Ann Lai says she was fired from Bullpen Capital after helping deliver a $145M fund
Reading Time: 2 minutesAnn Lai, a general partner at 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 on Monday. Lai helped raise Bullpen Capital’s most recent fund, a $145 million investment vehicle, the first investment vehicle in which she was named an equal partner.
Before joining Bullpen Capital in September 2020, Lai was a principal at Binary Capital, co-founded by investor Justin Caldbeck. When she resigned from that firm she attributed it to the sexist behavior that she said she witnessed while there. She claimed that Caldbeck, who has been accused of sexual harassment in the past, told her he would blacklist her from the industry if she spoke up. Lai said that she filed a lawsuit – ultimately settled – to be able to break her NDA and tell others the reason behind her departure., as well as help others in the industry break past silence-guaranteeing contracts.
Her return to investing was marked by her hire as a GP at Bullpen, as the firm’s first female partner and first partner of color.
On LinkedIn, Lai described the partnership at the firm as an ‘all-white, all-male partnership’ in which ”equal’ wasn’t ever truly equal.’ Of her time in the firm, she claims that she had to ‘defend female founders when they’re baselessly called ‘untrustworthy’ or ‘uncompelling,” push for male founders within Bullpen’s network to undergo standard due diligence, and stand up for herself in meetings after being called ‘a waste of time’ in partner meetings.
The firm, through a spokesperson, said that Bullpen promotes ‘a collaborative culture of healthy debate and varied perspectives among our entire team, which is essential to finding unproven companies with high potential.’
Bullpen added: ‘Our accomplishments in this area predate and are independent of Ms. Lai joining the firm, and our commitment is as strong as ever. We are focused on moving forward without compromising on our founding vision of partnering with strong founders with the perseverance to become market leaders and generating attractive returns for LPs.’ Lai’s lawyer did not have a comment in response to Bullpen’s statement.
Lai, meanwhile, told LPs in her post that she ‘was committed to delivering what we had marketed & promised for Fund VI. I would never quit so abruptly & irresponsibly.’
Lacy believes Lai’s experience is emblematic of a larger issue within Silicon Valley. She wrote a public LinkedIn post saying that what happened to Lai is an example of ‘why just hiring more female GPs has not changed this industry, about why despite the increase of women getting these jobs, the percentage of capital going to underrepresented founders has decreased. ‘
‘Was it a feature or a bug that someone like Ann has been – once again– driven out for not playing the game?’ Lacy wrote.
Lai says that Bullpen has not yet been in touch with her since she went public with her account of the termination.
If you have a tip or lead about other personnel shake ups in the venture world, you can reach Natasha Mascarenhas on Twitter @nmasc_ or on Signal at +1 925 271 0912. Anonymity requests will be respected.
Ref: techcrunch
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