Discussion

• @benedictevans Benedict Evans on threads

  Tech twitter is high school, if you let it be, and today there's a food fight in the cafeteria

• @mack70d.bsky.social @mack70d.bsky.social on bluesky

  The worst people in the world fighting amongst themselves.  Love to see it.

• @sama Sam Altman on x

  PG is one of the best all-around people i've ever met. to anyone who knows him well, this is a preposterous episode of “this week in twitter drama”. there are many actual anti-semites in the world; it is important we keep the power in the word and not let it get diluted. PG is

• @paulg Paul Graham on x

  @DavidSacks Do you really want the full story of what you did to Parker to be told publicly? Because it's the worst case of an investor maltreating a founder that I've ever heard, and I've heard practically all of them.

• @parkerconrad Parker Conrad on x

  Let me tell you, coups are this man's specialty.

• @shonaghosh Shona Ghosh on x

  A great advert for bootstrapping.

• @devahaz Deva Hazarika on x

  I've had a handful of non-tech people ask me wtf is going on here, so I'll try and explain the crazy drama currently transpiring in Tech/VC Twitter. This round started with this post. [image]

• @ericbahn Eric Bahn on x

  VC has a serious brand problem. All the bickering, finger pointing, name calling, ad hominem attacks within the industry are being noticed by founders. There are good VC humans on this side of the table, but this clowniness makes us all look bad.

• @ericnewcomer Eric Newcomer on x

  @DavidSacks we both went to harvard but we didn't overlap. certainly i like parker and your political views are terrible.

• @eastdakota Matthew Prince on x

  I know this story. It's very bad. Don't know if David is most evil person in SV. Lots of competition. But can say: we overlapped a year in law school and even way back then he had a reputation for being a complete asshole. And that was at @UChicagoLaw, which is full of assholes.

• @ericnewcomer Eric Newcomer on x

  I covered the Zenefits saga closely for Bloomberg & Businessweek and I have to say it was a moment that tarnished my view of media. I saw how powerful narratives are. It didn't make any sense to me that people like David Sacks and a16z would care so much about regulatory arcana

• @laurenbalik Lauren Balik on x

  David Sacks left open his flank last week. Very embarrassing for a man who considers himself a master strategist. 👉Last week: I posited that what is going to happen next is pressure will grow on what exactly he's been doing and investing in, and where his money comes from and [im…

• @jjacobs22 Jason Jacobs on x

  Vc Twitter this week has been like a walking advertisement for self funding, lol. Lots of people out there you don't ever want to be in the same room with, let alone on your cap table. Maybe the best differentiator is just being a decent human!

• @davidsacks David Sacks on x

  @EricNewcomer As I recall, you went to college with Parker and have been a useful media ally to him. You also have attacked me repeatedly for my political views. You tip your hand by claiming the issues were “arcana”. That's not the way regulators saw it. Read the official report…

• @crystalpepsi @crystalpepsi on x

  TLDR: a bunch of rich assholes are fighting online

• @nikitabier Nikita Bier on x

  The cost of mistreating someone in tech is always 10x more than you anticipate. Every poor decision I made as an impulsive 22 year old ended up coming back to me in the worst way possible. You may not get rewarded for doing the right thing, but you certainly won't be footing a

• @davidsacks David Sacks on x

  Here's a pretty outrageous example. I'm confident that our portfolio companies believe we are helpful, so PG is just making things up. Clearly some of the vitriol is related to my politics. [image]

• @mwseibel Michael Seibel on x

  I find it strange when people love Trump but don't love Trump style tactics...

• @bcmerchant Brian Merchant on x

  The VCs are on the cusp of airing their dirty laundry and allow me to say I am here for it [image]

• @pjux Siri Srinivas on x

  Stop dunking on David Sacks for being a shitty investor. Start dunking on him because he is a vile and nasty human. [image]

• @mahaniok Ihar Mahaniok on x

  I'm glad that finally David Sacks is getting the treatment he deserves.

• @shaunmmaguire Shaun Maguire on x

  I've had a hard time following this @paulg - @DavidSacks exchange today because PG blocked me long ago (as he has w/ many Jews) I wasn't there at Zenefits and I'm sure it was a horrible + stressful situation But I know Sacks and he's a loyal friend Keep an open mind ❤️

• @t3dotgg Theo on x

  Normally I stay out of VC drama, but I want to go on the record and say David Sacks is a parasitic leech you should keep far away from your company. If he hasn't caused damage yet, it's because he doesn't see your work as valuable enough.

• @realchrisrufo Christopher F. Rufo on x

  Many people attacking @DavidSacks, who, in my experience, is thoughtful, generous, no-nonsense. Silicon Valley is full of competitive people, many of whom hate David's support for Trump and resent that he's not only influential in business, but also, now, in media and politics.

