is the last thing you want as a founder
We detached this subthread from https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14621712 and marked it off-topic.
6 Women Accuse Tech VC Justin Caldbeck of Sexual Assault and Harassment
191–200 of 484 posts
Re: 6 Women Accuse Tech VC Justin Caldbeck of Sexual Assault and Harassment
#192What follows is a statement that Caldbeck provided to Axios this afternoon. "The past 24 hours have been the darkest of my life. I have made many mistakes over the course of my career, some of which were brought to light this week. To say I'm sorry about my behavior is a categorical understatement. Still, I need to say it: I am so, so sorry. I direct my apology first to those women who I've made feel uncomfortable in…
Im so, so sorry I got caught. It has been a difficult experience for me. I would have liked to see more respect given to the victims rather than telling us how difficult getting caught has been for him.
Honest question: can you tell me what phrases in particular you read this way? I read almost everything exactly the opposite way - and I'm genuinely curious which sentences can be interpreted so differently by different people.
Re: 6 Women Accuse Tech VC Justin Caldbeck of Sexual Assault and Harassment
#193Really glad to see people like this getting called out. Dealing with sexual harassment/assault from someone in power is the last thing you want as a female founder - you have a million other things you need to do to keep your startup afloat, and you don't want to rock the boat if it affects your likelihood of being funded. Feels like the valley is slowly but surely changing. And yes, I recognize that this hasn't been…
The accusations can be true, and at the same time it seems possible that the VC didn't take advantage of his "position of power", but genuinely believed the women liked him for his looks and personality, not because they needed his money.
What makes you think that the women liked him, or that he thought they liked him? They were pitching to him, that's a business transaction. He himself said he leveraged a position of power in exchange for sexual gain, and the linked article mentions groping and harassment with unwanted sexual propositions.
Now the question is, what motivates you to seek out a relatively far-fetched justification for this man's possible innocence?
Re: 6 Women Accuse Tech VC Justin Caldbeck of Sexual Assault and Harassment
#194Earlier quoted context omitted.
> A good faith investigation by a journalist with six sources, three on the record, could certainly be viewed as due process. But @sillysaurus3 basically said that there is no amount of evidence that could satisfy "reasonable doubt" with this statement: > When it involves rich or powerful people, the ability to get many she-said's becomes easier. This statement basically says that gathering multiple claims and multip…
No, it had nothing to do with women, and I resent that implication. I notice you saw the subthread where I articulated that it had nothing to do with women yet still posted a comment insinuating it does: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14621640 It's not a controversial observation that rich and powerful people can acquire enemies, and some of them have been slandered by the press. It was difficult to separate th…
Apologies, but I'm not claiming that you think that there is no amount of evidence that can satisfy a claim against a powerful person. My issue was that the claim:
> When it involves rich or powerful people, the ability to get many she-said's becomes easier.
when taken at face value is implying (indirectly) that it takes more "she-saids" to make a claim against a rich/powerful person believable than it would for a "normal" person.
It doesn't even have to have anything to do with women. It just implies that even multiple claims by separate parties might not be enough when the target is someone rich or powerful (or famous) if it's a "my word against yours" type situation. From my point of view, that's just giving more power to the rich or powerful.
Re: 6 Women Accuse Tech VC Justin Caldbeck of Sexual Assault and Harassment
#195Really glad to see people like this getting called out. Dealing with sexual harassment/assault from someone in power is the last thing you want as a female founder - you have a million other things you need to do to keep your startup afloat, and you don't want to rock the boat if it affects your likelihood of being funded. Feels like the valley is slowly but surely changing. And yes, I recognize that this hasn't been…
The sad part to me is that this is just the part of the iceberg that is visible above the surface. I've heard stories from several female founders/VC's (not naming names or specific details to protect anonymity) who have experienced repeated unwelcome advances even after it was made clear they had a significant other. That's not as egregious as groping (one of the accusations in this article), but that's still sexual…
> repeated unwelcome advances even after it was made clear they had a significant other
Repeated unwelcome advances are not OK even if the person is single.
