Eight years ago, a group of Irish entrepreneurs led by an ambitious leader, Eoghan McCabe, relocated their software startup, Intercom, from Dublin to San Francisco, aiming to make a splash on tech’s biggest stage. They succeeded, raising more than $240 million in funding from pedigreed venture capital firms and joining an elite class of tech “unicorns”—startups valued by investors at more than $1 billion.

But in recent years, at least a half-dozen Intercom employees have left the company over allegations that Mr. McCabe, its chief executive, made unwanted advances toward female Intercom staffers, according to people who left and others briefed on their departures. The allegations include an incident from 2015 when he was said to have propositioned a young sales staffer after a night of drinking with other Intercom employees and other occasions around that time when Mr. McCabe was said to have slapped the buttocks of a different Intercom employee and touched her thigh at a work party. Multiple people who either witnessed Mr. McCabe’s behavior or heard about it from the women involved told The Information about the incidents.

THE TAKEAWAY
At least a half-dozen employees of Intercom, a fast-growing business software startup, have left the company in recent years over allegations that the CEO, Eoghan McCabe, made unwanted advances toward female staffers.

One of those people, Kelly Schuur, a former Intercom sales manager who supervised both of the women, told The Information that she witnessed some of Mr. McCabe’s behavior toward one of the women. “Supporting them through that experience was one of the saddest and most heartbreaking things I’ve ever had to do,” she told Intercom co-founder and board member Des Traynor in a message sent via LinkedIn last December, a copy of which was viewed by The Information.

Intercom conducted an internal investigation into harassment claims against Mr. McCabe several years ago and found no merit to them. The probe was later reviewed by an outside attorney hired by the company’s board of directors. Several former Intercom employees who had complained to colleagues about Mr. McCabe’s behavior told The Information they were surprised that the investigation and board review resulted in no apparent consequences for the Intercom CEO.

In recent months, as The Information investigated the allegations against Mr. McCabe, Intercom’s board hired another attorney to look at the matter anew, according to spokespersons for Intercom and its board. The attorney, Helen Cantwell, previously investigated sexual harassment allegations against former CBS chief executive Les Moonves on behalf of that company’s board.

The following story is based on interviews The Information conducted with more than 30 current and former Intercom employees, which paint a picture of a freewheeling office culture at Intercom during its early days, where employees were encouraged to socialize and drink. A key figure in the company’s culture was Mr. McCabe, described by employees as both brilliant and temperamental, with a tendency to cross boundaries with junior female employees.

The two women who complained of unwanted advances by Mr. McCabe—whom The Information is not naming to protect their privacy—didn’t respond to multiple requests for comment. Both left Intercom in 2016 after signing confidentiality agreements with the company, according to a person with direct knowledge of their departures.

Mr. McCabe, through an Intercom spokesperson, declined to be interviewed for this story, but said in a statement: “In the early years of the company I demonstrated some poor judgment. I apologized at the time and have matured as a person and a CEO since then. I’m proud of the respectful culture we’ve built, and have long believed that people do their best work when they feel truly happy and safe. I fully support the independent review into these matters and our HR practices.”

Playing Hard

While Intercom came from humble beginnings, initially operating out of a coffee shop in Dublin, its software tools—which include chatbots that help companies carry on online conversations with their customers—have become commonplace inside many sales departments since it moved to San Francisco. Mr. McCabe has said that the company outpaced the growth of Zendesk, Atlassian and other successful business software companies at the same stage of growth, surging to $50 million in annualized revenue at the end of 2016 from $1 million three years earlier.

Along the way, it attracted blue chip venture firms as investors, including Bessemer, IVP and Kleiner Perkins. Last March, Intercom raised $125 million in funding in a deal led by former Kleiner Perkins partner Mary Meeker, who joined the company as a board observer. It has more than 600 employees spread between headquarters in San Francisco and offices in Dublin, London and other cities.

People who worked with Mr. McCabe (whose first name is pronounced “Owen”) at Intercom describe him as a charismatic leader who valued original thinking, and sought to set the startup apart from other software companies in its field. One former Intercom employee who was close to Mr. McCabe said the CEO considered himself to be an outsider in Silicon Valley’s clubby world of tech entrepreneurs partly because of his Irish roots.

“Eoghan is an exceptional leader who is visionary and strategic, as well as kind, genuine and transparent,” Karen Peacock, the chief operating officer of Intercom, said in a statement. “He has built a culture that respects and empowers all people, which is one of the reasons I joined the company.”

