Anne Lay, the general partner at Bullpen Capital, was fired from the company, she says. The investor described the termination experience as “discriminatory and vindictive” in a LinkedIn post published Monday. Lai helped raise Bullpen Capital’s latest fund, a $145 million investment vehicle, the first investment vehicle in which she was appointed as an equal partner.
Prior to joining Bullpen Capital in September 2020, Lai was a Senior Director at Binary Capital, which was co-founded by investor Justin Caldbeck. When she quit that company she attributed it to the sexual behavior she said she witnessed while there. She alleged Caldbeck, who has been accused of sexual harassment in the past, told her he would blacklist her from the industry if she spoke out. Lai said she filed a lawsuit — which was eventually settled — to be able to break her non-disclosure agreement and tell others why she left. , as well as helping others in the industry bypass contracts that guarantee silence.
Her return to investing was marked by her employment as a general practitioner at the bullpen, as the firm’s first female partner and first female partner of color.
“The whole point of my original case (with Binary) is that behaviors like this are not covered by irreverence,” Lay told TechCrunch. “I copied them specifically from the bullpen’s GP convention, and didn’t think I’d ever need them.” If it’s like any other time, the only combo would be them. And then I don’t have any options.”
TechCrunch understands that Lai’s official exit communications occurred entirely through legal counsel. Lai did not accept Bullpen Capital’s severance package at the time of her termination. Asked about comment, she declined to say more, referring to inquiries to her attorneys Quinn Emanuel Urquhart and Sullivan Michael Levtek, who declined comment other than providing the following statement:
Ann did not choose to leave the bullpen and was not given an opportunity to stay past the end of April. We believe she was forced out, illegally, because she was not afraid to speak her mind and share her opinions. While strong argument between other white male partners was clearly tolerated, This was unacceptable when it came from Ann, the sole and minority woman in the partnership. Ann remains committed to the diverse founders she has brought to the bullpen and the LPs with whom she has shared her vision of a data-informed due diligence process.”
In a comment to TechCrunch, a Bullpen spokesperson said they would not comment on personnel matters. “We are disappointed by Ms. Lai’s recent comments about the bullpen, and we strongly disagree with her.”
On LinkedIn, Lai described the partnership at the company as “an all-white partnership” where “‘equal’ has never really been equal”. During her time with the company, she claims to have had to “defend founders when they are unfoundedly called ‘untrustworthy’ or ‘unconvincing’, push male founders within the bullpen to undergo standard due diligence, and defend herself in meetings after she was described “Waste of time” in partner meetings.
The company said, through a spokesperson, that the bullpen promotes “a collaborative culture of healthy discussion and diverse viewpoints among our entire team, which is essential to finding unproven companies with high potential.”
Polbin added, “Our achievements in this area precede and are independent of Ms. Lai joining the company, 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 of becoming market leaders and generating attractive corporate returns.” Limited Partnership. Lai’s lawyer did not comment on Polbin’s statement.
Meanwhile, Lay tells LPs in her post that she is “committed to delivering what we marketed and promised for Box Six. I’m not going to leave that abruptly and irresponsibly.”
As part of her termination, Lai was not allowed to remain on the boards of her existing portfolio companies — including ChiefMe, which was built by CEO Sarah Lacy, a former TechCrunch journalist. Bullpen continues to own stock in the Lacy Corporation, as one of its largest investors.
Lacey believes Lai’s experiment is symbolic of a larger cause within Silicon Valley. She wrote a public post on LinkedIn saying what happened to Lai is an example of “why hiring more GPs hasn’t changed the industry, and why even though women have increased access to these jobs, the percentage of capital going to minus founders has gone down.” the acting. . “
“Was it a merit or a fault that someone like Ann got kicked out — again — for not playing the game?” Lacey Books.
Lai says Bullpen has not yet reached out to her since she went public with her version of the termination.
If you have advice or leadership about other personnel changes in the project world, you can reach Natasha Mascarenhas on Twitter @nmasc_ or on Signal at +1 925 271 0912. Anonymity requests will be respected.