I was fired as president of Udemy — now a $2 billion unicorn — 8 years ago by my cofounder. I'm sharing my tough story to help those who have recently lost their jobs.
But when we went to raise our A round, everyone passed on us again, despite 20% month-over-month growth. We raised on rough terms, and I look back on that as my biggest miss. Early rounds on tough terms lead to future rounds on tough terms. I often wonder how things would be if we were a YC company.
Eren and I clashed a bit: we had gotten along well when the team was only 15 employees, but as the team grew, we grew apart. I questioned his ability to lead the team and he questioned my intensity. Still, if you ask my former team about this time, most of them would tell you they never expected my time at Udemy to end this way, with me getting fired. They were simply hoping that as a young manager I would improve. I was well-intentioned, but could definitely go too far at times.
Today, Eren and I are friends. We didn't let our egos get in the way. We talk regularly, even as he's been busy saving the world from COVID-19. My explanation will be biased, but I'll try to share what I think happened since it's more nuanced than it appears Eren made his choice. He thought I would possibly continue to have trouble as a manager and it could reflect poorly on his company. After all, I was certainly a controversial figure. He had known that for years.The board insisted he hire a replacement for me — a COO. That COO eventually became CEO and Eren eventually left. Luckily, our excellent team took Udemy to the promised land. In hindsight, I'm grateful. I vested most of my stock and Udemy became a unicorn regardless.
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