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Email to Former Board Member

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Re: Email to Former Board Member

#11

Post by Animats »

dvtrn wrote: post #8

I regret that we went thruogh the "diligence" process in just a few weeks Does anyone work in M&A? What in your experience is a sufficient timetable for diligence and discovery? I ask working for a company that "grows by acquisition", and being in a middle management role I find myself often playing clean-up crew to some alarming things that should have been caught during diligence, but am growing increasingly weary…

Being in the middle of an acquisition is a form of limbo. Nobody wants to start anything new, partly because of management uncertainty and partly because it could change the valuation. It consumes all the time of top management, and nobody is minding the store. So you don't want to spend too many months stuck in that state.

(I know a company that's in that position right now, and there's no visible planning for 2021.)

Re: Email to Former Board Member

#12

Post by dvtrn »

Animats wrote: post #11
dvtrn wrote: post #8

I regret that we went thruogh the "diligence" process in just a few weeks Does anyone work in M&A? What in your experience is a sufficient timetable for diligence and discovery? I ask working for a company that "grows by acquisition", and being in a middle management role I find myself often playing clean-up crew to some alarming things that should have been caught during diligence, but am growing increasingly weary…

Being in the middle of an acquisition is a form of limbo. Nobody wants to start anything new, partly because of management uncertainty and partly because it could change the valuation. It consumes all the time of top management, and nobody is minding the store. So you don't want to spend too many months stuck in that state. (I know a company that's in that position right now, and there's no visible planning for 2021.…

there's no visible planning for 2021

I have this impression as well, detaching a bit and looking at 'everything' (or as much as my perch will allow).

To say it's frustrating would be an understatement; I considered applying to a role and effectively taking a demotion and being an IC again. Which, if it says anything--is something my last two predecessors did as well.

Otherwise you've hit every nail on the head and quite well summed up my feeling of 'limbo'.

Re: Email to Former Board Member

#13

Post by jaksmit »

gkoberger wrote: post #10
cwzwarich wrote: post #7

Releasing this as-is seems like a bad idea. He's likely addressing a former board member by name, as well as their firm. Couldn't you just look at all of the names of board members and their firms, compute the metrics of those names with the typeface being used, and then figure out exactly who he's talking about?

I know a few people on Twitter have tried, but AFAIK no names have been leaked. But let's say he had said the name... is that a problem? People write blog posts about bad experiences quite frequently. [EDIT: I was wrong, yesterday the person publicly acknowledged it's him.]

the name has leaked. It's Craig Shapiro from Collaborative Fund and Craig has replied on Twitter:

https://twitter.com/cshapiro/status/1317212694529802242

Re: Email to Former Board Member

#14

Post by scantron »

The sender of this email seems to be upset because they let the receiver of this email walk all over them for so long. Publicly releasing this email makes both sides seem so unprofessional. The real lesson here is that this CEO’s lack of healthy boundaries prevented them from saying no—over and over again—to making obviously bad choices. I feel for this person’s employees.

Re: Email to Former Board Member

#16

Post by ivalm »

jaksmit wrote: post #13
gkoberger wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I know a few people on Twitter have tried, but AFAIK no names have been leaked. But let's say he had said the name... is that a problem? People write blog posts about bad experiences quite frequently. [EDIT: I was wrong, yesterday the person publicly acknowledged it's him.]

the name has leaked. It's Craig Shapiro from Collaborative Fund and Craig has replied on Twitter: https://twitter.com/cshapiro/status/1317212694529802242

Holly crap, he doesn’t even meaningfully deny it.

Re: Email to Former Board Member

#17

Post by borroka »

scantron wrote: post #14

The sender of this email seems to be upset because they let the receiver of this email walk all over them for so long. Publicly releasing this email makes both sides seem so unprofessional. The real lesson here is that this CEO’s lack of healthy boundaries prevented them from saying no—over and over again—to making obviously bad choices. I feel for this person’s employees.

Unpopular, but I agree. The writer comes off as terribly weak. I read about his personal and health challenges, but I think that would be an even bigger motivation not to let this deranged (according to the doc) board member going on with that circus.

Re: Email to Former Board Member

#18

Post by dx87 »

jaksmit wrote: post #13
gkoberger wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I know a few people on Twitter have tried, but AFAIK no names have been leaked. But let's say he had said the name... is that a problem? People write blog posts about bad experiences quite frequently. [EDIT: I was wrong, yesterday the person publicly acknowledged it's him.]

the name has leaked. It's Craig Shapiro from Collaborative Fund and Craig has replied on Twitter: https://twitter.com/cshapiro/status/1317212694529802242

> I urge everyone to think three times before you pile on to a Twitter mob or urge suicide on the target of a mob attack (thanks @ilyasu and @matrixpartners).

JFC, the guy who told him to commit suicide tries to act like he's the victim and defends himself by claiming he was just part of the mob, and didn't know who he was telling to kill themself. Nice to know he thinks it's fine to urge strangers to commit suicide.

Re: Email to Former Board Member

#19

Post by ignoramous »

gkoberger wrote: post #5

Here's the context, from the author: "Simultaneously, we were forced to deal with a board member who was beyond counterproductive. After we bought him out fully in 2019, I sent this feedback email detailing the ways in which he had disrupted our board and company. Dealing with this issue was one of the loneliest times I faced as a CEO. To be clear, this email is unlike anything I’ve sent in my life, and I’ve thought…

Related Twitter thread: https://archive.vn/o4JP0

Re: Email to Former Board Member

#20

Post by Spooky23 »

scantron wrote: post #14

The sender of this email seems to be upset because they let the receiver of this email walk all over them for so long. Publicly releasing this email makes both sides seem so unprofessional. The real lesson here is that this CEO’s lack of healthy boundaries prevented them from saying no—over and over again—to making obviously bad choices. I feel for this person’s employees.

Agreed. I don’t know anything about the players here, but I’m kind of surprised that a CEO would air a letter like this publicly, not only from the “dirty laundry” perspective, but because it comes off as really petty and ridiculous.

I’d expect this from some middle manager at a university.

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