When Reddit CEO Yishan Wong announced that the crowd-sourced news site had raised $50 million, he called his financiers "patient, long-term investors who support our views on difficult issues." But less than two months later that patience seems to have run out and over a suspiciously simple dispute.

In 2012, Ellen Pao, a partner at the Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, sued the venerated venture capital firm for sexual harassment and discrimination. It was a more cloistered time and the allegations were shocking, creating a fissure in Silicon Valley's self-image and spurring a wider discussion about sexism in the tech industry.