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Uber Investors Slam Travis Kalanick In Open Letter To Employees (gizmodo.com)
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Gizmodo: Benchmark Capital, one of Uber's largest investors, is trying to explain its legal feud with former CEO Travis Kalanick to the ride-sharing company's employees. Benchmark sued Kalanick for fraud last week, adding another controversy to the company's already disastrous summer. In an open letter to Uber employees, Benchmark slammed Kalanick's leadership of the company and said that he was purposely hindering the board's search for a replacement CEO. The firm also criticized Uber's slow response to the report compiled by Eric Holder and Tammy Albarran on harassment within Uber, and the stagnant search for a chief financial officer that has dragged on for more than two years.
"It has appeared at times as if the search was being manipulated to deter candidates and create a power vacuum in which Travis could return," the unsigned letter reads. "It's easy to reduce this situation to a battle of personalities. But this isn't about Benchmark versus Travis. It's about ensuring that Uber can reach its full potential as a company. And that will only happen if we get rid of the roadblocks and distractions that have plagued Uber, and its board, for far too long," Benchmark wrote in its letter. "Failing to act would have meant endorsing behavior that was utterly unacceptable in any company, let alone a company of Uber's size and importance." Kalanick has responded to Benchmark through a spokesperson via The New York Times: "Like many shareholders, I am disappointed and baffled by Benchmark's hostile actions, which clearly are not in the best interests of Uber and its employees on whose behalf they claim to be acting. Since 2009, building Uber into a great company has been my passion and obsession. I continue to work tirelessly with the board to identify and hire the best CEO to guide Uber into its next phase of growth and ensure its continued success."
"It has appeared at times as if the search was being manipulated to deter candidates and create a power vacuum in which Travis could return," the unsigned letter reads. "It's easy to reduce this situation to a battle of personalities. But this isn't about Benchmark versus Travis. It's about ensuring that Uber can reach its full potential as a company. And that will only happen if we get rid of the roadblocks and distractions that have plagued Uber, and its board, for far too long," Benchmark wrote in its letter. "Failing to act would have meant endorsing behavior that was utterly unacceptable in any company, let alone a company of Uber's size and importance." Kalanick has responded to Benchmark through a spokesperson via The New York Times: "Like many shareholders, I am disappointed and baffled by Benchmark's hostile actions, which clearly are not in the best interests of Uber and its employees on whose behalf they claim to be acting. Since 2009, building Uber into a great company has been my passion and obsession. I continue to work tirelessly with the board to identify and hire the best CEO to guide Uber into its next phase of growth and ensure its continued success."
He has made a fortune from a company that does nothing but bleed money, flout laws and treats everyone like shit. Doesn't seem unreasonable to land most of the blame squarely at his feet.
Jobs was absolute shit during his first tenure with Apple. It was only after he got canned and gained some perspective and spent time maturing that he became an okay CEO, and I think a lot of his success during his second tenure was realizing that while he was good (and not perfect) at product vision and marketing, there were a lot of other parts of the company that were better left to more qualified people and that he should probably leave it to them rather than always trying to do things his way.
Maybe this guy is the same and needs to get tossed out. When you're on top, its easy to get this false sense of everything being a direct result of your own actions and dismissing all of the other factors that contributed to that success. Finding out you're not as special as you think is one of those experiences that can humble you a bit and let you grow as a person.
How can Uber be classified as a "tech" company, now again?
Other than calling itself "Uber Technologies" and relying a smartphone app, the only thing that I can see as being the core business inside their complex structure is the cars driving around.
Yes, it is using smartphone apps in a different way from the norm. But so is the company that is delivering groceries to my door - and they are in the food business, not in the technology sector.
"We mustn't be caught by surprise by our own advancing technology" -- Aldous Huxley
Steve Jobs may have stretched a few laws and regulations over the years (the 'agreement' on not cross-recruiting comes to mind), but none of Jobs' businesses were founded fundamentally on wholesale breaking and flouting of the law. So not such a great comparison there.