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Uber Founder Travis Kalanick Resigns as C.E.O.

nytimes.com

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Re: Uber Founder Travis Kalanick Resigns as C.E.O.

#231

Post by sgift »

kevinburke wrote: post #81
blazespin wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Please investigate, not necessarily believe. Innocent til proven guilty still has some place in this world.. That being said, kudos to anyone courageous enough to speak the truth even at the risk of vilification.

Innocent until proven guilty is a great standard for criminal trials but probably not for the workplace, where people who report harassment are usually taking an incredible career risk by doing so.

I've never understood this position. We take a risk too by following innocent until proven guilty in criminal trials, but hundreds of years of the opposite (e.g. "A witch!" -> kill the 'offender', "A child molester!" -> kill the 'offender') have shown us that the risks of a fair trial are better than the risks of ruining peoples life over accusations. Why should this be any different in the work place?

Re: Uber Founder Travis Kalanick Resigns as C.E.O.

#232

Post by venture_lol »

blazespin wrote: post #14
kevinburke wrote: post #3

According to the article 5 different VC firms representing 40% of the voting shares asked him to resign today. Kalanick still controls the majority of voting shares and a board seat. Most of Kalanick's trouble started with Susan Fowler speaking out. Please believe women when they report harassment in the workplace. Many of their reports may not be as clear cut as Mrs. Fowler's.

Please investigate, not necessarily believe. Innocent til proven guilty still has some place in this world.. That being said, kudos to anyone courageous enough to speak the truth even at the risk of vilification.

General observations from experience:

A well-run company will have proper procedures, processes in place to deal with work place issues.

Management and all staff will also be required to take training on a continuous basis.

Professionally managed organizations don't walk around "believing" this or that or spouting off "innocent until proven guilty" and such

:)

Re: Uber Founder Travis Kalanick Resigns as C.E.O.

#233

Post by jaggederest »

Fej wrote: post #147
Animats wrote: post #41

This may kill Uber. Kalanick is a jerk, but he created that insane valuation. Uber has less than a year of runway left at their current burn rate. Unless they can find a bigger sucker than the sovereign wealth fund of Saudi Arabia,[1] they're going broke in 2018. (That "undisclosed amount" in 2017 isn't a significant investment on Uber's scale.) IPO? No way. They'd have to publish audited numbers. What's leaked out i…

I hear all this doom & gloom, but could Uber not just... raise prices? Sure, they would lose a lot of customers, but they would stay alive. How could Uber, barring wholly incompetent leadership, completely implode?

Transportation is a very substitutable good. Uber doubles prices, they lose more than half their business, total effect on revenue is negative.

Re: Uber Founder Travis Kalanick Resigns as C.E.O.

#234

Post by MichaelGG »

visakanv wrote: post #80
TheRealmccoy wrote: post #7

Susan Fowler is the giant killer of this century. Salutation!

She was the bullet in the gun that Uber held to its own head; they could've avoided it by not being a shitty place for women to work

They could have remained shitty, but taken plausible deniability actions. As with a top exec personally going to India to get a rape victim's health records (?!?!), Uber seems to have no concept of covering their asses.

They just showed a complete lack of care in so many situations... Shows that ignoring the rules can certainly pay off.

Re: Uber Founder Travis Kalanick Resigns as C.E.O.

#235

Post by slice_of_life »

sverhagen wrote: post #114
slice_of_life wrote: post #38

Pushing a founder out is often a bad idea. This might very well be the beginning of Uber's demise. This won't be good for the company. All CEOs make mistakes even great ones like Gates with antitrust or Zuck calling users dumb-fucks. They weren't kicked out, they instead were allowed to come into their own. There's a distinct fire that a founder has for the company they founded. You can't hire that. Without this fire…

I pretty much can't stumble upon an article about Uber that's not about controversy. I know that kind of news sells better. But in my perception now Uber had the pendulum swung far off center. I've been shocked by their (reported) ethics, to the point of not purchasing their services. I know that consequence is not taken by a majority of people, but I do sense a more than average disgust for Uber's ethics. If you'd a…

There's no reason to believe that Marissa would be right for any sort of turn around if yahoo is the reference here.

