As Astronomer suspended Andy Byron after his Coldplay kiss cam video with company HR head Kristin Cabot went viral, accounts of his toxic leadership are surfacing one by one. A 2018 report detailed the mismanagement of startup Cybereason, the company where Byron used to work as the chief revenue officer. The report claimed that the employees of the SoftBank-backed startup blamed Byron’s hiring as the beginning of the turmoil.“Multiple former employees said Mr. Byron would lash out against employees who disagreed with him, including threatening to fire them. ‘You couldn’t challenge him,’ a former employee who worked for Mr Byron said. After that hiring, current and former employees described a shift in culture from a company that had previously prized transparency to one where it was lacking,” the 2018 report said. After Byron joined the company, he brought in a crew of salespeople from his former company Fuze. At that time, Byron denied having any contentious dealings with staff and said he was hired bu Cybereason to help the company reach its next phase of growth and for that, he had to make some difficult decisions that might have disappointed some individuals. Cut to 2025, and one of the reasons behind the Coldplay video blowing up on social media is the disgruntled workers of the company. Several former employees, on anonymity, disclosed that the social media groups of former employees were erupting as the toxicity that Byron spread finally caught up with him.
Astronomer co-founder speaks up
Ry Walker, the co-founder of Astronomer, spoke up in the wake of the controversy and also praised the decision of the company to make Pete Dejoy as the interim CEO. “I’ve found Andy to be professional, I’ve only ever been on a call with him once. Everyone on the team has praised his leadership to me. So I think this is an unfortunate development that comes as a big surprise,” Walker said. “For those asking – I’m no longer involved in @astronomerio – yes I was co-founder and early CEO – not on the team or board since 2022, and have no information on ColdplayGate,” he wrote.
