
Travis Kalanick reportedly sought to reassert control at Uber after ouster - mgiannopoulos
https://techcrunch.com/2017/08/05/travis-kalanick-reportedly-sought-to-reassert-control-at-uber-after-ouster/
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colbyh
For better or worse I think there are quote a few Uber employees that will
support this move if it happens. The number of employees publicly speaking out
for Travis is just the tip of the iceberg.

Case in point - a female friend just completed a round of interviews there and
was shocked to find that multiple interviewers openly commented about how
badly they wanted Travis back, and how the sexism scandal was overblown. All
male employees I should point out.

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codebutler
I work at Uber. This behavior is totally inappropriate and I'm really sorry to
hear your friend had this experience. My Twitter DMs are open (@codebutler) if
you would like to share any more detail.

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colbyh
I appreciate that and I'll ping my friend to see if she wants to reach out.

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flunhat
I've found this video from 2011 to be kind of interesting in terms of
illuminating how his history as an entrepreneur has shaped his attitude
running Uber today (TL;DR - he failed and got screwed over a lot).

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2QrX5jsiico](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2QrX5jsiico)

~~~
x0x0
video summary

    
    
       Scout 
       * preyed on by predatory vcs (sued by first vc to improve terms even after LOI expired;
         vc leaked lawsuit to WSJ to scare off other investors)
    
       Red Swoosh
       * cofounder tried to sell team behind his back;
       * team went without pay for multiple months
       * cofounder fucked up and didn't pay witholding taxes to IRS (NB: IRS can and will
         personally pursue officers of the company)
       * nearly went out of business multiple times
       * last eng quit via twitter / AOL saw this and spiked a deal
       * got a 4-way deal (worth watching at about 25:00 or so)
       * acquired by akamai for $23m
    

It's worth watching

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tryingagainbro
Uber essentially was illegal and still is in many places, cab license and all.
It needed to get so big, so fast to make it a fact. A typical Harvard MBA with
a suit and tie would have failed. IMO they still need a guy willing to break
the rules

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Animats
Uber needs a CEO who can maintain the reality-distortion field. Otherwise, the
valuation will collapse and they'll have trouble getting new investors.

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sillysaurus3
Is there any evidence that kicking Kalanick helped Uber?

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geofft
I am trying to determine what evidence I would expect to find after 47 days to
either support or oppose this hypothesis.

Since it's a privately owned company, we don't have a lot of detail about
either stock performance or revenue / profit, and even so, I'm not sure that
you'd be able to attribute changes on this timeframe (either for the better or
for the worse) to Kalanick leaving.

On the other hand, since it's privately held, arguably what helps Uber is that
its investors (owners) are happy with it, and they requested that he leave.
So, yes?

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sillysaurus3
Kalanick is the majority owner, so maybe he'll come back on board.

The reason I ask is because I've heard that companies that kick their founders
generally fail. I'm not sure how true that is, but people on HN said it was
common during the bubble.

It could be true that 2017 is different, that times have changed and that to
win Uber needs to move forward without Kalanick. But the employees generally
felt that he was doing a good job. All in all, it's a confusing situation.

~~~
BoiledCabbage
> The reason I ask is because I've heard that companies that kick their
> founders generally fail.

Possibly because that companies that are so screwed up internally that they
have to kick their founder out are destined to fail. And kicking the founder
out doesn't change their course enough to fix it.

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DrScump

      companies that kick their founders generally fail
    

Don't companies "generally fail" on average, period? (>50%)

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the_mitsuhiko
Uber will be a very interesting company to look back in 20 years I feel. There
are a lot of lessons in there, but not sure which ones yet.

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smithsmith
Like it or not, only the founder cares about the company. So the founders
attitude should be forced to change and not change the founder itself. If Uber
brings Meg Whitman then she will do the same what she did to HP. Split in to
multiple pieces (HPE, e.t.c) and then sell em all, because only the founder
cares.

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happy-go-lucky
Uber must be his brainchild. Let him take care of it. Give him one more
chance.

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BoiledCabbage
How many chances do you think he should be given?"

Frequently implied answer: "I don't really know but i feel it should be one
more than the number of chances he's already been given and blown."

Not necessarily saying that's your opinion - it just aligns with other
conversations I've had.

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chatmasta
It's his company (literally, he owns the majority of stock), so I think the
answer is "as many chances as he damn well pleases."

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kgwgk
The majority as in 12%? It's not his company.

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Tinyyy
He owns shares with 10x votes, and thus the majority of the voting rights.

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kgwgk
But that is not exactly the same as owning the majority of the shares or
owning the company.

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sjg007
Doesn't he have the majority of stock? Can't he just make it so?

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kyrre
you can't keep a good man down

