Parker Conrad

This Could Be Our Future: A Manifesto for a More Generous World
by Yancey Strickler
Published 29 Oct 2019

In 2014, a New York Times article profiled an HR software start-up called Zenefits, which, the lead sentence explains, is “one of the fastest-growing companies in recent Silicon Valley history.” The profile glowingly notes the company’s fast growth, A-list Silicon Valley investors, and a recent $4.5 billion “unicorn” valuation. Zenefits was the newest zeitgeist-shaking success. But in the article, Zenefits’ founder and CEO, a man named Parker Conrad, gives a series of startling quotes that clash with the breathless tone. While the Times and investors quoted in the article celebrate the company’s growth, here’s how Conrad describes it: “Even when we think things are going well, it always feels like the wheels are ready to come off the cart.”

Live Work Work Work Die: A Journey Into the Savage Heart of Silicon Valley
by Corey Pein
Published 23 Apr 2018

Startup entrepreneurs describe their schemes in detail to investors hoping to buy in to the next epic heist. Should these founders run into any trouble, the investors have the money, know-how, and connections to fight the law and win. It’s the perfect crime—when it works. In a 2013 Shark Tank–style live investor pitch, the founder of a startup called Zenefits, Parker Conrad, feistily promised “to mess stuff up for two very large industries”—insurance and human resources. “If you’re an insurance broker,” Conrad explained, “we’re going to drink your milkshake.” The catchphrase was borrowed from the ruthless oilman portrayed by Daniel Day-Lewis in There Will Be Blood, who uttered it shortly before murdering a business rival.

Lab Rats: How Silicon Valley Made Work Miserable for the Rest of Us
by Dan Lyons
Published 22 Oct 2018

Local tour guides now sell “innovation tours,” shuttling visitors around on buses to visit start-ups. In 2017 on one trip to San Francisco I met a group of German businessmen whose companies had sent them on a two-week safari. When I met them, Zenefits, one of the hottest unicorns, had just booted out its CEO, Parker Conrad, in a scandal that involved allegations of cheating on licensing tests and letting unlicensed brokers sell insurance policies, as well as having an out-of-control frat-boy party culture. (Conrad and Zenefits would later settle charges brought by the Securities and Exchange Commission that they misled investors; they paid a fine but did not admit or deny wrongdoing.)

Super Founders: What Data Reveals About Billion-Dollar Startups
by Ali Tamaseb
Published 14 Sep 2021

Startup School, “How to Raise Money,” video, October 21, 2014, https://startupclass.samaltman.com/courses/lec09/. 6. Leo Polovets, “Startups Are Risk Bundles,” Codingvc (blog), March 3, 2016, www.codingvc.com/startups-are-risk-bundles/. 7. Sam Altman, “Lecture 9: How to Raise Money (Marc Andreessen, Ron Conway, Parker Conrad),” How to Start a Startup, October 21, 2014, https://startupclass.samaltman.com/courses/lec09/. 8. National Venture Capital Association, 2020 Yearbook, https://nvca.org/research/nvca-yearbook/. CHAPTER 18: FUNDRAISING 1. Libby Kane, “A Struggling Dad Built an App to Buy His Kids Cheaper Pizza—and Now His Company Has 5 Million Downloads and $40 Million,” Business Insider, November 17, 2017, www.businessinsider.com/honey-app-ryan-hudson-2017-10. 2.

Brotopia: Breaking Up the Boys' Club of Silicon Valley
by Emily Chang
Published 6 Feb 2018

Founders Fund, along with Max Levchin and Keith Rabois, invested in the workplace chat company Yammer, which was founded by former PayPal-er David Sacks. Yammer was ultimately sold to Microsoft for $1.2 billion. The list of “begats” goes on. Sacks went on to become COO of the fast-growing HR software start-up Zenefits. When the founder of Zenefits, Parker Conrad, was kicked out amid accusations of cheating state compliance regulations and creating a bro-y culture that led to “sex in the stairwells,” according to an internal memo, Sacks was promoted to CEO. Sacks promptly brought in Peter Thiel as a board member. Even though the valuation of Zenefits was slashed amid the cheating scandal, it still reached $2 billion.