
Uber's Travis Kalanick punches back against the Benchmark lawsuit targeting him - mudil
http://www.latimes.com/business/technology/la-fi-tn-travis-kalanick-benchmark-20170818-story.html
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jeremynixon
It's not just Shervin Pishevar that wants Benchmark off the board. Ron Burkle
(Yucaipa Cos) and Adam Leber (Maverick) also penned the letter requesting that
they divest.

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andirk
They should sue Benchmark but use the same lawyers, as to not crowd the
building. It's in the Tenderloin and it's kinda sketch outside, day or night.

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0x8BADF00D
Uber is certainly not in the Tenderloin, it's closer to Hayes Valley or Skid
Row.

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DonHopkins
That's where the Wine Connoisseurs hang out on the sidewalks!

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TheSpiceIsLife
I have to wonder...

I've seen the inside of a court room a few times, it's really not my favourite
past time. Maybe civil is more fun than criminal.

What I'm getting at is, wouldn't you rather go skiing, or hiking, or hanging
out with friends or family. Or whatever your thing is.

Wouldn't you, at some point, just think "righteo, this ain't that fun, let's
just agree to something already"? Or do these things take on a life of their
own and sweep you away with them? Or are people really just that keen to prove
how right they are?

Do you think anyone, on their death bed thinks "I wish I'd spent more time
sueing the pants off everyone."

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omot
I think it's more of a sunk cost thing. Like gosh I've spent the last 8 waking
years to get to this place. I'm not letting these investors screw me over.
Even if he goes skiing or hiking, or hanging out with friends or family its
going to gnaw at him for the rest of his life.

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clairity
i get what your saying, but want to add some precision:

1) using the term "sunk cost" is not quite correct here - sunk cost implies
that the future value doesn't justify continued investment. in this case, it's
likely that further investment (in time and cost of this court case) results
in billions of dollars in value to one or both of the litigants. it's in fact
very rational to pursue this litigation because there is real monetary gain at
stake (and not simply the face-saving variety).

2) there's a fairness issue at play: "i did the work so i should get the
reward.", or "i provided the money, so i should get the reward." you have to
balance these two impulses fairly, not just for this case, but for future
iterations of the game (in the game theory sense). for future iterations, it
is "worth" applying a punishment now (in the form of an expensive court case)
so that future rewards are meted out fairly as well.

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kevinpet
If we're going to have pedantry, lets make sure we have correct pedantry.

"sunk cost" just means that a cost has been paid, and it's non-recoverable.
When it comes up, it's usually to point out that only the future cost and
benefits matter when making a decision.

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clairity
not seeing the disagreement... what's at odds here?

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lttlrck
Perhaps this line? ‘implies that the future value doesn't justify continued
investment‘

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bgitarts
Good for Travis and for founders in general.

He probably is the guy to run a business like Uber. In an industry rife with
corruption that often resorts to bully tactics, you need someone who will not
bend on vision and principles because of personal threats.

He could have sat back and avoided a public smear capaign and retire to nice
life as a billionaire. Instead he choose to fight for what he believes is
right.

One has to believe that given the options for him, the choice to resist is not
about money for him. It maybe about ego and his desire to change the course of
history, but the latter is probably good for Uber if he gets to stay on.

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throwaway0071
We're seeing some of his principles are what landed Uber in this situation in
the first place. So I'd be more careful with idolizing him. This is not the
first or last drama from Uber. There are many other companies having similar
impact in the world (or better) without using illegal methods.

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abogdanovich
Who do you mean "we"?

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noncoml
I can only imagine the morale of the Uber employees at the moment.

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subroutine
A few uber employees showed up in a thread yesterday and showed support for
Kalanick. One employee comment i found interesting wrote:

 _Travis had a deep empathy for the challenges of building successful
products, and would offer tremendous grace and thoughtful advice to his team
solving problems in the trenches. When projects went sideways, and we
presented numbers that were less than stellar, Travis was both empathetic and
optimistic while offering actionable guidance and a path forward. "Bro
culture" is a loaded term and the wrong one to describe the environment Travis
cultivated. He had tremendous focus on the problems at hand and pushed his
team to operate with a sense of urgency to solve them. If anything I think he
cared too much about each individual problem, which propelled his teams
forward but sometimes left him too deep in the details of his business rather
than focusing on the big picture._

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totalZero
Interesting. For me the strange part is that it's written like a eulogy.

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ben_jones
As in it leaves out any bad parts?

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subroutine
Well, I think most people are already aware of the bad parts (which was very
apparent context of the original thread).

