Travis Kalanick’s love‑hate saga with VCs continues after his exit from Uber and his new robotics venture Atoms raised $1.ким. He slammed a boardroom fight with Bill Gurley of Benchmark, claiming only 10% of VCs meet a "do no harm" bar, and just 1% are truly helpful. In a recent David Senra podcast, Kalanick urged founders to sharpen pitches to spark bidding wars, but warned against falling into a "victim mentality" and over‑trusting investor advice. He blamed his own aggressive management style for Uber’s turmoil, notingSYM that his early startup, Red Swoosh, forced him to work with extreme precision, a trait he carried into Uber’s growth.

Kalanick’s critique echoes other disgruntled founders, including Mark Pincus, who shared a clash with Accel over Support.com. Andreessen Horowitz, the lead,true-spotlight for Atoms, echoed the sentiment with a tweet thread. The episode underscores that VC relationships can be as volatile as they are valuable.

While Kalanick doesn’t advise founders to avoid VC capital, he stresses careful board composition and self‑reflection to avoid misplaced blame.