Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

McClure steps back at 500Startups after internal sexual misconduct investigation

techcrunch.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

71–80 of 201 posts

Re: McClure steps back at 500Startups after internal sexual misconduct investigation

#71

Post by AJ007 »

devinmontgomery wrote: post #56
downandout wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Melinda Gates worked at Microsoft when she met Bill. Should he be publicly tarred and feathered like this? By your logic, he abused his authority and he should not have dated or married his wife because he held power over her - he could have immediately fired her if she had rejected his advances. So where do we draw the line, and why isn't Bill on the firing line in the same way these others are?

That was still a risky move. The key (literally, one of the elements of sexual harassment) is whether the advance is welcome. I'm guessing that Bill used a lower-risk way of finding that out than sending a text message after a job interview.

You are right, the line is whether the other party welcomed the advance. A lot of very smart people are not socially mature enough to even guess what will happen. Something worked once so they repeat it, over and over again.

Companies should prohibit all internal fraternizing and fire anyone who is caught breaking the rules.

VCs and anyone involved in hiring should have even stricter guidelines. If you are an investor, relationships with anyone who owns another company should be off limits. If you are involved in the hiring process in any way, once the company you work for is disclosed, any potential relationships with that party should be off limits.

Tech has been singled out due to the current news cycle narrative. Many other industries are extremely hostile; expect to see plenty more stories in the future. The biases may not all be gender, but could be things such as seniority, ethnicity. Nepotism and general corruption is rampant in other areas. This is not a US problem, this is a global.

Re: McClure steps back at 500Startups after internal sexual misconduct investigation

#73

Post by moron4hire »

baristaGeek wrote: post #61

How can a newly born organization build an organizational culture that avoids sexual misconduct as much as possible?

It's very easy. Be polite and considerate. To be considerate: to consider the feelings of another person. Have empathy.

Be always ready to call out bad behavior, even if it hurts. It is so much easier to start when problems are small.

Even when I've worked in teams of all guys, I've called out the sort of "locker room" talk that would be an HR nightmare of women were around. For two reasons: practice makes perfect, and it's still sexual harassment if those sorts of comments are making one of the other men uncomfortable. You don't know their intimate lives. They could be gay. They could be devoutly religious. Jerk, they could just be not a fratboy pig that needs to make comments during lunch about every woman that passes by.

We do these things for everyone.

Re: McClure steps back at 500Startups after internal sexual misconduct investigation

#74

Post by ithinkinstereo »

chrischen wrote: post #63
titanomachy wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's sexual harassment. As a male, I would be incredibly uncomfortable if I were in this situation with the genders reversed. Picture: you're interviewing for a job you're wildly enthusiastic about. The hiring decision lies with an older woman who you are not at all attracted to, and she fires off that line at you. Who would feel comfortable in that situation?

What if you are attracted to her?

A professional can keep their personal feelings separate from their professional responsibilities. If you feel that the former is compromising the latter, remove yourself from the situation and defer the hiring responsibilities to a colleague.

You can also ask someone else in a non-creepy way, especially by not relating the prospect of getting hired to their response to your sexual overtones (the "I don't know if I should hire you or hit on you" bit).

This isn't rocket science, its common sense and common decency, not to mention being a "professional". McClure's actions in this particularly instance are shady and creepy to the extreme.

Re: McClure steps back at 500Startups after internal sexual misconduct investigation

#76

Post by Hydraulix989 »

devinmontgomery wrote: post #40
neom wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Uhmmm..... "In 2014, Sarah Kunst, 31, an entrepreneur, said she discussed a potential job at 500 Startups, a start-up incubator in San Francisco. During the recruiting process, Mr. McClure, a founder of 500 Startups and an investor, sent her a Facebook message that read in part, “I was getting confused figuring out whether to hire you or hit on you.”"

That message was absolutely inappropriate. Women should be able to raise money without being hit on by investors. My comment was in response to the idea that Dave was secretly different than his outward appearance. I don't know him, I don't know the situation. But I think otherwise good people can do things they should apologize for and stop.

^ Classic Halo effect from psychology.

Re: McClure steps back at 500Startups after internal sexual misconduct investigation

#77

Post by ithinkinstereo »

prostoalex wrote: post #17
rmason wrote: post #2

The one person that I would have never suspected is Dave McClure. Here's a guy who didn't fit the investment world and he was smart and hustled his way in. He started 500 startups with a female co-founder and said he chose her because she was smarter. He saw an opening for himself and talked about playing Moneyball for venture capital. He spoke often in interviews about chasing investments among founders who didn't f…

They were also among the first venture firms to run a syndicate focused on women founders https://500.co/500-women/

This is the "I can't be racist because my best friend is black" defense.

It's hard for me to see where all the McClure defenders are coming from. Is it that hard to see his actions in this specific instance as being (wildly) inappropriate? This is basically textbook sexual harassment. Just distill it to the basic facts:

1) Job applicants comes to interview for a job

2) After the interview, McClure contacts her over FaceBook and not-so-subtly propositions her in relation to her goal of getting hired

How is this at all defensible? EVEN if the job applicant was overtly flirty, how is messaging a job applicant over FACEBOOK and saying what McClure said at all appropriate?

At the very least, McClure is, as he would say a "fucking" dumbass, at worst, a sexual harasser.

I 100% bet he's done a lot worse and knowing other partners at 500 Startups, it frankly doesn't surprise me at the least.

Re: McClure steps back at 500Startups after internal sexual misconduct investigation

#78

Post by awinder »

chrischen wrote: post #62
skj wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, it is still harassment with the genders reversed. What would make you think otherwise? But that's not actually the bar. It's important to recognize that men and women don't come in on equal footing for these interactions.

I’m playing devil’s advocate here but what if the woman found McClure attractive and didn’t complain because of it. Is it still wrong?

This situation has exactly been covered in every silly sexual harassment video I’ve had to sit through. It’s quite literally “sexual harassment 101”.

Re: McClure steps back at 500Startups after internal sexual misconduct investigation

#79

Post by sillysaurus3 »

kordless wrote: post #41
rmason wrote: post #2

The one person that I would have never suspected is Dave McClure. Here's a guy who didn't fit the investment world and he was smart and hustled his way in. He started 500 startups with a female co-founder and said he chose her because she was smarter. He saw an opening for himself and talked about playing Moneyball for venture capital. He spoke often in interviews about chasing investments among founders who didn't f…

You are making a statement of surprise that someone who "didn't fit the investment world", who was "smart" and a "hustler" would not make such a mistake while navigating the interface between his personal life and his business/career. I say "personal life" given these advances indicate an IMPROPER blurring of personal need, including a physical attraction response, which was then carried over into day-to-day business…

Why'd you leave? Come back! HN needs more of you.

You make an incredibly important point, and the fact that HN is resistant to it shows that most people are lucky enough not to have been betrayed by someone that everyone respects. I've had that experience, and it was shocking to realize that someone could be so different internally vs how everyone perceives them.

Re: McClure steps back at 500Startups after internal sexual misconduct investigation

#80

Post by pcunite »

prostoalex wrote: post #17
rmason wrote: post #2

The one person that I would have never suspected is Dave McClure. Here's a guy who didn't fit the investment world and he was smart and hustled his way in. He started 500 startups with a female co-founder and said he chose her because she was smarter. He saw an opening for himself and talked about playing Moneyball for venture capital. He spoke often in interviews about chasing investments among founders who didn't f…

They were also among the first venture firms to run a syndicate focused on women founders https://500.co/500-women/

Thanks for the link. The way women are portrayed on that page is very objectifying. It seems to be saying, "your sexuality is the most important thing to us"
Post reply on HN