CTO quits startup, takes tech with him after team ‘screwed him over’

The GrabGas team earlier this year. Julian is second from the right. Photo credit: GrabGas.

No one ever said the startup world is a bed of roses, but there are times when things get thorny.

And every so often, someone feels the sting and lashes out. This is what programmer Julian Ee discovered when he worked for GrabGas, a Malaysia-based startup that promised to be a “GrabTaxi for gas delivery.” Julian recounted his experience in a sizeable blog post.

The post’s title, “A tale of lies and deceit. My experience on how GrabGas screwed me over,” doesn’t leave much to the imagination. Julian’s grievances with the startup include disputes over pay and equity and a lack of transparency on the founders’ part. More worryingly, if his allegations are true, they point toward a company with no solid foundations on which to build.

A solid idea

GrabGas started out in October 2015. The Malaysian company aimed to make the process of ordering gas less complicated process by eliminating the need to call a supplier. Customers could order the gas from the startup’s website and have it delivered to their door for around US$8.

In June, while talking to media, the startup claimed to have carried out around 500 orders (or, depending on the outlet, 350 orders per week), built a base of drivers, and crafted a five-year plan to expand to the rest of Southeast Asia.

The post’s title, “A tale of lies and deceit. My experience on how GrabGas screwed me over,” doesn’t leave much to the imagination.

The truth, according to Julian, was somewhat different.

“At the time, there were only about 200 orders total, with more than 50 percent being unfulfilled,” he writes. As for that five-year plan? “This would be more accurate if it was called a ‘five-year dream’. We did not even have a roadmap for the next week.”

In May, GrabGas announced it was one of the winning startups in Malaysian telco Digi Telecommunications’ inaugural accelerator. Around the same time, co-founder and COO Jeson Lee represented the company and Malaysia in the Global Student Entrepreneurship Awards in Bangkok.

Julian gives a second-hand account of the company sharing false data during the pitching session. GrabGas claimed it was generating revenue, secured a partnership with Filipino oil refining and marketing company Petron, and obtained a letter endorsing the service’s legal status by Malaysia’s Ministry of Domestic Trades, Co-operatives, and Consumerism (a prerequisite for the partnership with Petron).

Julian says none of this is true. “Till today, we have not gotten either Petron nor the letter and our total revenue is zero,” he writes. However, he leaves some room for doubt over whether GrabGas really claimed those things as he wasn’t present at the pitch.

Digi chief digital officer Praveen Rajan shared this statement with Tech in Asia:

“Digi Accelerate is intended to nurture and grow new businesses, and we saw the potential in and opportunity to help GrabGas develop their business. Having said that, we have a strict zero tolerance policy on proper business conduct by our partners, vendors, and all parties within our value chain, and expect them to uphold the integrity of their way of work and dealings with us. In this respect, we will perform a comprehensive review with regards to this matter to ensure these standards are met and adhered to.”

Shaky ground

Hot air