Anthony Pompliano filed that Snap lawsuit you’ve been reading about, you know the one where it alleges that CEO Evan Spigel said that Snapchat was for “rich people” and that it didn’t want to expand to “poor countries like India and Spain.”
In a statement to TechCrunch, Snap said “We’ve reviewed the complaint. It has no merit. It is totally made up by a disgruntled former employee.”
In a later statement, Snap elaborated on silliness of Pompliano’s allegations saying to the Hindustan Times that they were “ridiculous” — specifically: “This is ridiculous. Obviously Snapchat is for everyone! It’s available worldwide to download for free.” Here’s 9 more fast facts about Anthony Pompliano:
1. Pompliano’s Lawsuit Has Caused PR Nightmare for Snap
Though the comments are allegations — “a he said she said” — the unredacted statements from Pompliano have started a firestorm with the media eating it up, people deleting the app and #BoycottSnapChat hashtag trending on Twitter. It doesn’t help that Spiegel is known for being a “bro”, but the fact that this gained traction even though it has yet to be proven one way or the other, is a sign of the times.
2. He worked with Snap in 2015
And Pompliano worked for the company before he was fired after just three weeks. During his less than one-month tenure at the company, Pompliano worked on the Growth and User Engagement team. Three weeks? Something had to go terribly wrong for it to not work out after three weeks — the interview process was likely double Pompliano’s actual time at Snap.
And Pompliano was fired for “refusing to be involved in an ‘institutional pandemic of misrepresenting’ information to investors in advance of an expected multibillion-dollar initial public offering.” Whoa.
3. Previous to Snap, Pompliano Worked at Facebook
Pompliano was a Product Manager at the social media giant. According to his LinkedIn profile, he worked there for 19 months helping “launch numerous products like AMBER Alerts and Voter Registration, while advising the executive team on their social strategy.”
4. Pompliano Served in the U.S. Army
A veteran of Operation Iraqi Freedom, Anthony reached Sergeant and spent over six years in the Army spending three of those years in the intelligence division, according to OurStory.
5. His Nickname is “Pomp”
That’s what he calls himself, at least. “Pomp” is how he refers to himself on his LinkedIn profile. We’re 72% sure”Pomp” is short for his last name.
6. After his stint in the Army, Pompliano attended Bucknell University
When his military career eneded, he went to Bucknell in Lewisburg, PA. He received a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology and Economics.
7. Pompliano Founded Two Companies
According to this article, both of his companies were acquired and sold. On his LinkedIn, one of those companies may have been DigaForce which Pompliano founded/was CEO in 2013.
8. He now works for Full-Tilt Ventures
As a Managing Partner for the company, Pompliano went from entrepreneur to investor. He started with the North Carolina-based company in June 2016. The company is an “early stage venture capital firm”.
9. His New Company Full-Tilt Ventures Invests Fast
The company has boasted that they once invested in 22 companies in 90 days. In this Business Insider article, the company focuses on small investments — an average of just $100,000 — in startups. Full Tilt can do so many deals because they look at companies “before they had ever raised money from limited partners, and they typically spend only 48 hours considering a deal.”
All we know is if the truth ever comes out about the alleged comments, it’s going to be trouble for either Pompliano or Spiegel.
