Board of Directors --

I'm writing to you today ahead of your scheduled meeting to share the thoughts of over 1,100 full-time Uber employees (and counting) who vehemently disagree with Travis' resignation as CEO and the associated pressure placed on him to do so by investors and board members alike.

In less than 12 hours, these employees have expressed their belief that Travis should return to Uber in an operational role. This magnitude of a response was unexpected and should not be ignored. What started as simple note to my closest co-workers turned into a petition spanning hundreds of offices and teams, and has yet to be seen by a majority of employees.

As the folks who've actually worked alongside Travis for years to help create Uber from nothing, we are extremely disappointed by the short-sightedness and pure self-interest demonstrated by those who are supposed to protect the long-term interests of our company.

Yes, Travis is flawed, as we all are. But his passion, vision, and dedication to Uber are simply unmatched. We would not be here today without him, and believe he can evolve into the leader we need. He is critical to our future success.

We await your response and look forward to Travis' return in an operational role.

There also have been several public Facebook posts in support of Kalanick, including from current Uber employees like Margaret-Ann Seger and former ones like Frederique Dame.

Finally, Axios has received a statement from Mood Rowghani, a partner with venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, which is an Uber investor. He appears to agree with the idea of Kalanick retaining an operational role at the company, in addition to just a board seat. It reads:

"It would be wrong to conclude from Uber that founder involvement in the companies they create is a mistake. While founders should be held accountable to strong, independent boards and need the support of experienced leadership teams, founder DNA is a precious asset and cannot be under-estimated. It is a founder's passion, strategic clairvoyance, ability to inspire and motivate employees and relentless pursuit of the mission that enables start-ups to achieve seismic changes against the odds. Founders may not always play the role of CEO but several great companies -- most notably Apple and Twitter -- that severed all ties to their founders eventually came to regret it."

• Money: Kalanick obviously isn't hurting, with sources saying that he's received multi-million dollar performance bonuses in each of the past few years. But remember that he's never sold a single share of Uber stock, so he still has a strong financial incentive to help maintain value (versus trying to burn down the house). Moreover, almost everyone I've spoken with believes that his continued board presence is vital to the company's future success.
• Partners: Multiple sources say that the relationship between Kalanick and Arianna Huffington became problematically close, with Kalanick not really speaking to any other directors between the time he took a leave of absence and Tuesday's investor revolt. In short, Kalanick isolated himself with Huffington as buffer — and other directors were ticked off by things like this NY Times puff piece on Huffington (which they viewed as being primarily about personal brand promotion).
• Speaking of which: There was a ridiculous NY Post story yesterday suggesting that Huffington was leading the CEO search, via her advocacy for Sheryl Sandberg. To be sure, most everyone at Uber would kill for Sandberg to take the role, but Huffington isn't in any particular charge of recruiting (a role really led by Gurley, who was expected to remain involved). Just to prove the point, that same story later suggests Huffington nemesis Tim Armstrong as a candidate. No way she's recruiting him (nor do I think he's a serious candidate, given the upcoming Yahoo integration that he spearheaded at AOL).
• Timeline: It is important to note that Kalanick's behavior and choices in the time between taking leave and Tuesday were determinative for many of the revolting investors, although specifics remain hard to come by. But know this: Had Kalanick just taken a couple of weeks at the beach with his phone turned off, he's probably still CEO.
• Other moves: TPG's David Trujillo will take that firm's board seat, following the resignation of David Bonderman over sexist statements made at last week's all-hands. Worth noting that TPG didn't sign the investor letter on Tuesday, although it was considered to be generally supportive of the effort (seems the letter's specific language was at issue).
• CEO candidates? Here are some options.
• Counterpoint: Conventional wisdom is that Kalanick's resignation is a win for Silicon Valley women, but not everyone agrees. Check out this Facebook post from Uber product manager Margaret-Ann Seger: "I'm angry, sad, flustered, confused, but mostly just heartbroken."
• Reconsidering: Prior to Kalanick's resignation, I wrote a piece questioning whether Uber's board should have hired Eric Holder in the first place. Not whether it needed to investigate sexual harassment claims or that it needed cultural changes -- but rather if the Holder investigation structure was the best way to proceed. Read it here.