So what's the real story behind Yelp's suspicions that bad-boy entrepreneur Sean Parker was hacking the Benchmark-backed yellow pages site? It's all about Liza.
Parker maintains this is the first he's heard of the story, and Yelp boss Jeremy Stoppelman concedes his colleagues have no hard evidence that Sean Parker was involved in the attack, in which spoof users messed up Yelp's database with phony ratings. But Parker's confirmed that he and the Yelp CEO were rival suitors, which would explain the tension between them. The girl is Liza, one of Yelp's most prolific reviewers of bars and restaurants.
We assume it's this Liza, pictured above, who lists Yelp's Stoppelman as a friend on the listings site. No wonder Sean Parker was so aggrieved; and, given Parker's history of unfettered behavior, it's little surprise either that Yelp execs would wonder whether he had a hand in the sabotage.
And the moral of this story? Sean Parker has a nose for the internet breakout, demonstrated when he latched on to Napster and Facebook. He has come under the wing of Peter Thiel, one of the West Coast's most successful investors.
Jeremy Stoppelman runs a promising internet startup backed by Benchmark Capital, and has already brushed off lucrative acquisition offers. In short, Parker and Stoppelman are the golden boys of the new internet boom. And, endearingly, they feud like they're still in high school.
