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Benchmark Capital Sues Travis Kalanick for Fraud

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Re: Benchmark Capital Sues Travis Kalanick for Fraud

#131

Post by chrisseaton »

twmahna wrote: post #46
rmason wrote: post #8

If actual fraud is not found what sort of message does this send to entrepreneurs that Benchmark is founder friendly? Looks like a grudge match to me. Apparently unhappy with merely removing Travis from the CEO's chair they want to make certain he's never allowed to ever enter the building.

There's way too much money at stake here for this to be driven by grudges, emotions, or even reputations. Benchmark's stake in Uber is worth $9.1b -- many, many times the size of their fund. They will do anything they can to protect this investment. They very likely believe that the best way to protect their investment is to keep Travis out, and this is part of the process. Decisions like this aren't made at an indiv…

> Benchmark's stake in Uber is worth $9.1b -- many, many times the size of their fund.

I don't get it - their stake in Uber is part of their fund isn't it? So how can it be worth more than the whole fund?

Re: Benchmark Capital Sues Travis Kalanick for Fraud

#132

Post by jon_richards »

chrisseaton wrote: post #131
twmahna wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's way too much money at stake here for this to be driven by grudges, emotions, or even reputations. Benchmark's stake in Uber is worth $9.1b -- many, many times the size of their fund. They will do anything they can to protect this investment. They very likely believe that the best way to protect their investment is to keep Travis out, and this is part of the process. Decisions like this aren't made at an indiv…

> Benchmark's stake in Uber is worth $9.1b -- many, many times the size of their fund. I don't get it - their stake in Uber is part of their fund isn't it? So how can it be worth more than the whole fund?

I'm guessing funds are usually measured by invested capital, rather than how much they are currently worth.

Re: Benchmark Capital Sues Travis Kalanick for Fraud

#134

Post by fapjacks »

monknomo wrote: post #126
matt4077 wrote: post #115

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What ultimately got him wasn't his "maverick rule-bending to compete against the establishment". He created this bro-themed caricature of a corporate culture, and he did so for no reason other than enjoying that sort of atmosphere, or being incompetent to stop it. Or both. Let's not start some sort of myth of martyrdom around Kalanick by conflating these two. Although, yes, this strategy of braking local regulations…

"maverick rule-bending to compete against the establishment" seems like a really complementary way to say "lawbreaking company". I mean, their whole model was to go places, ignore the law and continue operating until they either got thrown out, or they pumped money to the right places to get the law changed. Scofflaw corps get nailed sooner or later, and a corp the is built on breaking laws might break some laws inve…

Perhaps, but I've heard politicians on the national level talk about this as just business as usual. If the system creating the laws sees "move fast and break things (like laws)" as the norm, then we can scold and shame all we want, but it's not going to change things. Regulatory capture and law-breaking startups seems to be what's expected out of American business by the very people doing the legislation.

Re: Benchmark Capital Sues Travis Kalanick for Fraud

#135

Post by Zyst »

joering2 wrote: post #113
tim333 wrote: post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There was talk about leaving temporarily before the shareholder revolt kicked in.

Its disapotiing to keep being downvoted just because im wrong. would love to see all these people im sure they never been wrong in their life. anyways Travis said himself he is leaving Uber because his mother just died, which was not a lie. And I believe when your mother dies you need time to grief and its perfectly fine to take time off.

You made a claim you didn't have the facts right on.

If someone without the relevant information reads it your comment could thus spread misinformation.

And so people downvote. The other replies that got downvoted after that I don't know about though.

Re: Benchmark Capital Sues Travis Kalanick for Fraud

#136

Post by kuschku »

calafrax wrote: post #128
tmh79 wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

RE the stroz report: from what I've heard, AL did take a bunch of files, and he planned to use as leverage against google/waymo to get his 120m bonus, and Uber told him more or less "dont let that shit touch anything we do". He also had some kind of big google earth photo taking kit at his house for long after he quit google.

well, no problem then. just stealing your employer's property to use to use for extortion. what a nothingburger.

