Phoebe Gates took a secret Stanford class on how to ‘rule the world’—and reportedly recruited employees for her startup accused of wire fraud
An off-the-record university course helped Gates recruit for Phia, and former students claim the class taught a ruthless hunger for profit.
Phoebe Gates, daughter of tech billionaire Bill Gates, started an AI personal shopping assistant company called Phia while a Stanford University student. Before founding Phia, Gates attended a secret course titled "Rule" taught by Stanford grad Justin Lewis-Weber. The course taught students how to manipulate power structures and take advantage of others in a system.
After graduation, Gates used her connections to recruit employees for Phia. The company now faces accusations of cookie stuffing, a fraudulent practice that accounted for over half of its revenue in June. Phia initially raised $8 million in seed funding and later raised $35 million in Series A funding. The company denies the allegations and claims they removed the fraudulent features over a month ago.
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