• @davidsacks David Sacks on x

  Give a speech at the RNC, amazing what comes out of the woodwork. The right is making huge inroads in tech, and the left doesn't like it.

• @pitdesi Sheel Mohnot on x

  At the time, you were required to complete a 52-hour online course to get licensed to sell health insurance. Zenefits created a macro that made it seem like their employees had completed the course. Sacks said he wanted to terminate anyone in the company who was involved and

• @pitdesi Sheel Mohnot on x

  Quick background in case you missed this era: Zenefits was among the highest flying companies- raised $500M in '15 (back when that was a huge deal 😂). They missed some revenue targets and had compliance issues along the way (that got blown out of proportion). Sacks was COO,

• @davidsacks David Sacks on x

  They want me to choose. That's what this is about. They won't get their way.

• @jdionnecomedy John Dionne on x

  @pitdesi I worked at Zenefits during this time period. It was a 40 hour requirement, and I'm not kidding, the last 8 hours were blank, but you had to move your mouse around or it would pause. So someone wrote a simple script to refresh, and that got blown into, “they're using bot…

• @mwseibel Michael Seibel on x

  Asking founders you invested in to tweet positive testimonials on your behalf when your past comes back to haunt you... does this work?

• @sqs Quinn Slack on x

  +1 to this. @DavidSacks is fantastic for @sourcegraph as an investor, advisor, and board member. He has supported us in risky, bold bets, and he knows how to get to the root cause of any problem really well and help solve it. I've recommended Sacks and Craft to many other

• @ryanrneu Ryan Neu on x

  My 2 cents working with @DavidSacks, building @VendrHQ (a top @ycombinator company). -Shoots me straight, no games -Has my back, especially in tough times -Always picks up the phone, willing to do the work -Puts founders first If I start a new company, he's my first call

• @dj_curfew Zeb Evans on x

  .@DavidSacks was our first investor, on our board for 4 years, and has been nothing but unilaterally founder first. He's the first person I call when there's a big problem, and 100% of the time he works through solutions with my interests in mind. I can unequivocally say in

• @davidsacks David Sacks on x

  Thanks @beyang. The truth is that I've been in the business 25 years and had few problems. I am a founder myself so I understand the challenges that come with the territory. One guy has nursed a vendetta for years that @paulg has adopted as his own, despite not knowing me

• @beyang @beyang on x

  In my experience as a founder, @DavidSacks has been nothing but helpful and supportive through a tumultuous period for startups. I hear the same from founder friends (many YC co's) that he has invested in. Outside of tech, one thing I appreciated was he joined @garrytan in

• @davidsacks David Sacks on x

  You were sanctioned by the SEC. Nobody else, only you. But you've spent the last decade trying to shift the blame onto others for your own poor ethics. 🤡 [image]

• @pjux Siri Srinivas on x

  This is turning into the Netflix roast of David Sacks

• @davidsacks David Sacks on x

  I haven't asked any founders to tweet on my behalf. They did it on their own. You could have asked them yourself. But I guess it's par for the course for YC mafia to make up lies and innuendo. Thought you were better than that.

• @denehyxxl Ryan Denehy on x

  @parkerconrad Someone should also tell Sacks that in a coup you don't generally take power and then fly the thing you just took over into the side of a mountain

• @paulg Paul Graham on x

  @TylerGriffith11 @parkerconrad I don't need a sixth sense. I know he's an awful person from things he's done.

• @paulg Paul Graham on x

  @parkerconrad (Jessica warned Parker when he first hired David Sacks. Score one for the Social Radar.)

• @teddypowday Teddy Blank on x

  David sacks invested in my startup and he was nothing but supportive of the business and of me as a founder. When we needed to FPV dronestrike one specific ukrainian artillery position he made a phone call and boom 10 min later it was done. Excellent board member

• @chamath Chamath Palihapitiya on x

  There is so much to say about this. We will document and talk about all of it this week on @theallinpod. PS - with receipts (even deleted ones!). 🌶️ 🍿

• @davidsacks David Sacks on x

  @paulg First of all, I've never met you or had any dealings with you, and you weren't involved in the events that you're purporting to know something about, so your antipathy towards me is strange. I heard first-hand from an impeccable source that in the wake of the Gaza debate, …

• @davidsacks David Sacks on x

  Btw, I had to use a screenshot because this guy blocks me while QT'ing me. Classic move of a whiny little bitch.

• r/technology r on reddit

  Here's why David Sacks, Paul Graham and other big Silicon Valley names had a brawl on X over VC behavior

• r/bayarea r on reddit

  Here's why David Sacks, Paul Graham and other big Silicon Valley names had a brawl on X over VC behavior