Who is Travis Kalanick? The man behind Uber

The billionaire resigned from his post of CEO of the company after it got engulfed in a controversy following allegations of an environment of sexism and sexual harassment prevalent in it.

Travis Kalanick, 40, is the kind of guy who's story people around the world picture when they think of the revered Silicon Valley in the US. A first generation billionaire who dropped out of college to help found a company and make it big in the world of technology.

The technology revolution that began in the 90's has been accompanied by stories of a number of young billionaires who have used the internet to provide products that have taken the world by storm. Kalanick is one of them.

He co-founded Uber, one of the leading taxi aggregation services in the world, and whose mobile application can be found on an increasing number of smartphones in 662 cities around the world. Along with being the co-founder, he was also in charge of the running the company worth 70 billion dollars, as its Chief Executive Officer (CEO).

Though his most famous and successful company, Uber was not his first venture in the technology market. His first major venture was in the year 2001 when he started a new company called Red Swoosh which allowed users to transfer and trade large media files, including music files and videos. The company was sold for 19 million dollars in 2007.

A couple of years later he founded Uber with Garrett Camp in 2009. And the company has led him to achieve great success. In 2014, he entered the Forbes list of the 400 richest Americans at position 190, with an estimated net worth of 6.3 billion dollars.

But such achievements notwithstanding, he has had to resign from his post following a spate of controversies that have not only surrounded him but also his company. The recent one which led to it had allegations of sexism and sexual harassment being prevalent in the company at the centre of it.

The report submitted after an investigation ordered by the company and the acceptance of the recommendations made in it such as reduced responsibilities for Kalanick, which were adopted by the board of the company, and the furore it created among the company's investors, led to him stepping down.

Surprisingly what could be seen as the reason behind his success can also be seen as the reason behind his fall and other controversies.

Mark Cuban, a famous investor and mentor told the New York Times, "Travis's biggest strength is that he will run through a wall to accomplish his goals,". He added, ""Travis's biggest weakness is that he will run through a wall to accomplish his goals. That's the best way to describe him."

Such an attitude of working along with what has been described as a "scrappy entrepreneur" by Uber's board member Arianna Huffington, led to a tone and tenor of behaviour which can often be described as not suitable for a head of muti-national company worth billions.

Though this might be considered a bit unfair for a young entrepreneur, an example of Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg would show that it is not asking too much of someone who has the responsibility of running a major company and its employees, along with no longer only representing himself but also the company.

But when it came to be judged on such a scale, Kalanick has always fallen short of standards expected.

Reports about and complaints against him in the past have included incidents such as him being abusing an Uber driver in a row over the rates, which was caught on camera and circulated online leading to him apologising, to jokingly calling a service for women on demand "Boob-er," along with an email in which he advised employees about indulging in sexual activity during a company retreat in Miami in 2013, as he wrote, "Do not have sex with another employee UNLESS a) you have asked that person for that privilege and they have responded with an emphatic "YES! I will have sex with you" AND b) the two (or more) of you do not work in the same chain of command. Yes, that means that Travis will be celibate on this trip,"

Along with this, the company under him has also been accused of stealing trade secrets which the company has denied, to running into a spat with Apple about misusing its services and products.

And such brash behaviour seems to have seeped into the company's way of working and environment as well, which the latest controversy following allegations by a former employee Susan Fowler seems to have shown. Fowler in a blog post in February this year accused the company of having an environment where sexism and sexual harassment were prevalent.

This led to the company ordering an investigation by a law firm into such issues inside the company along with others, the report for which was submitted earlier this month.

The controversy was just the latest in a long list which has been associated with the Kalanick, the only difference being this one has led to his resignation a week after he had gone on an indefinite break.

Following all this, the story of the rise of a young man to become a billionaire after building his company now seems to have added a second part to it which would talk about his fall.

OneIndia News