On March 1, BharatPe co-founder Ashneer Grover resigned as the company’s MD and penned down a hard hitting and uncompromising resignation letter. Ashneer’s resignation comes after he filed an emergency arbitration plea challenging his company’s decision to conduct a governance review. The plea was rejected by the Singapore International Arbitration Centre (SIAC).
“I write this with a heavy heart as today I am being forced to bid adieu to a company of which I am a founder,” Grover in his letter wrote. He further claimed that he and his family were “embroiled in baseless and targeted attacks”. Grover, being at his usual honest self, also wrote that the company’s investors were so far removed from reality that they forgot what real businesses look like.
Earlier last week, Ashneer’s wife Madhuri Jain Grover was sacked from the company for using company’s funds for her personal use. After being sacked, she waged a war against other officials on Twitter and accused them of “misdemeanor’.
The Facts of the Matter
The Ashneer Grover VS BharatPe board saga reached to a sour pinnacle on Tuesday as he resigned as the company’s management director. Grover’s resignation came at a time when dark clouds of controversies were already looming over him and his wife’s head.
Earlier last week it was reported that Ashneer had filed an emergency arbitration plea against his company’s decision of conducting a governance review. In an interview with a leading finance news platform, he was quoted saying, “Here is my question to the board. What was the need for a governance review in the first place?”.
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Ashneer Alleges He’s “Forced to Bid Adieu” from BharatPe
In his letter of resignation, Grover quite forthrightly alleged that he was forced to resign from BharatPe. “I write this with a heavy heart as today I am being forced to bid adieu to a company of which I am a founder.” he wrote.
He further mentioned that he and his family have been “embroiled in baseless and targeted attacks” by people that were not only ready to harm him but the company’s reputation.
“Am I Perfect?”: Ashneer Addresses His Follies
Addressing the unicorn size elephant in the room, Ashneer wrote, “Am I perfect? As every other human being does, I am sure I have my follies. I have been told that I am too straight forward, headstrong, and have very demanding standards when it comes work. But it is these qualities that have resulted in BharatPe’s exponential growth in becoming an industry behemoth.”
Founder “Reduced to Button to be Pressed When Needed”
Ashneer alleged that the company’s board members have no real connection with the “human elements” a business works on. He further noted that for the company’s board, the founder has been “reduced to a button to be pressed when needed.”
“I cease to be a human for you. Today, you have chosen to believe gossip and rumours about me instead of having a frank conversation. You are so easily spooked because you have no touch with reality [Sic].”
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Comparing Founders to Slaves
In no mood to pull punches, Ashneer further wrote, “You treat us Founders as slaves – pushing us to build multi-billion-dollar businesses and cutting us down at will. Investor-Founder relation in India is one of Master-Slave. I am the rebel slave who must be hung by the tree so none of the other slaves can dare to be like me ever again.”
He ended the letter with saying that he’s leaving the investors and the board with the challenge of running the company better without him.
“I hereby resign as the Managing Director of BharatPe, effective immediately. I also resign as a Director of the Board. I will continue as the single largest individual shareholder of the Company,” he wrote.
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