{"id":987,"date":"2015-03-13T05:20:44","date_gmt":"2015-03-12T23:50:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.officechai.com\/?p=987"},"modified":"2016-02-10T07:00:47","modified_gmt":"2016-02-10T01:30:47","slug":"rahul-yadav-leaked-email","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/officechai.com\/startups\/rahul-yadav-leaked-email\/","title":{"rendered":"Housing.com CEO’s Foulmouthed Tirade Could Lead To His Ouster"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Indian startup scene has been abuzz since a leaked email, purportedly from Housing.com’s CEO Rahul Yadav,\u00a0surfaced on Quora. The email<\/a><\/span>, in which Yadav cautions Sequoia Capital’s Shailendra Singh against poaching employees from his firm, is indicative of the bad blood that exists between these gentlemen, and contains some quite colourful language.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

From: Rahul Yadav<\/span>
\nDate: Fri, Mar 6, 2015 at 7:39 PM<\/span>
\nSubject: Last straw<\/span>
\nTo: Shailendra Singh (Sequoia Capital India)
\n<\/i><\/span>Dude,
\n<\/i><\/span>I\u2019ve been humble to you guys even after inhuman and unethical things that you\u2019ve done with Housing in the past.
\n<\/i><\/span>You did the same inhuman and unethical things with large number of entrepreneurs including Ola, TFS, Flipkart, Dexetra and many more\u2026
\n<\/i><\/span>Now I just came to know you personally are completely after Housing\u2019s employees and are brainwashing them to open some stupid incubation.
\n<\/i><\/span>If you don\u2019t stop messing around with me, directly or even indirectly, I will vacate the best of your firm.
\n<\/i><\/span>Also, this mark the beginning of the end of Sequoia Cap in India.
\n<\/i><\/span>Try me \ud83d\ude42
\n<\/i><\/span>Enjoy Holi!
\n<\/i><\/span>Cheers,<\/span>
\nRahul<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Shailendra Singh took to Quora to clarify his position, saying he was “deeply hurt<\/em>” by the email. He stated that he’d interviewed around a 100 candidates for an analyst position at Sequoia, and had finally extended the offer to one Housing.com employee. He compared the Indian startup culture unfavourably to that in Silicon Valley, saying “During my career in the valley, what stood out is a feeling of community \u2013 amongst entrepreneurs, employees, and investors \u2013 and a sense of professionalism, not personalizing the competition between funds or individuals, and having a drink together in the evening. For us, that means not being vindictive and petty and instead being collaborative with the ecosystem \u2013 to focus on what matters in the long term<\/em>.”<\/span><\/p>\n

In response, Yadav\u00a0posted the following comment on Quora, in which he calls Shailendra Singh a motherf*****.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Rahul<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It has since been reported<\/a><\/span> that there are disagreements between the investors and the management at Housing.com, and many investors feel that while the 26 year old Yadav is an “excellent product guy”, the company could do with a strategic leadership team. Yadav has since denied reports that he’s being replaced as CEO, saying \u00a0“I run it (Housing.com) and take all the calls.”<\/span><\/p>\n

CEOs using offensive language is nothing new. The best and the brightest of the men in command have occasionally been known to curse in public. Here’s a clip of Steve Jobs being rather unparliamentary.<\/span><\/p>\n