Re: 6 Women Accuse Tech VC Justin Caldbeck of Sexual Assault and Harassment
#196Earlier quoted context omitted.
It has not at all been my experience, at any point in my career, no matter which group of men that I've worked with, that passively observing a man exhibiting or talking about aggressive sexual behavior has been a dealbreaker. That's not to say harassment and abuse aren't dealbreakers for the men I've worked with; for most of them, it is. But it has to be spelled out for them. A victim has to speak up about it. It ha…
There's some value in being able to talk bluntly with other men. And I'm not sure it's much worse than what I observed groups of women talking about.
There's not really any value in having that sort of chat with anyone in a professional context.
Re: 6 Women Accuse Tech VC Justin Caldbeck of Sexual Assault and Harassment
#197Earlier quoted context omitted.
No, it had nothing to do with women, and I resent that implication. I notice you saw the subthread where I articulated that it had nothing to do with women yet still posted a comment insinuating it does: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14621640 It's not a controversial observation that rich and powerful people can acquire enemies, and some of them have been slandered by the press. It was difficult to separate th…
Apologies, but I'm not claiming that you think that there is no amount of evidence that can satisfy a claim against a powerful person. My issue was that the claim: > When it involves rich or powerful people, the ability to get many she-said's becomes easier. when taken at face value is implying (indirectly) that it takes more "she-saids" to make a claim against a rich/powerful person believable than it would for a "n…
Ah, gotcha. Yeah, that's fair. It's quite obvious in hindsight too, but it was surprisingly easy to overlook in the moment.
Re: 6 Women Accuse Tech VC Justin Caldbeck of Sexual Assault and Harassment
#198Earlier quoted context omitted.
The sad part to me is that this is just the part of the iceberg that is visible above the surface. I've heard stories from several female founders/VC's (not naming names or specific details to protect anonymity) who have experienced repeated unwelcome advances even after it was made clear they had a significant other. That's not as egregious as groping (one of the accusations in this article), but that's still sexual…
> repeated unwelcome advances even after it was made clear they had a significant other Repeated unwelcome advances are not OK even if the person is single.
I think they are using a euphemism for essentially saying "no" to sex/relations.
Re: 6 Women Accuse Tech VC Justin Caldbeck of Sexual Assault and Harassment
#199Earlier quoted context omitted.
When it involves rich or powerful people, the ability to get many she-said's becomes easier. I know this is an unpopular opinion, but due process exists for a reason. We should reserve judgement until the investigation progresses further.
When it involves serial harassers, the ability to get many she-saids becomes easy, too. Do you really think that founders are lining up to put their personal and professional reputation on the line, to smear this guy, as part of a vast female conspiracy? They have fucking text messages to back their story up. Are those easy to fabricate too, when it comes to rich and powerful people?
>They have fucking text messages to back their story up. Are those easy to fabricate too, when it comes to rich and powerful people?
I believe you are wrong about this. Text messages are easier to fabricate than other forms of digital evidence, and less risky than something like paying people to pretend to be witnesses.
Re: 6 Women Accuse Tech VC Justin Caldbeck of Sexual Assault and Harassment
#200Earlier quoted context omitted.
Right, I read that, but is it necessary to be publicly on the record? Couldn't the information be privately confirmed, protecting the women from retaliation and still allowing the case/accusation to move forward? It just seems like an unnecessary risk/vulnerability. Of course, there's also the fact that by going on the record you also encourage others to do the same, which is an immeasurable benefit.
I am one of the three women who went on the record with my name: Niniane Wang. I initially asked to be anonymous, but no reporter would publish unless they had named sources. I knew that Justin was continuing to harass women. Using my name was the only way to stop him. In other words, yes, it was necessary to be publicly on the record.
Thank you for speaking up.