Introduction
the hullabaloo began after Sacks posted a political opinion about Republicans and Democrats in an x Posts on Wednesday Using the words fake coup canard threw a bord by replying let me tell you coups are this man’s Specialty
A decade-old drama involving VC David Sacks and Rippling founder Parker Conrad over their previous company Zenefits has blown up this week into a finger-pointing fight on X with many among the Silicon Valley elite taking sides.
But, as entertaining as it may be for observers, some have weighed in to say that such fights are becoming damaging to all VCs.
Conrad was referring to the meltdown of Zenefits, the previous HR tech company that he founded. Sacks was an investor in Zenefits who joined as COO. Conrad was ousted from Zenefits after allegations arose around improper employee licensing and Sacks took over as CEO. (Sacks left Zenefits not long after that. In 2022, the company sold to TriNet.)
Conrad never forgave Sacks for not issuing a friendly founder-leaving announcement. The press release at the time blamed Conrad for governance issues. Conrad went on to launch another HR tech company that he leads as CEO Rippling and has grown its billion valuation .
Sacks replied to Conrad 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 poor ethics.”
It should be noted that Conrad and Zenefits settled an SEC investigation and paid fines without admitting fault. But no matter, almost immediately after Sacks posted his reply, swords were drawn all over Silicon Valley.
Y Combinator co-founder Paul Graham entered the conversation, writing: “Do you 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.” In another post he called Sacks, “evil.”
Sacks wrote a lengthy, scathing reply saying that the two had never met, pointing to the SEC investigation, and accusing Graham of some underhanded behavior toward Jewish VCs, although Sacks (who is Jewish) did not supply evidence to support such allegations.
Then Cloudflare co-founder Matthew Prince weighed in siding with Conrad against Sacks, who he says he knew in college. “I know this story. It isn’t very good. I don’t know if David is the most evil person in SV. Lots of competition.”
Other VCs pointed out that founders should know who they are allowing into their companies. “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!” Climate VC Jason Jacobs