In Silicon Valley, a Voice of Caution Scolds a High-Flying UberTravis Kalanick, the famously combative chief executive of Uber, took the stage at a Vanity Fair conference in San Francisco last October and quickly faced a prickly question. Why all the blunders at the company, Vanity Fair’s editor, Graydon Carter, asked. And had Mr. Kalanick learned anything? Off in the wings of the auditorium, Bill Gurley appeared to tense. Mr. Gurley has a lot riding on Uber. His venture capital firm, Benchmark, bought into Uber six years ago, when the ride-hailing company was a mere pipsqueak. Today, what was a 20 percent stake in Uber is worth billions. Mr. Gurley is a rare figure, a Silicon Valley habitué who chides some of the biggest start-up stars to show some discipline and drop their arrogant behavior. That day in October, Mr. Kalanick passed Mr. Gurley’s test. He answered calmly, saying that he could learn from leaders who had failed in the past. “We’ve made mistakes,” Mr. Kalanick said. “We always find a way to learn and to get better.” [ NY Times ] A Billion-Dollar Idea Is In Flux As ClassPass’s CEO Steps AsidePayal Kadakia will be replaced by Fritz Lanman, who is now tasked with growing what can be an unpredictable business model. ClassPass has proven that there is an appetite for an all-in-one pass to a smorgasbord of boutique fitness studios. The difficulty is in finding a price that satisfies customers, studios, and its own bottom line. Now, in another sign of the urgency of that quandary, the company’s founder, Payal Kadakia, says she’s stepping down from her role as CEO and will become executive chairman. Fritz Lanman, former executive chairman and co-operator at ClassPass, will take over as chief executive. Lanman also has two other companies, Doppler Labs and Verst. In a blog post today, Kadakia wasn’t exactly forthcoming about her reasons. “I have unwavering confidence in his ability to help make ClassPass everything I’ve always envisioned,” Kadakia wrote of Lanman. [ Fast Company ] A Silicon Valley Giant Blocked Its Investors From Selling Their Shares, Lawsuit Claims Palantir Technologies, one of the most valuable startups in Silicon Valley, has deprived investors of basic information about its business and repeatedly hindered efforts by investors to sell their shares, according to a blistering lawsuit filed by a longtime investor. In addition to keeping at least some shareholders in the dark about its financial performance, Palantir has “engaged in a pattern and practice” of attempting to thwart their attempts to sell stock, according to the lawsuit, filed by investment firm KT4 Partners. Instead of letting these investors sell shares, Palantir has steered their sale opportunities to itself or its executives, while showering a favored brokerage firm with commissions even when the firm does no work at all, the lawsuit claims. [ BuzzFeed ] The Secrets of Startup Guru Gil Penchina. Learnings from the ‘Unicorn’ ManGil Penchina likes to invest in startup founders that are slightly delusional.That kind of contrarian hunch has propelled Penchina into the super angel bracket, with five $1 billion exits to his name — a high water mark for early stage investing. Penchina single-handedly built the largest syndicated angel fund with over 500 backers and nearly $5 million per investment. His fund experienced an exit frenzy that includes LinkedIn, Paypal, Wealthfront, Cruise Automation, Dollar Shave Club, and Evite. His own tech and consulting career ranges from bulge bracket startup academies like GE and eBay, running his own shop as CEO of Wikia and co-founder of Fastly. I caught up with Gil recently (in full disclosure, I invest with Gil) and had the chance to talk to him about the state of the startup ecosystem and his secret formula for knowing if and when a founder has what it takes to go all the way. [ Startup Grind ] Documents Show Jared Kushner, Ivanka Trump to Divest Some Assets
Credy looks to digitize personal lending in IndiaLending platform Credy is looking to change the way people gain access to personal loans in India. The company, which is currently a part of Y Combinator’s Winter 2017 batch, is digitizing the process and improving access to capital for residents by opening up peer-to-peer loans to a wider group of borrowers and lenders. Credy is riding the wave of a few major reforms in India that will make it easier to identify applicants, determine their creditworthiness and increase digital banking. The first was the establishment and adoption of the Aadhaar ID system, which is the world’s largest biometric ID system with more than a billion Indian residents enrolled. [ Tech Crunch ] Tesla’s $169 Million Battery Play Is Just the BeginningAn audacious deal hatched on Twitter may start a new wave of electricity storage for cities, regions, and nations. Tesla is ready to power some grids. And not just in California or Australia. Last week, Elon Musk wagered he could address South Australia’s energy crisis with 100 megawatts (MW) of batteries installed in 100 days or less—“or it’s free.” The exchange blew up on Twitter and led to phone calls between Musk and leading Australian politicians, including Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull. (Ukraine Prime Minister Volodymyr Hroisman later chimed in that he’s interested, too.) [ Bloomberg ] Rose is the co-founder and CEO of Six Foods, a company that makes healthy, delicious, and sustainable foods with insects. She is a Forbes 30 under 30 social entrepreneur, ELLE USA Impact Award winner, Echoing Green climate fellow, MassChallenge Gold Winner, Harvard Dean's Design Challenge winner, and TEDx speaker. Rose worked in strategy and marketing at Abercrombie and Microsoft. In college, Rose managed HSA Cleaners and The Harvard Shop through Harvard Student Agencies, managing an annual budget of $1.5M. She also has a passion for education and sits on the board of an education non-profit, Wema Inc., in Kenya. Rose is a graduate of Harvard College and plans to matriculate to Harvard Business School in 2018 as a part of the 2+2 program. [ The native society ] VC JOBS : Partner Success Manager at WePay, Redwood City, US.Senior Data Scientist at WePay Redwood City, US.Consumer Product Manager at Checkr, San Francisco, US.Investigations Associate at Checkr, San Francisco,US.Data Scientist/Machine Learning Engineer at Casetext, San Francisco, US.Growth Hacker at Casetext, San Francisco, US.Director, Head of Platform and Community - New York Life Insurance Co, NY, US. |