But early employees said he also showed flashes of temper and vindictiveness. He was known for occasionally writing scathing messages to employees in group messages, according to a former employee who saw them. On at least one occasion he told another person leaving Intercom that he intended to tarnish their reputation in the tech industry, that person said.

Early employees said Intercom management expected them to perform at a high level, but many also felt pressured to play hard too—for example, by attending company happy hours. Three former employees said they witnessed Mr. McCabe drinking heavily at company events.

“It felt like a ‘boys getting drunk together’ club,” said one former Intercom employee.

A person close to Mr. McCabe said the stories of the Intercom CEO drinking heavily and threatening to tarnish a former employee’s reputation were untrue.

The appetite for partying wasn’t unique to Intercom. Tech startups have long been known for their booze-fueled office escapades after work hours. In recent years though, after management missteps that forced them to examine their office policies, some tech companies like Zenefits and Uber either banned or sought to reduce alcohol consumption in their offices. Some businesses also made reforms in the wake of media stories about sexual harassment allegations against influential figures, including The Information’s coverage of the venture capitalist Justin Caldbeck in 2017.

As Intercom has grown into a much bigger software business, it, too, has curbed drinking at the  office in recent years, multiple current and former Intercom employees said. Two former Intercom employees said Mr. McCabe told them several years ago that he was drinking too much and hoped to cut back on his alcohol intake. More recent Intercom employees said they haven't seen him drink alcohol at company events.

“The Eoghan who manages the company now is very different than the Eoghan who managed it four years ago,” said one former employee who worked at Intercom for four years.

Crossing Boundaries

For some Intercom employees, concerns about Mr. McCabe’s conduct began to mount several years ago after word of an incident involving the CEO began circulating inside the company.

In early 2015, Mr. McCabe invited several Intercom employees to his home after a company event, including a junior saleswoman from the San Francisco office in her early 20s, according to three former employees who spoke to the woman about the evening at the time. When the impromptu gathering of visitors had thinned to three remaining employees, including the young saleswoman, Mr. McCabe told the other two guests to leave and ordered them a car, said the people who spoke to the saleswoman.

When the woman said she, too, wanted to go home, Mr. McCabe told her that he wanted her to remain, the people said. After the other two employees had left, Mr. McCabe made a lewd remark to the saleswoman and said that he would like to sleep with her, the people said. She declined and eventually left his home, they said.

Later, the saleswoman said Mr. McCabe’s actions had frightened her, according to one of the people who spoke to her about the incident, who declined to be named.

Another Intercom employee whom the woman told about that night was Schuur, the former Intercom sales manager who was her direct supervisor. Schuur said she also confirmed some details of the gathering with two of the Intercom employees who were present at Mr. McCabe’s home that night.

Schuur was so troubled by the incident that she informed her supervisor, vice president of sales Russ Thau, and Mr. Traynor, the Intercom co-founder and board member, about the young woman’s account. That led to a meeting at a cafe between Schuur and Messrs. Thau and McCabe to discuss the young woman’s allegations.

During the meeting, Schuur said she told Mr. McCabe that his behavior was inappropriate. The Intercom CEO cried during the meeting and said that he hadn’t realized there was a power imbalance between himself and the young woman, Schuur said.

“I felt like I was just a guy at a party and she was just a girl,” Mr. McCabe said, according to Schuur.

The person close to Mr. McCabe said he “doesn’t agree with this account of events,” including the evening at his home and the meeting at the cafe, but declined to specify what was inaccurate about them.

At the time, Intercom didn’t have a human resources department, multiple former employees said. After the meeting, Schuur said that Messrs. McCabe and Traynor agreed to hire a human resources representative and introduce a company seminar on sexual harassment. Mr. Thau confirmed Schuur’s account of the meeting, but didn’t comment further. Mr. Traynor didn’t respond to requests for comment.

Two former Intercom employees present for the harassment training seminar said Mr. McCabe didn’t attend. The person close to Mr. McCabe said he completed all sexual harassment training required of him.

Growing Concerns

As word of the incident spread inside Intercom, it revived discussion among some employees of earlier events involving Mr. McCabe and a different saleswoman.

At an Intercom party around 2014, Schuur said she witnessed Mr. McCabe slap the saleswoman’s buttocks. At a different event around that time, another former employee said she saw the Intercom CEO place his hand on the same woman’s thigh. Four former Intercom employees, including Schuur, also said the woman told them of the advances, which she said were unwanted.

The person close to Mr. McCabe also disputed this version of events, without specifying inaccuracies.

The woman initially discussed the incidents with close colleagues, including Schuur, but she became more concerned that they were part of a wider pattern of behavior by Mr. McCabe after learning about the incident with the other saleswoman at the Intercom CEO’s house, according to the people who spoke to her.

