I think part of the disconnect over the Away story is the changing nature of startup tech companies: As more and more companies are "tech companies" it is less and less okay for them to behave like tech companies
Startup tech companies have, for decades, operated on an agreement that you'll work your ass off while a crazy/genius founder screams at and humiliates you in exchange for equity, and a chance to get rich. (Oh, sure, and change the world while you're at it.)
A lot of times that culture remained in place after those startups got big and went public. People then learn from those successful examples. Apple and Microsoft - both companies from which others took a lot of cues - followed this model.
But for decades tech startups also were a relatively niche thing that happened for the most part in two regions way out on the west coast.
Today, tech is pervasive in society, and increasingly so too are "tech" startups. They're everywhere across the world and it seems like damn near everything is a tech company now -- even stuff that's absolutely not. (Like WeWork or, uh, a company that puts batteries in luggage.)
These companies are also, I would guess, a lot less likely to be staffed by people steeped in and reverential of tech industry lore. They haven't memorized Microserfs or read Hackers (sorry @StevenLevy). "Clayton who now?"
It's pretty unreasonable to put founder expectations on, for example, CSR staff who aren't really part of that old agreement. They aren't getting a ton of money or equity. They aren't getting rich. (The people Steve Jobs was notorious for yelling at are all millionaires now!)
Meanwhile, workplaces have also thankfully evolved! The work yourself to death while someone screams at you thing it is not something we tend to accept as okay in society anymore. Good riddance.
And back where I started, a lot of people defending Away's management style are maybe/likely doing so because that's the way things have always been in this sector. But the sector has exploded + society has changed. It needs new norms and ways of operating.
Oh, and also... Come on. It's a fucking suitcase
