Snapchat Founders’ Grip Tightened After a Spat With an Early InvestorWhen Snap goes public next month, one of the biggest winners will be Lightspeed Venture Partners. Lightspeed, a Silicon Valley venture capital firm, was the first institution to invest in Snap, the company that popularized disappearing messages, and it is now set to reap more than $1 billion from what began as a mere $485,000 investment. But the big money for Lightspeed masks a complicated tale between the venture firm and Snap, the parent company of Snapchat. It is a story that offers a peek into the often opaque world of venture capital, into how start-ups begin and into the politics over money that accompany the relationships between companies and entrepreneurs. It is not a story that many of those involved want to discuss, especially with Snap executives now on a heavily hyped investor roadshow ahead of the public offering. One of the biggest questions that Snap has faced from potential investors is why its two founders, Evan Spiegel and Bobby Murphy, have retained such a hold on voting
power in the company — power that public shareholders will not gain. Exploring that question helps explain how years-ago dealings with venture capitalists helped lead to this point. [ NY Times ] While tech giants hire, startups fret — Has Brexit Britain become La La Land? If you’ve read the latest headlines about Britain’s tech industry, you’d think the country hadn’t been rocked by the greatest political and economic uncertainty since the Second World War. Not only are UK startups raising record amounts of funding year on year, but tech giants like Amazon are investing and doubling down on the UK economy, as if the mood music was taken straight from a dance scene in La La Land. Surely Brexit Britain is booming? [ Tech Crunch ] How Nasty Gal Went From an $85 Million Company to BankruptcyOnline retailer’s swift growth led to stumbles; amid turbulence, a culture gone ‘toxic’. The rapid rise and fall of Nasty Gal Inc., an online retailer once popular with millennial shoppers and venture capitalists, is culminating in a bankruptcy sale to a rival. 'Do not go into media if you do not have very thick skin': Founder of Bustle and Bleacher Report explains how he built 2 companies worth hundreds of millions by age 33ELON MUSK IS RUNNING OUT OF MONEYDuring a call with analysts, Musk warned that production of the new Model 3 will bring Tesla “very close to the edge.” [ Vanity Fair ] Uber says it’s not behind the phone calls to investigate Susan Fowler’s personal lifeThe engineer who claimed she experienced sexual harassment and sexism at Uber tweeted that people she knew were being asked for personal information about her. After a week of controversy — and heavy criticism from its employees, the media and some investors for allowing what one called a “toxic” work culture to thrive — Uber remains on the defense. Today, the company told Recode it’s not behind the calls and other methods of communication being made to people who may know Susan Fowler in search of “personal and intimate” information. It was the former engineer who wrote an explosive blog post about sexism and sexual harassment at the ride-hailing company earlier this week. [ Re/code ] |