Then, in the summer of 2016, word spread inside Intercom about another incident involving Mr. McCabe and a young saleswoman in the company’s Dublin office. A local sales manager heard that the woman had complained to colleagues that the Intercom CEO had made her feel uncomfortable during a company event while visiting the city, said Schuur, who talked to the sales manager.

The Information couldn’t learn further details of the alleged Dublin incident. In an email, the saleswoman, who no longer works at Intercom, said Mr. McCabe didn’t make her feel uncomfortable. She didn’t respond to further questions.

Schuur, who by that time had decided to leave Intercom in large part because of Mr. McCabe’s conduct, told Kathleen Estreich, then the company’s chief of staff, about the allegations involving Mr. McCabe. Ms. Estreich told her that she would inform the company’s human resources representative, Leslie Chung, Schuur said.

Ms. Estreich confirmed to The Information that she brought the information to Ms. Chung to open an investigation; she and Ms. Chung also informed Mr. Traynor, the Intercom board member and co-founder, of the allegations.

Ms. Chung investigated the allegation involving the Dublin event and the earlier claims that Mr. McCabe had inappropriately touched a saleswoman in San Francisco, according to a former employee with direct knowledge.

Ms. Chung later told other Intercom employees that what had transpired in Dublin between the saleswoman and Mr. McCabe was a misunderstanding, according to two former Intercom employees, who spoke to Ms. Chung. Ms. Chung didn’t respond to multiple requests for comment.

A person close to Intercom confirmed that Ms. Chung’s internal investigation concluded the Dublin incident was based on a misunderstanding. This person said the company’s human resources department investigated other reported incidents, including the ones detailed in this story, but declined to say more.

Further Investigation

Around this time, Intercom’s board of directors hired an attorney—James Kramer of Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe—to review the internal investigation by Ms. Chung, Intercom’s human resources representative, according to a person close to the board. Mr. Kramer wasn’t asked to independently contact witnesses or to conduct his own investigation, this person said. Mr. Kramer didn’t respond to requests for comment.

In February, Mamoon Hamid, a former Intercom board member who is now a partner at Kleiner Perkins, said: “We properly investigated the situation.”

A spokesperson for Ms. Meeker, the Intercom board observer and former Kleiner Perkins partner, said Ms. Meeker wasn’t aware of any of the allegations involving Mr. McCabe prior to being contacted by The Information. “These matters were absolutely disclosed to all investors including Kleiner Perkins well before the funding round was closed," an Intercom board spokesperson said, referring to a financing led by the firm last year.

More recently, Intercom’s board has initiated a full investigation of its own into the allegations against Mr. McCabe, with the hiring of Ms. Cantwell, a former prosecutor for Manhattan’s sex crimes unit and who now works for the firm Debevoise & Plimpton. Mr. McCabe is a member of the board, but was not involved in the decision to hire Ms. Cantwell, a spokesperson for the board said.

“Recently, questions regarding the handling of some matters that were previously investigated by HR and reviewed by the board have been raised,” an Intercom board spokesperson said. “We have engaged an expert to conduct a new review and investigation into these matters as well as our HR policies and will follow any recommendations that come from it.”

In recent weeks, some former Intercom employees said Ms. Cantwell has reached out to them to speak about the allegations against Mr. McCabe. Ms. Cantwell didn’t respond to requests for comment.

The two young saleswomen from the San Francisco office who alleged unwanted advances by Mr. McCabe told other employees that they felt uncomfortable working at the company with Mr. McCabe. They both left the company in 2016. Each signed nondisclosure agreements and received financial payments—between $30,000 and $80,000—according to a person with direct knowledge of their separation agreements.

A person close to Intercom said all company employees who receive severance packages sign “separation agreements,” including the two women.

Intercom’s handling of the allegations about Mr. McCabe’s conduct led several more Intercom employees, most of them women, to leave the company, former employees said. In 2017, a number of other women left Intercom, leading to internal jokes about a “wexit”—short for “women’s exit.”

Earlier this year, one anonymous commenter on Intercom’s page on Glassdoor—a website where workers review their employers—noted the departure of women from the company. Mr. McCabe, who regularly responds to Glassdoor reviews about Intercom, replied that the company’s internal data didn’t show high turnover of female employees.

“We’re going to do some digging to learn if this perception is broader than just one person and if so what might be causing it and figure out if there’s an issue we need to address,” he wrote.

Intercom CEO Eoghan McCabe. Illustration by Mike Sullivan