The CEO of Mattermark spent a lot of time and energy in the early days of the company establishing a public presence as a brash, highly opinionated thought leader in the “how to run a start-up” intellectual space, which makes the failure of the company a little ironic and is almost certainly contributing to the Schadenfreud I’ve read on Twitter.
Also, it appears that the CEO lacked focus: according to her Twitter profile, she’s a VC and a very prolific angel investor. I’d be upset as an employee of the company receiving $0 for my common stock that the CEO was effectively hedging her Mattermark bet with a number of side gigs. The CEO’s job is to be singularly focused on the success of the company.
Take, for instance, this post, in which she seemingly boasts of the company’s massive burn rate: https://medium.com/@DanielleMorrill/is-my-startup-burn-rate-...
Or this post, in which she shames a number of “Zombie Unicorns” (including WeWork): http://www.businessinsider.com/mattermark-names-troubled-uni...
Why be so publicly hostile and truculent?
Also, it appears that the CEO lacked focus: according to her Twitter profile, she’s a VC and a very prolific angel investor. I’d be upset as an employee of the company receiving $0 for my common stock that the CEO was effectively hedging her Mattermark bet with a number of side gigs. The CEO’s job is to be singularly focused on the success of the company.