Travis Kalanick renews VC criticism: only 1% are actually helpful

Uber founder Travis Kalanick, who has long had a complicated relationship with venture capitalists, renewed his criticism of the industry in a recent podcast appearance. During his time leading Uber, he raised roughly $15 billion in venture funding, but was pushed out of the company in 2017 following a boardroom battle with investor Bill Gurley of Benchmark.

Kalanick now runs robotics company Atoms, which recently raised $1.7 billion in a round led by Andreessen Horowitz, with co-founder Ben Horowitz joining the company's board. Speaking on David Senra's podcast, which aired last weekend, Kalanick acknowledged he remains frustrated over the Uber board dispute and said he advises founders against raising money from Benchmark.

A skeptical view of investors

According to Kalanick, a high bar for a VC is simply to "do no harm," yet only about 10% of investors meet even that standard. Truly helpful VCs, he estimated, make up just 1%, since most investors aren't deeply enough involved in a company's daily operations. He compared founders to "chess masters" running the game, while VCs are more like "chess enthusiasts" who check in occasionally.

Despite this, Kalanick isn't discouraging founders from taking VC money. Instead, he suggests crafting a pitch strong enough to spark competing offers among firms. One tip for today's fundraising climate: share a plan with moderate detail, since overly detailed forecasts can seem naive given how fast the AI industry is moving.

Revisiting the Uber conflict

Reflecting on his own experience, Kalanick said founders should avoid falling into a "victim mentality" and instead examine their own role in conflicts. He admitted his management style at Uber pushed too close to the line, though he maintains he broke no rules. He traced that intensity back to his earlier startup, Red Swoosh, which involved years of unpaid, grinding work before he eventually sold it.

The podcast also prompted entrepreneur Mark Pincus to share his own history of conflict with investor Accel on social media. Meanwhile, Andreessen Horowitz actively promoted the episode, a move tied to the firm's own long-running tension between co-founder Marc Andreessen and Gurley.