who is the bigger fraud?

I know the carnival has already moved on, but here are some final ramblings on WeWork.

Whenever we mention WeWork’s former CEO, Adam Neumann, in the newsletter, some folks quickly draw a comparison to Elizabeth Holmes and call him a fraud.

After his ridiculously large platinum parachute (a reported $1.7B exit package), that comparison intensified.

TBH, I’m not sure why folks feel compelled to draw the comparison. But since folks are, let me say that it doesn’t really work.

Elizabeth Holmes committed fraud. Remember: she sold a technology that claimed to have revolutionized blood testing and flat out lied about results to journalists and regulators.

Neumann on the other hand, as he said in an employee communication prior to his dismissal, “played the private-market game to perfection.”

You can argue that the self-dealing was horrible, unethical, selfish, etc.

It was.

But it wasn’t fraud. He controlled the company. And he was one heck of a salesman/negotiator.

I know it’s fun to virtue signal on Twitter about how unjustly things played out, but these were terms he negotiated with savvy counterparts across the table. I suspect most founders would probably love to have the amount of control he had (hopefully/perhaps they’d have wielded the power differently).

I suspect most wouldn’t be upset about a $1.7B exit package either. #failingup

Of course, The Onion nailed the whole WeWork debacle with this headline.

Big tech’s big bets

The biggest tech companies are placing bets on healthcare startups across clinical research, genetics, drug delivery, and more.

See where the money is going in our interactive report.

An AI juggernaut

Alphabet’s AI ambitions take it far beyond advertising and search.

Our client-exclusive report looks at what the tech giant’s AI moves mean for everything from healthcare to electronics to cars. Check it out here.

From mushroom-based sweeteners to cannabis-infused chocolates, the candy experience is being reinvented.

Read more about the 90+ investor-backed brands disrupting sweets here.

CEOs + CVCs

CVCs that report to the CEO express greater happiness and effectiveness than those reporting to someone else, according to part 1 of Growth Collective’s 6-part series on all things CVC.

Union Square Ventures (USV) — an early backer of Twitter and Etsy — has invested in 64 companies since 2012.

From homeowner loans to ed tech to blockchain, clients can see where USV is chasing new opportunities.

CNBC. Elizabeth Gravier (@lizgravier_) writes about the industries that are thriving thanks to millennials and references CB Insights’ report.

Politico. Sam Mintz (@samjmintz) highlights CB Insights’ Alphabet in AI report in the Morning Transportation newsletter.

Bloomberg. Tim Culpan (@tculpan) discusses SoftBank’s billion-dollar losses and cites CB Insights’ data. 

I love you.

Anand
@asanwal

P.S. The Future of Fintech (June 14-16, San Francisco) just released its next batch of 15 discounted tix. Get ’em while they last.

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