Viral Thread Exposes VC Horror Stories: Cloudflare’s Prince Reveals Sequoia Sexism, Other Founders Detail Broken Term Sheets and Sleeping Investors

A social media thread on June 5, 2026, ignited by podcaster Greg Isenberg, prompted tech founders to publicly share venture capital horror stories, highlighting chronic unprofessionalism among elite investors. Cloudflare co-founder Matthew Prince revealed a Sequoia partner declined to invest, arguing a woman couldn’t lead a security infrastructure company—referring to co-founder and COO Michelle Zatlyn; Cloudflare now has an $87 billion market cap. Prince also recounted Vinod Khosla suggesting he fire his co-founders and take their stock, after which Prince severed all contact. Common themes included VCs fully falling asleep during pitches, yet some still issued term sheets; others pulled funding last-minute or ghosted. Uber co-founder Travis Kalanick shared chasing a fleeing VC to his car to continue pitching. The candid thread underscores the opaque power dynamics in startup fundraising, with several founders saying the public airing marks a shift away from fear of retribution.