- Tech evangelist Robert Scoble has resigned as partner of the VR/AR startup Transformation Group.
- He resigned following multiple allegations from women claiming that he had sexually assaulted them at tech events.
- Scoble's co-founder Shel Israel will run the company on his own.
The sexual harassment dominoes continue to fall as more women go public with allegations of men exploiting positions of power to sexually harass and assault them, both inside and out of the tech industry.
This time it's famed tech evangelist and blogger Robert Scoble, who has stepped down as partner of the AR/VR startup Transformation Group, following multiple allegations of sexual misconduct. Scoble's co-founder Shel Israel announced the resignation on Facebook on Sunday.
Allegations against Scoble came to light last week after tech journalist Quinn Norton wrote that Scoble grabbed her breast and butt in 2010 during the hacker conference Foo Camp. A second woman, Michelle Greer, shared a similar story with BuzzFeed News on Thursday about being groped by Scoble.
Scoble has reigned for years as a well-known and influential pundit in the tech industry, often embracing and promoting new technologies like Google Glass, the augmented reality glasses.
Scoble did not respond to requests for comment about his resignation.
I have seen him drunk and stoned, but not recently
In his Facebook post, Israel wrote that the revelations came as a "surprise" to him, and that he too will take a short personal break before returning to run the company on his own.
"I am grateful to Robert for removing himself from our partnership," Israel said in the post.
"Over the past 15 years I have attended hundreds of business and social events with him. Yes, I have seen him drunk and stoned, but not recently. I never personally witnessed him behaving inappropriately toward women. If I did, I would have called him on it," Israel continued.
Israel and Scoble founded Transformation Group in May of this year to help businesses develop their brand strategies for virtual reality and augmented reality.
Though the company is new, the founders were known for their co-authored books, including The Fourth Transformation-How Augmented Reality and Artificial Intelligence Will Change Everything, which came out in December. Scoble also worked for Microsoft as a tech evangelist.
Following Norton's story, Scoble responded in an interview with USA Today, saying that the incidents occurred while he was an alcoholic, and that he is now sober. However, TechCrunch reported Friday that several women shared allegations of incidents that happened after Scoble claims to have stopped drinking in 2015.
Scoble addressed the allegations again in a Facebook post Friday, two days before his resignation was made public.
"I'm deeply sorry to the people I've caused pain to. I know I have behaved in ways that were inappropriate. I apologize for that," Scoble wrote. "The question is not if it happened or if anyone got hurt (they did) but how can I do better?