Kate Lowry, a former vice president at Insight Partners, is suing the company, alleging disability discrimination, gender discrimination, and wrongful termination, according to a lawsuit filed on December 30 in San Mateo County, California, and seen by TechCrunch.
Insight Partners did not immediately respond to TechCrunch’s request for comment.
Lowry told TechCrunch that he filed the lawsuit because he believes “too many powerful and wealthy people are acting like they’re breaking the law and systematically paying and abusing their employees.”
“This is an oppressive system that reflects (s) a wider trend in society that uses fear, intimidation, and power to silence and isolate the truth. I’m trying to change that.
Lowry began working at Insight Partners in 2022, after previously working at Meta, McKinsey & Company, and early-stage startups. The suit alleges that, when he was hired, he was assigned to a different supervisor than the one he mentioned during the interview.
She claims in the suit that she was told by her new supervisor, who is a woman, to be “online all the time, including PTO, holidays, and weekends,” and to respond between “6 a.m. and 11 p.m. every day.”
Lowry said in the suit that the first supervisor was “berated, hazed, and antagonistic” her, said open about the hazing that would be “longer and more intense” than what she put other male reports through.
Some of the comments the supervisor made, according to the suit, included “you’re incompetent, shut up and take notes” and “you have to follow me like a dog; do whatever I say whenever I say it, without saying anything.” Lowry also said her supervisor gave her “excessive assignments” and limited her ability to attend calls, while allowing less experienced male colleagues to do so. Lowry, instead, he said, was relegated to “administrative duties such as taking notes and cataloging.”
Techcrunch event
San Francisco
|
13-15 October 2026
Lowry said he was “increasingly sickened” by the work environment and doctors recommended he take medical leave, which he granted and took from February to July 2023.
When he returned to work, he was placed on a new team and, according to the suit, was told by the head of human resources that “if the new team didn’t like him, he would be fired.”
In September 2023, Lowry said he suffered a concussion and took another medical leave of absence and returned to work at the end of 2024. Due to several departures, he was placed under the supervision of a rookie, where Lowry said his treatment continues. He also said that by 2024, compensation would be about 30% lower than the market.
In April 2025, he said his compensation would be cut. In May 2025, through his lawyer, Lowry sent a letter to Insight about the company’s alleged treatment. A week later, the company stopped working, according to the suit.
The lawsuit is similar to Ellen Pao’s lawsuit against Kleiner Perkins in 2012, in which she claimed discrimination and retaliation. The suit offered what was, at the time, a rare glimpse into how female partners felt about being treated as venture capital. Although Pao lost his suit, sent waves through the industry, and another woman demanded a major technology company.