Because of his equity in the company, Graves, 35, is a very rich man, worth more than $1 billion, according to Forbes.
It turned out to be a million-dollar tweet when Ryan Graves sent a tweet to Uber CEO, now co-founder, Travis Kalanick suggesting himself as a potential applicant for what was then a new start-up.
In January 2010, Kalanick tweeted, "Looking 4 entrepreneurial product mgr/biz-dev killer 4 a location based service.. pre-launch, BIG equity, big peeps involved--ANY TIPS??"
Ryan Graves after seeing Kalanick's tweet, responded saying, "Here's a tip. email me :)," Graves wrote on Twitter including his mail address.
On March 1, he became the first employee at Uber, all thanks to that tweet.
“I was hitting Craigslist, Twitter, and other channels looking for the right candidate,” CNBC quoted Kalanick as saying in a 2010 blog post about Uber’s early days. “What resulted was the Awesomest job post and response I’ve ever seen.”
Reportedly, Graves work experience included a database administrator position at General Electric.
Graves was briefly Uber's CEO and then stayed on as senior vice president of global operations, CNBC reported.
However, in August 2017, Graves announced his resignation from Uber two months after Kalanick was forced to resign when investigations into Uber’s culture revealed sexual harassment and discrimination.
“We should have taken more time to reflect on our mistakes and make changes together,” CNBC quoted Graves as saying in an email sent to Uber staff.
“There always seemed to be another goal, another target, another business or city to launch. Confucius said that reflection is the noblest method to learn wisdom, and fortunately, our new found reflection and introspection has become an asset to us and we have evolved and grown considerably.”
However, According to Forbes, Graves still sits on Uber’s board of directors.
