ann laigeneral partner of bullpen capital, has been fired from the firm, she says. The investor described the termination experience as “discriminatory and retaliatory” in a LinkedIn post published Monday. Lai helped raise Bullpen Capital’s newest fund, a $145 million investment vehiclethe first investment vehicle in which she was named an equal partner.
Prior to joining Bullpen Capital in September 2020, Lai was a director at Binary Capital, co-founded by investor Justin Caldbeck. When she resigned from that firm she attributed it to macho behavior that she said she witnessed while there. He claimed that Caldbeck, who has been accused of sexual harassment in the past, told her that he would blacklist her from the industry if she spoke up. Lai said that she filed a lawsuit, eventually settled, so that she could break her NDA and tell others the reason for her departure, as well as help others in the industry break their hush-hush contracts.
Her return to investment was marked by her hiring as an attending physician at Bullpen, as the firm’s first female partner and first black partner.
“The whole point of my original case [with Binary] it’s that such behaviors are not covered by non-disparagement,” Lai told TechCrunch. “I specifically took it out of the GP deal for Bullpen, not thinking I would ever need it. “If it were like any other time, the only narrative would be theirs. And then I would have no options.”
According to TechCrunch’s understanding, Lai’s formal departure communications came entirely through legal counsel. Lai did not accept a severance package from Bullpen Capital at the time of his firing. When asked for comment, he declined to say further, referring inquiries to his attorney, Michael Liftik of Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, who declined to comment beyond providing the following statement:
“Ann did not choose to leave the Bullpen and was not presented with the opportunity to stay past the end of April. We believe that they forced her out of it, illegally, because she was not afraid to speak her mind and share her views. While robust debate among the other white male partners was apparently tolerated, this was unacceptable when it came from Ann, the only female and minority in the partnership. Ann remains committed to the various founders she brought to Bullpen and the LPs with whom she shared her vision of a data-driven due diligence process.”
In a comment to TechCrunch, a Bullpen spokesperson said they will not comment on personnel matters. “We are disappointed by Ms. Lai’s recent comments about the Bullpen and do not agree with them.”
on Linkedin, Lai described the society at the firm as a “white male, male society” in which “equality” was never truly equal. Of his time at the company, he claims he had to “defend female founders when they are baselessly called ‘unreliable’ or ‘unconvincing,'” lobbying for male founders within the Bullpen network to submit to due process. standard due diligence and fight back. at meetings after being called “a waste of time” at partner meetings.
The firm, through a spokesperson, said Bullpen promotes “a collaborative culture of healthy discussion and varied perspectives among our entire team, which is essential for finding unproven companies with high potential.”
Bullpen added: “Our achievements in this area predate and are independent of Ms. Lai’s addition to the firm, and our commitment is as strong as ever. We are focused on moving forward without compromising our founding vision of partnering with strong founders with the perseverance to become market leaders and generate attractive returns for LPs.” Lai’s lawyer did not comment in response to Bullpen’s statement.
Meanwhile, Lai told the LPs in her post that she “was committed to delivering what we had marketed and promised for Fund VI. She would never quit so abruptly and irresponsibly.”
As part of his layoff, Lai was not allowed to sit on the boards of his existing portfolio companies, including ChairmanMe, created by CEO Sarah Lacy, a former TechCrunch journalist. Bullpen continues to own shares in Lacy’s company, as one of its biggest investors.
Lacy believes that Lai’s experience is emblematic of a larger problem within Silicon Valley. she wrote a public LinkedIn post saying that what happened to Lai is an example of “why simply hiring more GPs hasn’t changed this industry, why, despite the increase in women getting these jobs, the percentage of capital going into underrepresented founders has decreased. “
“Was it a feature or a bug that someone like Ann was, once again, banned for not playing the game?” Lacy wrote.
Lai says Bullpen has yet to contact her since she went public with her account of the termination.
If you have advice or a tip about other personnel changes in the corporate world, you can contact Natasha Mascarenhas on Twitter @nmasc_ or on Signal at +1 925 271 0912. Requests for anonymity will be respected.
—————————————————-
Source link