Bill Gates' daughter, Phoebe Gates, under fire over ‘insulting' business message
Bill Gates' daughter has been publicly called out by a popular online creator and luxury brand expert over a 'disrespectful' message he received from her new business.
Phoebe Gates, the youngest daughter of tech billionaire Bill Gates and Melinda Gates, recently started her own company, Phia, alongside her co-founder and former Stanford University roommate, Sophia Kianni.
Phia is an app and mobile browsing extension that aims to help shoppers find the best value for items online.
The idea is that, once shoppers have found the product they want to compare, Phia will scour the web and compare new and second-hand listings for the same and similar items.
The app went live late last month and boasts an impressive list of investors and advisers, including Kris Jenner, Spanx founder Sara Blakely, and media executive and former president of Honey, Joanne Bradford.
The 22-year-old Ms Gates and 23-year-old Ms Kianni have also been on a promotional spree, appearing on the well-known Call Her Daddy podcast, conducting an interview with Ms Jenner and receiving a profile in The New York Times.
But not everyone is impressed with the new business venture, or with some of the ways Ms Gates and Ms Kianni are supposedly trying to ramp up publicity.
A popular online creator and luxury brand deals expert, Jarrod Jenkins, has called out Phia and it's founders, claiming he was asked to work for 'free' to promote the business.
Mr Jenkins describes himself as a luxury brand strategist and boasts over 54,000 followers on TikTok, where he talks about high-end fashion and often compares the prices of similar products.
'Let's talk about how Bill Gates' daughter disrespected me,' Mr Jenkins said in a recent TikTok video.
'So Bill Gates' daughter reaches out to me, I don't know her, but she knows I am a luxury deal expert.'
The creator shared a message seemingly sent from the Phia business page about a week before it's launch.
In it, the person sending the message explained 'my company @phia.co is launching at the end of the month', before going on to say they 'would love' to give Mr Jenkins early access so that he can share his thoughts with his 'community' when the app goes live.
Mr Jenkins claimed he was asked to do this 'for free', noting that this is a service he would usually charge thousands of dollars for.
'She didn't even subscribe to my substack, that's $5 a month, $30 a year and they just signed up for the free tier,' he said.
The creator then shared his response, in which he said that if he had been contacted 'well in advance' of the launch, he would have advised Ms Gates and Ms Kianni not to go live with the product.
'I actually downloaded the app and it is absolutely worthless,' Mr Jenkins said, claiming the app recommends entirely different products or products in a different condition to the one being searched.
In his experience, he found the app focused on the item description rather than the image and didn't include enough boutiques.
In his response, Mr Jenkins offered to serve as an adviser for Phia moving forward, but claims he never received a response.
'Phoebe Gates and her co-founder Sophia aren't trying to sell an actual product, they are trying to sell vibes and business rizz,' he said.
'They want all the publicity, none of the work.'
Mr Jenkins' video has been viewed more than 67,000 times and has gained hundreds of comments, with people unimpressed by Ms Gates' business tactics.
'Free is so wildly insulting. Why do rich people do this? Every regular, non-wealthy person I've ever worked for as a freelancer has compensated me,' one person said.
'For FREE?????? & her parents are WHO?!!??!??' another wrote.
Many claimed this was stereotypical nepo baby and 'rich kid behaviour', while others were shocked at the 'audacity' of asking someone to work for free.
One person wrote: 'I'm so tired of privileged kids entering the fashion space and not putting in the work or at least HIRING & PAYING people who will put in the work.'
'In this shaky economy, billionaire's daughter reaching out like this is so out of touch,' another added.
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