What happens when the two people running a unicorn go through a divorce

Photo credit: bacho12345 / 123RF.

Here’s an age-old story with a twist – two people running a company have a falling out. The resulting upheaval destabilizes the company, and in the aftermath, it tries its best to recover.

Okay, now factor in that the two people are going through a divorce – from each other – and you have the rocky patch that Indian unicorn Mu Sigma’s been traversing since they announced the breakup in May.

Now factor in the two people running the company are going through a divorce – from each other.

Yesterday, in a press conference attended by a roundtable of reporters, as well as a sizely audience from the data analytics firm itself, the aftermath seemed officially begun as founder and chairman Dhiraj Rajaram made public some of the answers to questions the Indian tech community’s been asking since May about him, Mu Sigma CEO Ambiga Subramanian, and their split.

The gist was pretty straightforward and fit onto a double-sided (and nicely formatted) piece of paper – Dhiraj is now the CEO of Mu Sigma. US-based private investor General Atlantic and Sequoia Capital would remain investors in the company. Ambiga’s shareholding in the company – roughly 24 percent – would transfer to Dhiraj, who previously held about the same stake. Other financial details between the two individuals would remain an undisclosed family matter.

Mu Sigma management reads aloud official statements at the press conference yesterday. Dhiraj stands on the left. Photo credit: Tech in Asia.

“Ambiga has agreed to support me in continuing to build my dream and will continue to be on our board. It is good to finally put all distractions behind,” Dhiraj said at the conference.

It was a gentlemen-only management panel. Ambiga was noticeably absent, along with – as Dhiraj pointed out when questioned – the other members of the board.

Shady shade shade

The press conference was held in the third hour of a combined conference, press lunch, and facilities tour, a clear attempt to draw everyone back to Mu Sigma’s roots and mission.

Ambiga Subramanian in a video screengrab. Image credit: Knowstartup.

I watched what they called a “baby robot” learn to navigate a field while avoiding projected red dots. One project attempted to take my resting heart rate by predicting the amount of bloodflow in my face. Another project, designed to measure input (and identify slackers) during business meetings, tried to match up a sea of reporter faces with its facial recognition software.

Elephant in the room

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