They had previously refused to pay him wages that they had agreed to pay.

It is common in parts of the programming world — especially when dealing with untrustworthy clients — to keep a way to take their IP/disable their website/turn off their domain/etc unless they pay you on time.

Re: Benchmark Capital Sues Travis Kalanick for Fraud

#137

Post by kuschku »

ardit33 wrote: post #23
whack wrote: post #11

The key point of conflict appears to be the following: The suit revolves around the June 2016 decision to expand the size of Uber's board of voting directors from eight to 11, with Kalanick having the sole right to designate those seats. Kalanick would later name himself to one of those seats following his resignation, since his prior board seat was reserved for the company's CEO. The other two seats remain unfilled.…

Board seats are part of bargaining chip during funding rounds.... they are very very important. If you lose control of the board as a founder, you basically are another employee at the company, at the mercy of your investors, who can choose to bring "adult" supervision anytime they seem it is fit to them. Having the founders control of the board did well to both facebook and google on the long term. On the other hand…

This gets especially interesting when you start to expand into Europan countries, and suddenly large amounts of the board seats are elected by the employees (usually a similar amount is chosen by investors and by employees).

This is something that seems to be missing in the US.

Re: Benchmark Capital Sues Travis Kalanick for Fraud

#138

Post by tedmiston »

chrisseaton wrote: post #131
twmahna wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's way too much money at stake here for this to be driven by grudges, emotions, or even reputations. Benchmark's stake in Uber is worth $9.1b -- many, many times the size of their fund. They will do anything they can to protect this investment. They very likely believe that the best way to protect their investment is to keep Travis out, and this is part of the process. Decisions like this aren't made at an indiv…

> Benchmark's stake in Uber is worth $9.1b -- many, many times the size of their fund. I don't get it - their stake in Uber is part of their fund isn't it? So how can it be worth more than the whole fund?

For example, if their fund is $1B and they put $250M in Uber, then Uber's valuation goes 10x, so their portion is now worth $2.5B, more than the fund started with. (Numbers made up for example.)

Re: Benchmark Capital Sues Travis Kalanick for Fraud

#139

Post by samstave »

throwawy11111 wrote: post #61

Benchmarks in a bind and at war with travis; they need to liquidate their stake in next year or two. Softbank deal to buy out their shares fell apart in part b/c no CEO. Benchmark wants safe-hands leader who will cost-cut firesale their way to quick IPO. travis + allies being more long term; blocking benchmarks CEO picks (meg). so board civil war continues with benchmarks dirty tricks like this sour grapes lawsuit an…

Brings up a fun thought:

"What do with all the Uber fragments I can't keep in my arms grip!?!?"

---

So what do? How harvest. (Think of this as a thought experiment)

---

Uber collapses:

As an outsider, what are perceived assets and what are perceived risks/liabilities

What are perceived opportunities: how to harvest them NOW??

Experiment 1:

Uber shall die in x months; thus need to take action y now, at cost of x with projection z... resulting in A. What is A?

2:

Uber will not die but morph... Ned to take action x at y cost resulting in A?

3:

Uber won't die at all - and will continue perpetuitiously - A - how profit?

4:

???

5:

Profit.

Re: Benchmark Capital Sues Travis Kalanick for Fraud

#140

Post by calafrax »

kuschku wrote: post #136
calafrax wrote: post #128

Earlier quoted context omitted.

well, no problem then. just stealing your employer's property to use to use for extortion. what a nothingburger.

They had previously refused to pay him wages that they had agreed to pay. It is common in parts of the programming world — especially when dealing with untrustworthy clients — to keep a way to take their IP/disable their website/turn off their domain/etc unless they pay you on time.

i have never seen this behavior, so it isn't that common, and even if it were it would still be illegal unless it is something that has been agreed to contractually.
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