Hasan Sukkar, founder of AI Startup 11X, has stepped down from his role as CEO, and Sukkar announced this morning on LinkedIn. 11X CTO Prabhav Jain has been appointed as the company’s new CEO.
Sukkar will move to the position of “non-executive chairman” where he will work with Jain with “opening strategic direction, product vision, industry relations and new market opportunities.”
“I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about what it takes to go from a fast-growing startup to a permanent enterprise-grade scale-up. I’ve realized I love building from scratch, and it’s in my bones.” “I love 11x and I have a deep faith in our mission. We have great opportunities ahead of time. But loving your company means knowing when you’ll pass the CEO baton for the next leg of the race.”
As TechCrunch previously reported in March, it was showing off its customer logos on the websites of companies that were not 11 times more active customers at the time, and one of those companies had threatened to sue the issue. Other sources also told TechCrunch that the 11X product had issues and the company was struggling to maintain its customers. Some employees also described the startup as a tough workplace.
11X has raised more than $70 million from investors, including a $24 million Series A led by longtime benchmark investor Saratabelle and a $50 million Series B led by Andreesen Horowitz.
Joe Schmidt, part of the A16Z partner in the 11x trading, publicly doubled his support for the company and its CEO, and posted to X in March that “Hasan and the whole team at 11x” and that “teams, products and metrics are world class.”
Tabel also announced, “As a member of the board, I have seen progress up close, and our beliefs and opportunities in the team are stronger than ever.” Last week, Tabel, who joined the benchmark as a general partner in 2017, will take on the position of venture partner, a more limited role in a well-known company.
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A spokesman for 11X sent a lengthy email explaining that the change is intended to put the right person in the company’s new growth stage CEO role.
“Current CTO, FMR. Brex executives and three founder Prabhav Jain have stepped into the CEO role, and Hasan Sukkar is moving into a new role as non-executive chairman,” a spokesman for 11X wrote. “This move reflects 11x growth. Last year, the company evolved from a single product, a single use case company to a platform that strengthens hundreds of world-leading GTM teams.”
The benchmark and A16Z did not respond immediately to requests for additional comment.
Charles Laurette contributed the report.