Re: Uber Founder Travis Kalanick Resigns as C.E.O.

#236

Post by askafriend »

em3rgent0rdr wrote: post #60
flyosity wrote: post #5

If Uber ends up going down in flames, unable to recover from the scandals and lawsuits, and Lyft prevails, it will be the most incredible change of fate in the business world this century or perhaps longer. The future of automobiles and transportation is still being swirled about, and it feels like Uber's downfall has blown the game WIDE open, ready for anyone (maybe Uber, maybe Lyft, maybe Tesla, Google, Apple, an a…

Lyft? That is just another corporate-controlled centralized system. I'd much prefer something along the lines of http://libretaxi.org/

Centralized systems have value, sometimes far more than open systems. The other way around is true also.

You can't automatically assume that closed systems are a bad thing.

Re: Uber Founder Travis Kalanick Resigns as C.E.O.

#237

Post by downandout »

bigtones wrote: post #190
downandout wrote: post #164

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm curious how much Kalanick has already taken off the table. That may be a motivating factor in his decision. If he has already pocketed hundreds of millions, he may understand that this could well be the death of the company, but just isn't motivated enough to fight these investors and is willing to let them burn the company to the ground. I wouldn't go as far as to say he doesn't care anymore, but being forced ou…

Kalanick has stated publicly that he has not sold a single share - so he has actually taken no money off the table whatsoever.

I hadn't heard that. When did he state this, and is it still accurate as of today? It's possible he sold shares in the last few weeks during the run-up to this decision. Or maybe he hasn't sold shares, but there are other ways that he could have profited handsomely from Uber already. Cash bonuses, private sale of options (has he said he hasn't sold an option?) etc. I'm just saying if he has enough in the bank, he may have decided it wasn't worth it to fight his investors, the media, and basically everyone else that has jumped on the anti-Kalanik bandwagon.

Re: Uber Founder Travis Kalanick Resigns as C.E.O.

#238

Post by Maakuth »

ckastner wrote: post #184
Animats wrote: post #41

This may kill Uber. Kalanick is a jerk, but he created that insane valuation. Uber has less than a year of runway left at their current burn rate. Unless they can find a bigger sucker than the sovereign wealth fund of Saudi Arabia,[1] they're going broke in 2018. (That "undisclosed amount" in 2017 isn't a significant investment on Uber's scale.) IPO? No way. They'd have to publish audited numbers. What's leaked out i…

> Kalanick is a jerk, but he created that insane valuation. I don't think Kalanick had much to do with it. He created the product, but it pretty much sold by itself -- similar to how Zuckerberg created Facebook, which sold by itself. I'm very optimistic about this change. To me, Kalanick, and the culture he bread, were toxic to Uber. I'm reminded of how Microsoft's share price jumped by 12% the day Steve Ballmer's re…

Overnight success, years in making.

Re: Uber Founder Travis Kalanick Resigns as C.E.O.

#239

Post by King-Aaron »

sidcool wrote: post #208
hkmurakami wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For an embattled company like this in a fiercely competitive industry, you need committed leadership and not a rotating cast of hired guns looking to make a quick buck. Kalanick has serious issues but he's demonstrated unquestionably forceful (and polarizing) leadership that mere "managers" will never be able to replace. I've been bullish on Uber despite all their mistakes and internal issues because at the end of th…

But does winning have to come at the cost of basic human dignity and law?

It often does, really.

Re: Uber Founder Travis Kalanick Resigns as C.E.O.

#240

Post by MichaelGG »

hendzen wrote: post #31
Pandabob wrote: post #19

Would Marissa Mayer be a good fit for Uber CEO? Given that she just resigned from Yahoo, one would think the board would at least consider her. Unless they're going to choose the next CEO from within the company.

Good chance of it being Arianna Huffington.

What? Why? I looked her up on Wikipedia - she's an author and a political commentator?
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