All three founders of online trading service Pipe are stepping down as the company looks for a “veteran” CEO; Pipe raised $250M at a $2B valuation in May 2021
Setting the scene — The co-founders of revenue-based financing … Nancy Dahlberg / Refresh Miami : Pipe co-founders step down and search for ‘veteran’ CEO is launched Jeff Kauflin / Forbes : Three Cofounders Of $2 Billion Fintech Pipe Resign Abruptly, Citing Inexperience Tweets: Natasha / @nmasc_ : holiday week news drop continues i don't think i've ever seen an entire founding team step down, at the same time, without notable underlying issues https://techcrunch.com/... @vibhu : Reminder to myself, next time there is a hyper bull market for tech, start a co to underwrite massive loans to startups that no bank would ever underwrite. Raise a lot of cash and sell huge secondary late stage. Then parachute out just as things get tough. Great playbook. https://twitter.com/... Mark Tanner / @marketanner : Dylan and I were on a four year vest from day one. We actually extended / stretched the back half of our vesting. It's important for many reasons and is the only fair option to all other stakeholders in the co. https://twitter.com/... @josephpalbanese : “We're 0-1 builders, not at-scale operators” and we're going to keep our board seats even though we're definitely not at-scale operators. pathetic. what sensible leadership walks into this nightmare and expects anything fair or honest. such a terrible look. so angry. https://twitter.com/... https://twitter.com/... Jacob Silverman / @silvermanjacob : I'm sure it's fine. https://twitter.com/... @elohogm : Pipe seems like such a great company. - Launched in 2019 with $6m - $250m at $2B in 2021 - Led by a Brit in the US - 3 co-founders are its largest shareholders - Has supported 22K companies to finance $7B ARR - Growing 3x this year - 5 years of runway https://techcrunch.com/... Sara Mauskopf / @sm : Could you imagine a founding team of 3 women doing this and not being absolutely murdered in the press? How much money did these guys take off the table? https://twitter.com/... Alex Johnson / @alexh_johnson : Don't you normally do this type of announcement *after* you find someone to replace you? https://techcrunch.com/... Dare Obasanjo / @carnage4life : 3 co-founders of a buzzy fintech all deciding that running a company is hard and they'd like to find ‘veteran’ executives because they're “0-1 builders, not at-scale operators” is tough news for employees and anyone who doubts a fintech reckoning is coming https://techcrunch.com/... @josephpalbanese : standardize 6-year or even 10-year vests for founders. make it public within co. people signed up for your leadership and vision. took a bet. assuming they're fully vested, that cap table now lacks flexibility and early leaders that push innovation. https://techcrunch.com/... Bryce Roberts / @bryce : Not sure I've ever seen an entire founding team step down, let alone from a company valued at north of $2B https://techcrunch.com/... Jason Mikula / @mikulaja : All three co-founders stepping down simultaneously & announcing it *before* finding a replacement CEO seems... weird? https://techcrunch.com/...