CEO of Cleo resigns after it was discovered that her resume contained lies

https://www.forbes.com/sites/bizcarson/2019/06/18/exclusive-investigation-how-lies-and-a-troubled-workplace-brought-down-shannon-spanhake-cleo/

by guyhance • 7 years ago

31 8 7 years ago

forbes.com

bsg75• 7 years ago

"There was not enough hustle..."

Canned phrases from company leadership is too often a sign of cluelessness. In practical terms is means the CxO does not know how to grow or improve the business, and falls back on "Work more! Work harder! Forget smarter!"

Also:

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/hustle

2b: "to sell something to or obtain something from (someone) by energetic and especially underhanded activity"

strikelaserclaw• 7 years ago

Jeez, are these really the big ideas coming from SV these days? Pedestrian applications of technology to mundane problems which deserve billion dollar valuations?

gumby• 7 years ago

No, but a lot of the people building tech ideas, or other big ideas, are too busy to be in the magazines.

There are still WhatsApps, quietly building a huge customer base with nobody paying attention except the actual users. A bunch of interesting semiconductor work going on (various "AI" chips, too many to succeed; SiFive grinding away slowly but surely, invisible to all but us nerds, etc); I think what my company is working on (barely an SV company with only two in northern CA) could change the global economy, yet we barely had time to put up a static website.

But since "tech" has replaced car magazines, computer magazines, and some sports writing, people show up to write about whatever looks interesting, and what looks interesting is 1> understandable to someone not steeped in it (TBF that's true of the readers as well) and 2> has people who will seek you out to tell you how amazing they are. I'm fascinated that that article mentioned more than once that their B round was a steep percentage! Oh, it didn't; it only quoted some large-sounding numbers and let the reader do the math themselves. Probably the reporter has no idea how it works either.

Most of the action is in the Valley, where there are fewer deals, though more money being spent. There's much more deal flow in SF, typically for plans like this one that need less capital in the earlier stages -- giving more to write about in a nicer place to be walking around than down here in SV.

So don't worry, big things are happening, but the revolutions always start out under ground.

la_barba• 7 years ago

The other thing is tech writers have become victims of click-bait too. Unfortunately, due to tech being integrated across such a wide variety of industries, they can't realistically be expected to understand how the underlying technology works, even if we assume they were super tech savvy to begin with. They might Google a few sources or just partially regurgitate manufacturers claims. They can't do any kind of in-depth research because it would exceed the time allotted, and it probably doesn't matter anyway, because more quality is very rarely rewarded with more ad-revenue unless you're an established brand like NYT/Forbes/Guardian etc.

greenyoda2• 7 years ago

One bullet point from the slideshow spelled it out: “Expect to work 50-60 hour weeks.” Her presentation got cut short before she could get to the next part. The company’s work-from-home policy was being eliminated.
The harangue stunned some of Cleo’s employees, who felt that it flew in the face of the company’s mission to create a better workplace for parents. One employee handed in the company laptop and walked out the door, quitting that afternoon.

So this CEO didn't believe in her company's mission enough to apply it at her own company?

charlesdm• 7 years ago

She lied about her age and her graduation date, and then a few other things.

What's the point of lying about your age? I can't imagine a 36 year old is less likely to be funded than a 42 year old?

lnanek2• 7 years ago

Does it say she made herself look older? Investors generally prefer younger AFAICT. It's assumed if someone is 42 and not successful yet, they never will be, but someone 20 has a chance and will be more in touch with modern technology. A lot of Y-combinator events target high schoolers, even. IBM has also gotten in trouble a lot for unfairly eliminating old people. I would think she would have made herself look younger.

greenyoda2• 7 years ago

The article says her actual age was 42 (according to voting records), but she claimed to be 36.

CEO of Cleo resigns after it was discovered that her resume contained lies

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