The founder of Iterable was fired after using LSD. He just sued for anti-Asian discrimination.

A San Francisco founder who was fired by the company's directors last year after he used LSD has filed a lawsuit alleging that his termination was due to anti-Asian discrimination.

In the complaint filed in San Francisco Superior Court and first reported by Bloomberg News on Monday, Justin Zhu alleges that Iterable's board exhibited "casual racism" when they "subtly and overtly tried to force him out as CEO," eventually firing him after he became more vocal about racial prejudice and his own mental health.

The board's stated cause for termination was Zhu's use of LSD in 2019 shortly before an investor meeting, which "impacted his vision," according to Zhu's complaint. Zhu said he had microdosed on the substance as a way to cope with stress.

The lawsuit names the company and four investors. Zhu is seeking an injunction to prevent the company "from terminating any Iterable, Inc. employee because of race, national origin, or disability" and $10,000 for each retaliatory act he alleges and other unspecified monetary damages

Zhu co-founded Iterable in 2013 with Andrew Boni, who was the company's COO until he was named CEO in the wake of Zhu's termination. The company provides businesses with a marketing and customer management platform and competes with enterprise software giants like Salesforce and Oracle.

Iterable denied the allegations in the lawsuit.

“First and foremost, Justin Zhu was not terminated for reasons of racial discrimination. As we said in April 2021, Andrew Boni, co-founder of Iterable, succeeded Justin as CEO after the Iterable Board of Directors terminated Mr. Zhu from his position due to multiple instances of violating the company’s policies and values. Iterable upholds a zero tolerance for discrimination and racism in the workplace and continues to foster a diverse, equitable and compassionate work environment,” an Iterable spokesperson told me via email. 

Despite his dismissal, Zhu said "the experience brought a positive change to his work life," the complaint says.

Microdosing LSD helped Zhu "in processing his emotions and the difficulties he faced as an Asian American, as a founder, and as a CEO" and he went on to raise "a highly successful Series D round" as well as a $200 million Series E round about a year later that valued the company at $2 billion, fours times that of the previous round.

Zhu alleges in his complaint that as Iterable grew, its investors began talking about finding someone else "who looked more like an enterprise company CEO." The complaint alleges that an Asian investor once warned Zhu that "when the company gets bigger, that success will require hiring a white CEO because that's what it takes to succeed in America."

Zhu's complaint also says that in late 2019, investors suggested "that if he cared about Asian causes, he could invest in them, not serve the goal by being a role model as CEO" and recommended that Zhu step into the CTO role, which Zhu viewed as a demotion. 

Ultimately, Zhu was fired over Zoom in April 2021, according to the complaint.

Psychedelic drug use is not unheard of in the tech industry. A simple Google search for "silicon valley microdosing" turns up a stream of articles from the past decade with headlines that explore Silicon Valley's fascination with mind-altering substances: