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A dispute born out of Silicon Valley\u2019s growing political divide<\/a> became personal on Thursday when conservative venture capitalist David Sacks, well-known startup guru Paul Graham, and Rippling CEO Parker Conrad traded barbs on X<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n The back-and-forth started when Sacks, who was a longtime executive and venture capitalist before becoming known for his outspoken support<\/a> of former President Donald Trump, posted on X that he disagreed with the Democratic party\u2019s decision to back<\/a> Vice President Kamala Harris after President Joe Biden announced he wouldn\u2019t seek reelection. Sacks wrote in a post<\/a> that during the storming of the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, Biden was in \u201cno danger of being deposed\u201d but was \u201cactually deposed,\u201d when he stepped down as the party\u2019s presumptive nominee<\/a> this Sunday, calling the move a \u201ccoup.\u201d<\/p>\n You were sanctioned by the SEC. Nobody else, only you. But you\u2019ve spent the last decade trying to shift the blame onto others for your own poor ethics. \ud83e\udd21 pic.twitter.com\/j3F8A3boFH<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 David Sacks (@DavidSacks) July 24, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n The mention of a coup prompted Conrad to reply. \u201cLet me tell you, coups are this man\u2019s speciality,\u201d Conrad posted, recalling the acrimonious falling out the men had nearly a decade ago while at a software startup. <\/p>\n The background to the brief sparring session is the two worked together at Zenefits, a startup founded by Conrad where he was CEO. Sacks was an investor in the company and served as COO. In 2016, Conrad and Zenefits encountered compliance issues that ultimately resulted in an SEC settlement<\/a> and his departure from the company.\u00a0<\/p>\n While the argument on X this week quickly turned personal, with Sacks and Conrad reliving their years-old feud, it started because of a post that\u2019s emblematic of an industrywide rift that is distinctly contemporary. The November election between Trump and Harris has divided Silicon Valley<\/a> in ways previous elections haven\u2019t. A growing contingent of high-profile industry leaders\u2014Sacks, Elon Musk<\/a>, and venture capitalist pairing<\/a> Marc Andreesen and Ben Horowitz\u2014 have thrown their support behind Trump<\/a>. That, in and of itself, is a surprising development for the tech industry, which is centered in the traditionally liberal Bay Area and has historically<\/a> backed Democrats. Harris, a Bay Area politician<\/a> herself, is familiar to many tech executives, whom she has both<\/a> regulated and courted<\/a> for donations.\u00a0<\/p>\n Sacks did not respond to a request for comment from Fortune<\/em>. Conrad, through a spokesperson for his current company, Rippling, declined to comment for this article.\u00a0<\/p>\n Zenefits was an HR software company that also acted as a health insurance brokerage firm. However, the company ran into trouble<\/a> when Buzzfeed alleged<\/a> that Conrad wrote a computer script that made it appear as though some brokers had completed a legally required training course when they hadn\u2019t. Ultimately, in 2017 the SEC settled<\/a> with Zenefits and Conrad for a combined $1 million<\/a> for \u201cmaterially false and misleading statements and omissions.\u201d (Conrad and the company neither admitted nor denied wrongdoing as part of the settlement.)\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n On X, Sacks brushed off Conrad\u2019s mention of their shared history. \u201cYou were sanctioned by the SEC,\u201d Sacks wrote on X with a screenshot of Conrad\u2019s reply. \u201cNobody else, only you. But you\u2019ve spent the last decade trying to shift the blame onto others for your own poor ethics.\u201d<\/p>\n That\u2019s when Paul Graham chimed in on X to offer his two cents. (Graham, a veteran tech investor, is best known for starting the wildly successful startup incubator Y Combinator.)\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cDo you really want the full story of what you did to Parker to be told publicly?\u201d Graham replied to Sacks. \u201cBecause it\u2019s the worst case of an investor maltreating a founder that I\u2019ve ever heard, and I\u2019ve heard practically all of them.\u201d Graham did not respond to a request for comment from Fortune.<\/em><\/p>\n While at Y Combinator, Graham funded hundreds of startups, as spots in the incubator became increasingly competitive and coveted. Over his career he\u2019s worked with the likes of Airbnb<\/a> founder Brian Chesky, Dropbox<\/a> founders Drew Houston and Arash Ferdowsi, and the Collison brothers, who founded Stripe<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n Sacks dismissed Graham, saying the two had never met or worked together, and accused Conrad of \u201cpublicly fuming and smearing me.\u201d <\/em>Others leapt to Conrad\u2019s defense, with former journalist and tech watcher Eric Newcomer accusing<\/a> Sacks of unfairly blaming Conrad for company problems.<\/p>\n Conrad maintains he was unfairly forced out of the company he started. In a 2022 interview<\/a>, Conrad said that, after he agreed to step down from Zenefits to be replaced by Sacks, the duo, in conjunction with the board, drafted a \u201cfriendly\u201d press release announcing his departure. Conrad said he was blindsided when, a few hours after he signed the paperwork to resign, Sacks issued a press release<\/a> blaming him for Zenefits\u2019 problems.\u00a0<\/p>\n On Thursday, Sacks seemed ready to move on from the issue. \u201cPersonally I think it\u2019s a huge waste of time to still be talking about this a decade later,\u201d he wrote on X.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n CEO Daily provides key context for the news leaders need to know from across the world of business. Every weekday morning, more than 125,000 readers trust CEO Daily for insights about\u2013and from inside\u2013the C-suite. Subscribe Now<\/a>.<\/div>\n\n\n
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