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YC Open Office Hours for Black and Hispanic Founders

blog.ycombinator.com

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Re: YC Open Office Hours for Black and Hispanic Founders

#161

Post by cperciva »

tptacek wrote: post #120
tcdent wrote: post #117

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's really interesting. It sounds like that is very much a symptom of ingrained racism; something these people have been encouraged to do for most of their lives. I grew up in a pretty diverse neighborhood, so I know the people to fear are not divided along racial lines. Someone who came from a wealthier area would probably not have that opportunity. To the point I made elsewhere on this page, does a program like…

The idea behind the phone call is that it welcomes people into the field. If we want to couch these issues in the emotions of the victims, rather than the (often inadvertent) perpetrators, then yes: it's mostly about ameliorating "fear". I don't know that we need much psychoanalysis, though. Mostly what YC is doing is just neighborly common sense. Bluntly: people getting "riled up" about "perceived handouts" are comp…

I don't think it's necessarily accurate to say that people are complaining in bad faith. They might just be wrong.

Re: YC Open Office Hours for Black and Hispanic Founders

#162

Post by briholt »

Mz wrote: post #150
briholt wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You would think all the efforts towards social outreach would focus on poverty as their #1 criteria - the most direct and obvious criteria of people in need - but they almost never do. The problem is these programs are created by upper-class people in their media-social bubble, cobbled together from the arbitrary championings within that bubble. Unfortunately poverty doesn't have a strong, dedicated representative in…

You would think all the efforts towards social outreach would focus on poverty as their #1 criteria This is a really, really, really terrible criteria to use. It is one with a proven track record of actively encouraging people to be failures in order to qualify for assistance and it becomes a trap they don't know how to escape. It is much, much, much more effective to define need or merit on some basis other than pov…

I see your point about moral hazards, but in this case, I don't think anyone would avoid working in order to become poor in order to get free advice about how to work.

Re: YC Open Office Hours for Black and Hispanic Founders

#163

Post by Mz »

briholt wrote: post #162
Mz wrote: post #150

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You would think all the efforts towards social outreach would focus on poverty as their #1 criteria This is a really, really, really terrible criteria to use. It is one with a proven track record of actively encouraging people to be failures in order to qualify for assistance and it becomes a trap they don't know how to escape. It is much, much, much more effective to define need or merit on some basis other than pov…

I see your point about moral hazards, but in this case, I don't think anyone would avoid working in order to become poor in order to get free advice about how to work.

There are psychological costs to having people self-identify as being poor enough to qualify for a program that are not there for self-identifying as female or black or hispanic. You are asking people to say to themselves and the world "I am enough of a failure to qualify for help." It is not a basis for future success. It is the opposite. And it comes with all kinds of problems.

I wish YC approached the shortage of women and other minorities in tech/startups differently. But I don't wish they took the approach you are suggesting.

Re: YC Open Office Hours for Black and Hispanic Founders

#164

Post by anigbrowl »

78666cdc wrote: post #84
anigbrowl wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Generally people who research employment discrimination send out identical resumes except for a test factor and then use the number of interview invitations as a proxy for reaction to the test factor.

Then cite that rather than an unscientific, non-rigorous "study" (read: anecdote).

Let's take a look at the actual citation:

Taken from a forthcoming paper by Sampson and Kristin L. Perkins, “Compounded Deprivation in the Transition to Adulthood: The Intersection of Racial and Economic Inequality among Chicagoans, 1995-2013,” in the Russell Sage Foundation Journal of the Social Sciences.

Professor Sampson has an endowed chair at Harvard and was previously the chair of his department there. While I have not yet gone looking for preprint versions, I'm willing to entertain the possibility that he might have a firm grasp on the difference between statistical and anecdotal information. I see no reason for the author of the Atlantic article to recapitulate the methodology of every single academic reference in a long discussion of social policy.

Re: YC Open Office Hours for Black and Hispanic Founders

#166

Post by cdelsolar »

mattdeboard wrote: post #105
santaclaus wrote: post #6

This is very exciting! Is the program open to those of Brazilian descent?

Brazil has such a mixed demographic though. Like I don't care what your personal racial heritage is, but I was wondering, like, if an American resident says, "I'm Brazilian", what does that mean? Especially if they're of African descent. Would e.g. YC automatically just count them as Hispanic even though they're not actually Hispanic, just because they're "brown" (or white, or black, or whatever else) and Brazil is a…

So does South America. I am a Peruvian born in Venezuela but to many people I look white.

Re: YC Open Office Hours for Black and Hispanic Founders

#167

Post by sealthedeal »

arturventura wrote: post #9

I'm not trying to be a troll, I'm just trying to find a justification. Having something that says you can only can come in if you are "Black, Hispanic, Women, Veterans, and International founders" kinda racist as fuck? It sounds exactly like segregation to me. Again, not trying to be a troll. Not American, just trying to understand.

I agree. I understand the societal difficulties these various ethnicities have, but it just furthers segregation, at least from my perspective.

Re: YC Open Office Hours for Black and Hispanic Founders

#168

Post by pixelcloud »

gagmaker wrote: post #134
mwseibel wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Good question! My best answer is that many members of these groups have an even harder time starting a startup. In addition to all the normal outreach we do to all startup founders (6500+ applied for the last batch) we also want to do targeted outreach to underrepresented groups in order to close the gap.

> harder time starting a startup and you certain its all due to their skin color etc? Sorry, I'm having a hard time to believe it. > we also want to do targeted outreach to underrepresented Having that much resources to invest (limited, are they?), you likely will end up funding a business based on founder's skin color. Sorry, but that how it looks like from outside.

It's basically designed to the ycombinator staff can not be subconsciously racist towards founders.

If a group applied with a great idea in the "normal" pool of applicants I suspect they would fair perfectly find against the 6500+ applications.

Obviously, YCombinator is worried about their image and cannot figure out how to "close the gap" without this.

Re: YC Open Office Hours for Black and Hispanic Founders

#169

Post by BurningFrog »

lbotos wrote: post #116
tcdent wrote: post #106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm curious what privileges you perceive, or know to be true, for non-minorities. I absolutely agree there is a problem. I've heard many first-hand accounts of violence and disrespect from all races. I'm interested in a solution that doesn't just take the labels from a pie chart and reinforce the dividing lines between what ultimately is one group.

I'm white. I was once 14. I used to bring in all kinds of hacked together computer things to my high school all the time. I'd even bring in a soldering iron and solder at lunch. I was never arrested or questioned or considered a threat. Ahmed Mohammed was considered a threat. http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-34266389

The sample size and selection of this survey of you and an internet celebrity renders it scientifically useless.

Re: YC Open Office Hours for Black and Hispanic Founders

#170

Post by djtriptych »

balls187 wrote: post #155
gagmaker wrote: post #128

Earlier quoted context omitted.

True, and guess what it happens in the same time while white men has all the privileges. Weird. Don't you think? :)

Hey great, I (asian man) get to work in tech. Do I get to raise interest rates? How about being a credible candidate for US President? Can I pay money to fuck kids and spend only 5 years in jail?

These are fair points, though outside of a discussion focused on expanding access to tech.
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