.com/VHeJPYY.png That first spike is December 2014. Interesting timing! The last Slack notification email I have from her is from 10/26/2015. Why is it so hard to believe that she did a year or so's worth of work for WakaTime? Why are her contributions to be valued less because they aren't code?
quadlock 9y ago
Alan is the least fishy guy I know amd I don’t doubt his word for a second.
vanesa- 9y ago
Then maybe you should investigate more, for example using the waybackmachine and finding out that Alan founded WakaTime almost 2 years before she ever appeared on the website. He didn't even know her when he started WakaTime. Also read: https://news.ycombinator.com/reply?id=15617309&goto=item%3Fid%3D15593589%2315617309 https://news.ycombinator.com/reply?id=15617309&goto=item%3Fi... She's very good at making people believe her lies.

kimjongman 9y ago

https://youtu.be/pRpeEdMmmQ0?t=1m58s https://youtu.be/pRpeEdMmmQ0?t=1m58s waka waka eh eh