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SAN FRANCISCO — When Pinterest went public in 2019, Christine Martinez’s pals despatched congratulations. She had labored intently with the founders of the digital pinboard in its earliest days, and her pals thought she would get wealthy alongside them.
However as Pinterest’s inventory value rose, turning its founders into billionaires, Ms. Martinez realized she wouldn’t be compensated or credited for her contributions, she stated.
On Monday, she sued.
In a lawsuit filed in Alameda County Superior Court docket, Ms. Martinez accused Ben Silbermann and Paul Sciarra, two of Pinterest’s three co-founders, of breach of implied contract, thought theft, unjust enrichment and unfair enterprise practices. Ms. Martinez created Pinterest alongside Mr. Silbermann and Mr. Sciarra, the lawsuit stated, contributing concepts that had been “core organizing ideas,” corresponding to organizing pictures on boards and enabling e-commerce.
Ms. Martinez, 40, was by no means formally employed by Pinterest, nor did she ask for a contract. She was not given inventory, although she stated Pinterest’s founders had verbally agreed to compensate her many instances.
Ms. Martinez argued that she and the founders had an implied contract, based mostly on their discussions. Pinterest even named a piece of its supply code after her, based on the grievance. And he or she was such shut pals with the co-founders that she introduced them each residence for Christmas and was a bridesmaid in Mr. Silbermann’s marriage ceremony.
“I all the time anticipated that after they might compensate me, they’d,” she stated, including that she had been naïve. “There was by no means a doubt in my thoughts.”
A Pinterest spokeswoman stated in an announcement that Ms. Martinez’s allegations had been with out benefit and that the corporate would defend its place in court docket. “We’re happy with what we constructed at Pinterest and recognize all of the Pinners who’ve helped form the platform through the years,” she stated.
The lawsuit renews questions on whether or not Pinterest, which caters primarily to feminine customers, is hostile to ladies and minorities in its office.
Final summer season, Ifeoma Ozoma and Aerica Shimizu Banks, two former Pinterest staff, wrote on Twitter in regards to the pay disparities, retaliation and sexist, racist feedback they’d skilled on the firm. Shortly after, Francoise Brougher, Pinterest’s former chief working officer, sued the corporate, claiming gender discrimination and retaliation.
In response, Pinterest staff staged a virtual walkout in August final yr, demanding that the corporate enhance the variety of ladies and minorities in its high ranks and supply extra transparency round promotion ranges, retention and pay.
In December, the corporate agreed to a $22.5 million settlement with Ms. Brougher, together with a $2.5 million donation towards charities for girls and underrepresented minorities in tech. Pinterest shareholders then sued the corporate and its board over its office tradition.
Ms. Ozoma has helped sponsor the Silenced No More Act in California, which can broaden safety of staff who communicate out about discrimination or harassment at work. It was just lately handed by the State Legislature.
Ms. Martinez stated that she was not shocked to see the headlines about Pinterest’s tradition and that she had been annoyed by the disconnect between the corporate’s male founders and its feminine customers.
“I’ve spent quite a lot of years being actually confused about how it’s that folks consider that these three males created a product like this for girls — that they understood ladies effectively sufficient,” she stated.
Beginning in 2008, the yr earlier than Pinterest was based, Mr. Silbermann and Mr. Sciarra sought Ms. Martinez’s recommendation on a variety of ideas, from its title and options to its advertising technique and product highway map, based on the lawsuit.
Ms. Martinez had studied inside design, created a life-style weblog and based LAMA Designs, an e-commerce start-up. Although LAMA’s enterprise mannequin labored and was exhibiting promise, enterprise capitalists didn’t take her severely, and he or she stated she had struggled to lift cash.
But funding for Pinterest, based mostly on little greater than an thought and Mr. Silbermann’s and Mr. Sciarra’s credentials, got here simpler. Ms. Martinez stated she was keen to assist her pals.
“They’d no advertising background or experience in making a product for girls,” she stated. “My position was all the time to coach them.”
In accordance with the lawsuit, Ms. Martinez gave the co-founders the thought of organizing pictures on “boards,” a core characteristic of the positioning; created its call-to-action phrase, “Pin it”; and established its major classes together with residence décor, trend and D.I.Y. She additionally helped Mr. Silbermann persuade high design and way of life bloggers to make use of Pinterest and market it. She took him to conferences, gathered suggestions from the neighborhood and honed the pitch to them, she stated.
Ms. Martinez stated she realized she wouldn’t be compensated solely after Pinterest went public in 2019.
Quickly after, she stated, a dying within the household induced her to mirror on her life. That emboldened her to talk up about Pinterest.
“I couldn’t take this to my grave,” she stated.
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