Private Investigators Can’t Find Any Dirt on Lyft Founders

Kevin Roose of Fusion described receiving an email from a Private Investigation company Derish Associates, asking for information on Lyft founders, John Zimmer and Logan Green. Could Uber, known for its strong-arm tactics, be trying to make another dig at its competitors? Could Lyft be on the verge of a joint venture or a buyout bid? Roose raised these questions in a Fusion article.

The representative from Derish, who at first said she didn’t know who was looking for the background information, denied it was Uber. “I definitely have not been hired by Uber. I do know that.” So was she told, “We won’t tell you on whose behalf you are trying to dig up dirt, but just don’t say it is Uber?”

The representative said she didn’t need to know too much about Zimmer and Green’s personal life, but more about their reliability from a business perspective. She had come up short on finding anything damning and was frustrated, “They’re looking for anything ugly that anyone could know about those two guys. Every article seems to praise them.”

The fact that the digging has to go deeper may be a sign that the two men, still in their thirties working on their second highly successful company, might not have anything seriously wrong with them. However, Roose’s account of the woman on the phone hinted that she couldn’t seem to find a dustball in the immaculate room. Roose said such investigations are part of the “due diligence” companies perform before a potential investment, but what makes the investigation unusual is that it “is taking place so openly and involving members of the media.” Derish, on its website, seems proud that it has the reputation of  “killing a few deals” saving clients “millions.”

The representative admitted her questions yielded nothing juicy, “so far they are pretty clean.” If it isn’t Uber involved in low tricks, could this mean that Lyft could get a lift with a major investment?