Between “The Social Network,” Snapchat, and now “Hatching Twitter,” it seems that all successful startups have a founder that is pushed out. Is that just how today’s startup culture works? Or is that just the product of these three very high-profile examples?I think that in the Valley, there is this tendency to get cutthroat when things get successful. The Valley tries to hide it, and say it is “all in the greater good of humanity.” But when things take shape, they happen behind the scenes in the Valley where, in other industries, the back and forth has been front and center.

It’s just odd to see these founders completely scrubbed from the record.

You can see it in every single company that’s really successful. There’s an early Apple founder who is no longer there. Wikipedia, there were people who were pushed out, PayPal, there was a big fight. It just bothers me, why can’t these companies give the people the credit they deserve? One of the things I was trying to do with this book was share the credit amongst the little people that really deserve to be getting some. 

Maybe there's a genuine difference in opinion about direction.

Sometimes it's easier to part ways than keep fighting.