Hasan Sukkar, the founder of AI startup 11x, is stepping down from his role as CEO, Sukkar announced on LinkedIn this morning. Prabhav Jain, 11x’s CTO, has been named the company’s new CEO.
Sukkar will move into a “non-executive chairman” position, where he will work with Jain on “strategic direction, product vision, industry relationships, and opening new market opportunities,” Sukkar wrote on LinkedIn, helping 11x in any way he can “into the future.”
“I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about what it takes to go from a fast growing startup to an enduring enterprise grade scale-up, and I have realised that I love building from the ground up. It’s in my bones,” Sukkar wrote on LinkedIn. “I love 11x and believe in our mission deeply. We have a massive opportunity ahead. But sometimes, loving your company means knowing when to pass the CEO baton for the next leg of the race.”
As TechCrunch previously reported in March, 11x at that time had been showing off on its website customer logos of companies that were not active customers, and one of those companies was threatening to sue over the matter. Other sources also told TechCrunch that the 11x product had issues and the company had struggled with customer retention. Some employees also described the startup as a grueling place to work.
The company has raised more than $70 million from investors, including a $24 million Series A led by Sarah Tavel, a longtime investor with Benchmark, and a $50 million Series B led by Andreessen Horowitz.
Joe Schmidt, the a16z partner who was part of the 11x deal, publicly doubled down on his support for the company and its CEO, posting on X in March that the firm loved “Hasan and the entire team at 11x,” and that the “team, product, and metrics are world class.”
Tavel also posted on X, saying, “As a board member, I’ve seen the progress up close, and our conviction in the team and the opportunity is stronger than ever.” Last week, Tavel, who joined Benchmark as a general partner in 2017, also announced she would be taking on the position of venture partner, a more limited role at the storied firm.
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A spokesperson for 11x sent a lengthy email explaining that the change was intended to put the right person in the CEO role for a new growth phase of the company.
“Current CTO, fmr. Brex exec and 3-time founder Prabhav Jain is stepping into the CEO role, with Hasan Sukkar transitioning into a new role as Non-Executive Chairman,” the 11x spokesperson wrote. “The move reflects 11x’s growth: Over the last year, the company has evolved from a single product, single use-case company to a platform that powers hundreds of the world’s leading GTM teams.”
Benchmark and a16z did not immediately respond to a request for additional comment.
Charles Rollet contributed reporting.
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