Abraham Shafi's IRL Update

Dear friends,

Over the past couple of weeks, the headlines have brought a firestorm targeting not only me, but also the dedicated team who worked with me at IRL.  In a three-day span, a special committee of the board announced a supposed finding that our user base is 95% bots and the board voted to dissolve the company.  Just like that, the vision my team and I shared and pursued for years evaporated.  

As I commented publicly last week, we believe that this reported number is flat wrong and continue to have confidence in our metrics.  The speed and rationale behind the special committee’s actions mystify us.  The committee shared the reported bot number for the first time on June 20 and called for the company’s dissolution just three days later. But I’ll do my best to answer the questions people are understandably asking and to lay out some questions of my own.

The expert report that supposedly makes this bot finding has not been released or otherwise shared with me. Why? A report on which drastic and irreversible action is taken should be peer reviewed and pressure tested, even more so when its conclusion runs counter to so much other information we had. Our app required verified emails and phone numbers. Our team engaged with real users. We expelled millions of bots from the platform. We spent money on fraud detection to screen out even more that might have come in through third parties. And more recently, after learning about the SEC investigation, the company hired an expert to further dig into the issue over a period of months. That work only boosted our confidence in our product. That report is now in the special committee’s hands. Why the secrecy? We should be able to see both reports, understand both methodologies, assess the quality of the samples taken, discuss with engineers, and find out who’s right.

As I commented to The Verge, when I was suspended at the end of April, I was told nothing about bots. At that meeting, I was told that either I could resign or, if I did not, that a statement would be released accusing me of a “pattern of misconduct.” I was not going to resign over a personal expenses issue, so that damaging statement went out, as warned, leading many to assume that the suspension related to bots. A new CEO was installed with no transition period and with no approval from the board. In the first month under new management, I heard a lot of employee complaints about morale, severe and extended outages, and concerns that new management intended to shut the company down. 

In early June, just a few days after a fellow board member called a special meeting to ask about the direction of the company, we were told that the special committee had completed its investigation. And a week or so later (on June 20) we were told that the company is effectively worthless anyway because the users aren’t real. Then on June 22, while a flurry of questions remained unanswered, the special committee called a meeting for June 23 to vote to dissolve the company. That same day my co-founders and I were directed to vote me off the board and to vote on the CEO appointed by the special committee on the board. When they did not do so after 24 hours, the new CEO exercised some sort of voting proxy to vote on behalf of all co-founders. I’m no expert in corporate by-laws, but for a sole executive— installed by a special committee with only limited authority — to usurp the votes of the co-founders, is wild. So five minutes before the meeting, I was kicked off the board and consequently blocked from attending the meeting. After they voted to dissolve, certain members of the new board released the supposed bot number to the press, thereby dousing the company and me in gasoline and burning us to the ground.

Although I would prefer not to share any of this, things have gone too far, too fast, and are simply too inexplicable for me not to say something publicly. Special committees carry a lot of weight and credibility, as they often should. I signed off on the resolution creating the special committee in the first place. But at some point I had questions, then concerns, then alarm. And I’ve gotten so many reasonable questions about what happened that I cannot begin to answer because I have so little of the information I would expect in a situation like this. And worst of all, a lot of talented people who put their blood, sweat, and tears into this product are seeing their reputations unfairly tarnished by the supposed bot finding, and they deserve better. These are people who, along with me, were trying to realize a dream of helping people spend more time together. So here we are. If you know people who worked at the company in the last two months, I encourage you to reach out, hear their perspectives, and learn what you can. And to those who have reached out in kindness over the last week and a half, we are grateful. 

Our mission of helping people to organize and find their community remains. 

Here in service,

Abraham