{ "docId": "019dd923-622c-750b-8b9a-448b6ac5b7fb", "docSlug": "5c8786c555ba", "documentTitle": "Skillz, Inc. (SKLZ)", "authorId": "60_Wolfpack_Research", "authorName": "Wolfpack Research", "documentKindSlug": "research-note", "documentKindLabel": "Research note", "sourceTypeSlug": "short_seller", "sourceTypeLabel": "Short seller", "presentationDate": "2021-03-08 00:00:00", "orientation": "portrait", "aspectRatio": 0.77272725, "pageNumber": 14, "pageCount": 16, "prevPage": 13, "nextPage": 15, "slideType": "expose_contradiction", "function": "expose_contradiction", "density": "overcrowded", "nDataPoints": 0, "notes": "Includes specific references to legal case 'Cooper v. Skillz, Inc.' and footnotes.", "elementsJson": [ "paragraph", "callout_box", "footnote" ], "metadataConfidence": 1, "imagePath": null, "slideHref": "/slides/019dd923-622c-750b-8b9a-448b6ac5b7fb/14", "deckHref": "/decks/019dd923-622c-750b-8b9a-448b6ac5b7fb", "deckJsonHref": "/decks/019dd923-622c-750b-8b9a-448b6ac5b7fb.json", "deckAnchorHref": "/decks/019dd923-622c-750b-8b9a-448b6ac5b7fb#slide-14", "components": [ { "bbox": null, "kind": "callout", "text": "The hostile work environment fostered by Paradise and Chafkin at Skillz has resulted in frequent staff turnover as well as a nearly 100% executive level turnover.", "attrs": null, "subkind": null, "toolName": "Visual emphasis", "toolSlug": "visual-emphasis", "confidence": null, "componentId": "019dd953-0931-74b9-a32c-8b40cb125b0b", "frameworkName": null, "frameworkSlug": null }, { "bbox": { "h": 0.22, "w": 0.68, "x": 0.16, "y": 0.35 }, "kind": "list", "text": "21. For example, Paradise and Chafkin created the financial model that Cooper was expected to maintain, yet Paradise and Chafkin controlled all adjustments to it. Cooper frequently told the Founders that the model was overly aggressive and that the Company would not meet its projections, only to be overruled by the Founders. In addition, Paradise stated to Cooper several times that investors found their model confusing and, throughout Cooper’s tenure, the Founders stated they intended to hire a Chief Financial Officer (“CFO”) to run it. When Cooper was not cut out of the process, he was excessively micromanaged to the point where he could not even send out an internal Company email without first sending it to Paradise and/or Chafkin to preapprove it.", "attrs": null, "subkind": "numbered", "toolName": null, "toolSlug": null, "confidence": null, "componentId": "3f836045-aeaa-46cb-b377-1a3cd9711850", "frameworkName": null, "frameworkSlug": null }, { "bbox": { "h": 0.12, "w": 0.68, "x": 0.16, "y": 0.62 }, "kind": "list", "text": "16. The hostile work environment fostered by Paradise and Chafkin at Skillz has resulted in frequent staff turnover as well as a nearly 100% executive level turnover.\n17. Paradise and Chafkin pressured employees to write positive online reviews of the Company in an effort to hide the harmful and damaging reviews highlighting its toxic work environment and unstable workforce.", "attrs": null, "subkind": "numbered", "toolName": null, "toolSlug": null, "confidence": null, "componentId": "8d5099bd-2609-42ad-8756-cdf1d554287d", "frameworkName": null, "frameworkSlug": null }, { "bbox": { "h": 0.09, "w": 0.78, "x": 0.11, "y": 0.16 }, "kind": "paragraph", "text": "While we have to give him credit for selling AisleBuyer to Intuit for $20 million in 2012, the only other business we could find Mr. Paradise claim to have sold was “Photrade.” However, we wouldn’t consider his sale of Photrade to MPA, Inc. (who went bankrupt 2 years later) for $3,829 in warrants, or the price of a used treadmill sitting in a basement, enough to qualify him as a “serial entrepreneur.”", "attrs": null, "subkind": "paragraph", "toolName": null, "toolSlug": null, "confidence": null, "componentId": "0b4fb720-8ed3-4d8e-9714-79fba6568340", "frameworkName": null, "frameworkSlug": null }, { "bbox": { "h": 0.06, "w": 0.78, "x": 0.11, "y": 0.79 }, "kind": "paragraph", "text": "Another former employee we spoke to, who has ~20 years of experience in the industry and reported directly to Andrew Paradise said that Skillz was “the most unprofessional environment I’ve ever been in my entire career” and stated that, “Andrew Paradise is probably the most unprofessional CEO that I’ve ever met in terms of his immaturity.”", "attrs": null, "subkind": "paragraph", "toolName": null, "toolSlug": null, "confidence": null, "componentId": "16e84a1f-a627-4878-af95-0992cd5b4f88", "frameworkName": null, "frameworkSlug": null }, { "bbox": { "h": 0.06, "w": 0.78, "x": 0.11, "y": 0.26 }, "kind": "paragraph", "text": "We’ve rarely experienced so many interviews with former employees who universally share such a negative opinion of their company’s CEO. SKLZ’s former Head of Finance and Administration, Eric Cooper, laid out a scathing and descriptive account of what it was like working for Andrew Paradise in his wrongful termination lawsuit:", "attrs": null, "subkind": "paragraph", "toolName": null, "toolSlug": null, "confidence": null, "componentId": "9de78b4c-8c30-4b20-9b97-aeaa814c57f3", "frameworkName": null, "frameworkSlug": null }, { "bbox": null, "kind": "quote", "text": "the most unprofessional environment I’ve ever been in my entire career — Former employee. Andrew Paradise is probably the most unprofessional CEO that I’ve ever met in terms of his immaturity. — Former employee.", "attrs": null, "subkind": null, "toolName": "Authority citation", "toolSlug": "authority-citation", "confidence": null, "componentId": "019dd953-0931-74b9-a32c-8f6dadea9156", "frameworkName": null, "frameworkSlug": null }, { "bbox": { "h": 0.04, "w": 0.78, "x": 0.11, "y": 0.87 }, "kind": "source-note", "text": "14 INTU Acquisitions via Bloomberg LP\n15 Cooper v. Skillz, Inc. et al; U.S. District Court – Massachusetts; Case 4:15-cv-13330-TSH", "attrs": null, "subkind": null, "toolName": null, "toolSlug": null, "confidence": null, "componentId": "4b7c41f9-3460-4bcb-900c-7cfca9381cf1", "frameworkName": null, "frameworkSlug": null }, { "bbox": { "h": 0.07, "w": 0.78, "x": 0.11, "y": 0.09 }, "kind": "title", "text": "5. CEO Andrew Paradise loves to describe himself as a serial entrepreneur, often touting the two businesses he has previously sold – let’s take a closer look at that:", "attrs": null, "subkind": "headline", "toolName": null, "toolSlug": null, "confidence": null, "componentId": "1611604c-2b63-4463-9558-d417ed60a3eb", "frameworkName": null, "frameworkSlug": null } ], "metrics": [], "tools": [ { "name": "Anadiplosis", "slug": "anadiplosis", "agent": "Storyteller", "layer": "slide", "matchId": "5340a2d1-4dca-41f5-a8c4-6dcda3735a94", "evidence": "The hostile work environment fostered by Paradise and Chafkin at Skillz has resulted in frequent staff turnover as well as a nearly 100% executive level turnover.", "confidence": 0.7 }, { "name": "CEO quote contradiction", "slug": "ceo-quote-contradiction", "agent": null, "layer": "slide", "matchId": "19d5b303-39b9-4e2b-8334-b195fc34fa74", "evidence": "quote: the most unprofessional environment I’ve ever been in my entire career — Former employee. Andrew Paradise is probably the most unprofessional CEO that I’ve ever met in terms of his immaturity. — Former employee.", "confidence": 0.9 } ], "frameworks": [], "arcBeats": [ { "to": 14, "from": 6, "beatId": "f84cc465-1048-430b-8465-9fbf15e07ad7", "arcName": "Overcoming the Monster", "arcSlug": "overcoming-monster", "beatName": "Expose Contradiction", "beatSlug": null, "evidence": "The document exposes contradictions in Skillz's financials and business practices.", "position": 1, "confidence": 0.8, "parentBeatName": null, "parentBeatSlug": null } ], "loops": [], "imagePathAlt": null, "thumbSrc": null, "thumbSrcAlt": null, "locked": true }