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The 34-year-old, who often sports a baseball cap and bears a vague resemblance to the character Turtle from the TV series Entourage, attended the University of Kentucky for a degree in marketing and communications but left in 2009 before graduating. The event highlighted how far Kirchner had come in such a short time. “This week is exciting, new and somewhat surreal.”
“It is funny when I talk about Slync and the dreams I had-this is not one that I saw,” Kirchner told a local reporter. The Swiss luxury watch brand Omega had been the title sponsor of the event for the past decade, but this year, Slync.io-a small and unknown company-had paid millions for the privilege. Official sponsors like CNN, Rolex and BMW enforced the image of prestige amid the skyline and bright rolling greens. On Monday, July 18, three days after receiving questions from Forbes about its failure to pay employees, Slync’s board member Atwell said that “all employees are being wired funds they were owed.” He said that the company’s failure to pay them was not the result of any funding shortfall, adding “the process to ensure employees received all payroll to which they are entitled was very dynamic.”Īs of Tuesday, four current and former employees told Forbes they still had not been paid.Īt this year’s Dubai Desert Classic, the famed European Tournament stop at Emirates Golf Course held in January, there was the usual pizzazz. “Chris Kirchner was ultimately using sports to buy access to things he wouldn't have had as a regular guy.” “I don’t know that was a business so much as it was a kleptocracy,” a former employee tells Forbes. Seeing this, some employees concluded that they were duped by a CEO more interested in living a life of excess than building a successful company. Over the past 18 months, while his company was running out of money and struggling to raise funding or attract new customers, Kirchner had bought a private jet valued at $15 million, joined an exclusive Texas country club, purchased luxury cars, invested in a European tech startup and attempted to buy the English football team Derby County.
But the troubles at Slync contrast sharply with Kirchner’s personal excesses and highlight the risks of investors’ refusal to curb such conduct, employees say. Many startups are struggling in a deteriorating economic market, venture capital firms have pulled back on funding, and mass layoffs have hit the tech industry. Blumberg did not respond to a request for comment. Goldman Sachs said the board responded on its behalf. Through crisis public relations firm FGS Global, Slync’s board declined to comment on a list of questions about Kirchner’s personal ventures and finances, stating they “are unrelated to the business.” Company spokesperson Jamie Reints, vice president of marketing, also disputed some of the characterizations of its financial dealings in this story. Kirchner declined requests for an interview and did not answer a detailed list of questions. In his lawsuit, Selvidge alleged that the former CFO, Samar Kamdar, had been fired after informing the board in May that “his review of the financial statements indicates that some figures do not add up, as he did not recognize some of the accounts which reported revenue.” Selvidge’s attorney, Ilya Filmus, said, “We believe that a number of laws were violated and we intend to establish that.” “I don’t know that was a business so much as it was a kleptocracy.” The company said it has not yet received the complaint, adding that it does not comment on pending litigation.
In a draft complaint seen by Forbes, Selvidge claims he was fired after he sent a letter to the board alleging the company had “routinely” failed to pay employees, and that Kirchner had engaged in “unlawful and fraudulent behavior.” Slync disputed that Selvidge was fired, but declined to comment further on employee matters. One of the fired executives, former vice president of engineering Jason Selvidge, filed a lawsuit Tuesday alleging wrongful termination. In response to these claims, board member Jim Atwell said that Slync “has many more than five customers and the company’s annual revenue is significantly higher than your information,” but declined to say how many or how much. In fact, the real figure was close to $1 million in annual revenue and fewer than five customers, these people say. In addition, according to multiple people familiar with the matter, Kirchner reported to the board that Slync generated close to $30 million in revenue in 2021, from about 20 customers.