Live data from Hacker News

Bill Gurley Is Leaving Uber’s Board

nytimes.com

91–100 of 170 posts

Re: Bill Gurley Is Leaving Uber’s Board

#91
post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, no. I specifically pointed out that perhaps it should be criminal. I felt it worth noting not for pedantry, but because we have a fair number of readers that might wonder why nobody was being prosecuted if it is indeed a crime.

"Illegal" and "criminal" are not the same thing.

Illegal is most often, though not always, used in the context of something criminal. The ambiguity is why I commented. I thought I included enough couched language, apparently not.

Re: Bill Gurley Is Leaving Uber’s Board

#92

I remain flabbergasted by all of this upheaval at Uber. What's happening is the sort of housecleaning I would expect if the company had to file for bankruptcy or got caught flat out bribing judges or something. But really, what triggered all this was acting like jerks. It seems to me, what should have happened (a long time ago) was that they got shut down for systematically breaking the law, or encouraging others to…

Though there is nothing terrible about your comment in itself, the fact that it is the most highly upvoted in this thread really shows how toxic this community can be. People here really seem to think that a company culture that tolerates or encourages sexual harassment is acceptable as long as it's not illegal.

Re: Bill Gurley Is Leaving Uber’s Board

#93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sexual harassment and retaliation against employees for reporting it is not "just being jerks". It is illegal.

Every large organization has instances of this, including Facebook, Google, and the Vatican. It's not right, but it's reality. The only thing is that every other company has done a great job of covering it up, like Amit Singhal who was fired from Google for sexual harrassment, but no one knew that before he joined Uber.

Did google obtain medical records of rape victims?

Re: Bill Gurley Is Leaving Uber’s Board

#94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

cute comment edit aside, I'm not sure I follow the distinction you're trying to make. edit: to be absolutely clear, i'm not saying that trump has committed _every_one_ of the _specific_ acts referenced by the parent. but he is the amalgamation of every terrible, wrong-headed political move a person can make, and he's president. my point was the initial analogy was bad, "picture a candidate who's done every bad thing…

Yeah Trump didn't drive a women off a bridge and leave her dead like your previous leader Ted Kennedy. I personally support third party but damn the left loves to ignore how dirtball their own party is. Add Mel Reynolds, Robert KKK Byrd and others to the mix and it's laughable the party is any more a champion for anything. I honestly don't understand how either side can wage an ethics war on the other. Someone makes…

> Why can't we agree on that?

because the republicans are objectively worse.

Re: Bill Gurley Is Leaving Uber’s Board

#95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why do you think they can't get more investments? They just completed this report and now Travis is out; unless you have proof you can't say they didn't fix their issues. So not only have they shown concern to solving a major PR and culture issue but they're absolutely HUGE. If they IPO it could be an incredible exit. Am I missing something? They seem far, far more investable now.

Yes, you're missing that this is all wish fulfillment doomsdayism. People are nursing some recreational outrage because of the revelations regarding Uber's culture. So now they all have a pet theory that Uber will fail. They're working backwards from what they _want_ to happen though, so their "theory" can explain anything: "Kalanick is a loose cannon who's going to run the company into the ground" Kalanick steps dow…

[deleted]

Re: Bill Gurley Is Leaving Uber’s Board

#97
post #82

For all the future founders on HN, the lesson here is to never do business with Bill Gurley. He's one of the reasons AngelList exists. I hope his lesser known reputation finally catches up with him and forces him out of Benchmark and out of the VC industry entirely. The Ravikant v. Tolia (and Bill Gurley) Lawsuit: http://blog.ericgoldman.org/personal/archives/2005/02/ravika...

THIS. A million times this. Go ask pmarca too.

pmarca and gurley hate each other. pmarca is definitely the investor I would take money from. In fact, its funny you mention him. He's been hugely useful to Lyft (and his other investments) since he's "purchased" so much "goodwill" among The Who's Who of journalists covering Silicon Valley. As John Doerr once quipped, "No conflict, no interest", and pmarca has learned this lesson well. Every investment he's made in journalism companies is a conflict of interest that earns him interest. Investing in Silicon Valley's loudspeakers has given him a steady stream of positive submarine pieces in favor of him and A16Z and unfavorable pieces against those companies that compete with his investments.

http://www.paulgraham.com/submarine.html

Re: Bill Gurley Is Leaving Uber’s Board

#99
post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The reason they were fired was because this whole mess got a lot of publicity. If there was no publicity, nothing would have happened. Ask Warren Buffett even he complains board members dont do much work they just blindly follow what the CEO says.

Maybe. There are also a couple lawsuits in the mix, and the harassment issue was a lot more than just press.

Yup. The Holder report seems scathing, too, from what little we've seen. I would think that everything we've seen would have lead to a significant down round if Kalanick hadn't resigned (we still probably will). Given Uber's lack of profits & burn rate, a down round could send them into a death spiral.

Re: Bill Gurley Is Leaving Uber’s Board

#100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sure, but the claim is extraordinary and requires extraordinary evidence

Extraordinary evidence such as basically every C level executive being ousted? Extraordinary evidence, such as the company itself doing a thorough investigation, finding lots of problems, and then publishing those problems? Uber itself has shouted to the world that the problems existed, and that they are working to fix them. I am not sure what other kind of evidence you could get, that is better than the company itse…

Perhaps there is something else they are taking the focus away from. (Otto/Google)
Post reply on HN