Skip to main content

$3 billion Carta bypassed its Marketing VP to include this 'offensive' slide citing slavery in its Series E pitch-deck: lawsuit

* Carta disregarded its vice president of marketing's objections to a slide referencing "slavery" and startup equity ownership, according to a lawsuit filed Tuesday. * Emily Kramer was subject to gender discrimination and retaliation during her two year stint as the only female executive at Carta, according to the complaint. * She was excluded from decision-making and reprimanded when she objected to including the slide on the grounds that it was "offensive," the complaint says. * Carta spokeswoman Lauren O'Mahony declined to comment on the lawsuit. * Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories. When Carta was fundraising in 2019 for what would become a $300 million funding round led by Andreessen Horowitz, the company included a depiction of feudal fieldworkers that rubbed some people the wrong way. That slide, and how the company handled it, is a key detail in a new lawsuit filed Tuesday by Carta's former vice president of marketing, Emily Kramer, who claimed she was excluded from the pitchdeck process and reprimanded when she tried to stop the company from displaying the slide at a big tech conference. A screenshot of the slide, obtained by Business Insider, shows a short timeline of labor, beginning with "slavery" and ending with "ownership". "Ownership" is a reference to Carta's main product, an equity management software which helps startups track who owns shares in the company. Kramer said she was concerned that having the word "slavery" in a pitchdeck would be triggering for its viewers, but that she was reprimanded when she suggested it be removed. She told both Ward and human resources that she found the slide "offensive" but it stayed in the pitchdeck, according to the complaint.  "It's just an insensitive slide and a message that could be told in a much more thoughtful and mindful matter," Kramer told Business Insider. The pitchdeck is just one example in the lawsuit, which alleges that Kramer was subject to gender discrimination and retaliation during her two year stint as the only female executive at the company. Kramer stepped down in November 2019, after Carta CEO Henry Ward called her an "asshole" and told her she had been given "passes" because she is a woman, according to the suit. Carta spokeswoman Lauren O'Mahony declined to comment on the lawsuit. SEE ALSO: A female exec is suing $3 billion Carta, alleging that the CEO likened her to an alcoholic who needed to recover from her 'a--hole' problem Join the conversation about this story » NOW WATCH: Why American sunscreens may not be protecting you as much as European sunscreens
https://bit.ly/3jxFq8m

Popular posts from this blog

Here's an exclusive look at the pitch deck London fintech Lanistar used to raise $19 million at a $190 million valuation

* London-based fintech startup Lanistar has raised a £15 million ($19 million) funding round from Milaya Capital.  * Founded in 2019, Lanistar is building a personal financial management platform that will launch later in 2020.  * "We're expecting a huge amount of growth upon our launch and have already seen strong interest among our sign ups," Gurhan Kiziloz, founder and CEO of Lanistar, told Business Insider. * Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.  The coronavirus lockdown in the UK has brought the importance of managing money into sharp relief. A recent study from Money.com shows that 71% of UK households have saved cash during lockdown, and, with uncertainty about jobs and the economy looming, money management is now front of mind for many. Lanistar, a banking platform with a focus on personal finance, is one company offering tools for consumers to better manage their money. It has just raised a £15 million ($19 million) funding round from Mil...
Read more

How a trusted investor saved Attentive CEO Brian Long from building a 'disaster'

* Attentive is a buzzy New York ad tech startup. * But it might never have been born if investor Scott Friend, a partner with Bain Capital Ventures, hadn't told founder and CEO Brian Long that his original idea for the company was mediocre. * Friend and Long had met and grew to trust one another when Friend invested in Long's previous startup, TapCommerce, which sold to Twitter for $100 million in 2014. * Long had VCs pounding down his door offering excellent terms for his second idea, he told Business Insider. He had the product built and a big customer. * But Friend convinced him that his idea wouldn't pan out in the long run, Friend told us. * Because Long trusted Friend, he listened and Attentive was born: a company that makes a mobile messaging app used by over 3,000 brands and organizations, including Coach, Sephora. * Here's how their friendship helped turn Attentive into a company that might "go on forever." * Visit Business Insider's homepa...
Read more

SpaceX has a 'go' from NASA to return 2 astronauts to Earth on Sunday as Hurricane Isaias threatens several Florida splashdown locations

* NASA on Saturday gave SpaceX a "go" to undock the company's first crewed space mission, called Demo-2, and land it on Sunday evening. * Hurricane Isaias complicated original plans to return two astronauts to Earth aboard SpaceX's Crew Dragon spaceship in the Atlantic Ocean. * Elon Musk's aerospace company may now try to splash down NASA astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley in the Gulf of Mexico. * Two out of seven total landing sites near Florida must have good weather conditions, and NASA has until about 5 p.m. ET on Saturday to call off the undocking. * Should the weather worsen, NASA and SpaceX can try again a day later or some other date over the next two months. * Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories. Astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley have a "go" to return to Earth this weekend and wrap up an historic space mission for both NASA and SpaceX.  Behnken and Hurley launched to orbit aboard SpaceX's Crew Dragon vehic...
Read more