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McClure steps back at 500Startups after internal sexual misconduct investigation

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

#151

Post by coldtea »

anindha wrote: post #108
mhluongo wrote: post #106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Did he come up with "paid, laid, or made"? I've heard it from sales people and thought it predated McClure. The kitten and "money shot" is absolutely unnecessary, but I get the coarse language for "paid, made, laid"- the idea is that compelling products and services target base desires.

I think the most compelling products deliver utility. Even if targeting base desires is your product design strategy doesn't mean it needs to be in a template for future founders to follow. Your argument is similar to the argument for having swimsuit models in tabloid newspapers. NYT is a better product.

>Your argument is similar to the argument for having swimsuit models in tabloid newspapers. NYT is a better product.

Not if "sells more" is a measure of product betterness.

(Besides swimsuit models never harmed anybody -- the NYT helped sell war with huge human toll with BS government-fed info).

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

#152

Post by coldtea »

westoncb wrote: post #119
anindha wrote: post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have seen questionable material come from him [1]: Examples: "Money Shot" with kitten spreadings its legs and "Great Products...Get you LAID". [1] https://www.slideshare.net/dmc500hats/how-to-pitch-a-vc-or-a... edit: link directly to slides and deleted nested comment.

I haven't looked into McClure's offenses beyond what the article talks about, but those slides seem totally innocent to me (it's a joke targeted at VCs more than anything else), which just makes him seem less guilty in this context ('cause why not just use real evidence then?). No comment on his actual guilt. This quote from the linked article (from Chris Sacca) seems apt: Over the last week, I have spoken with frien…

>I haven't looked into McClure's offenses beyond what the article talks about, but those slides seem totally innocent to me

Not in a puritan country. People have lost their jobs for making a "dongle -> dick" joke speaking to their friend at a conference because someone overheard...

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

#153

Post by coldtea »

skj wrote: post #48
thanksgiving wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is this sexual harassment? It sounds like calling a party where the food is bad "literally Auschwitz". Reverse the genders. Is this still sexual harassment? If not, then this isn't sexual harassment either. I still think this is in poor taste. The attempts to defend it is worse. However, let us commit to refraining from calling it sexual harassment until it is sexual harassment. Calling this sexual harassment is like…

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.

>Yes, it is still harassment with the genders reversed. What would make you think otherwise?

The fact that I, as a man, would just take it as a compliment.

Never bought that Demi Moore/Michael Dougles movie premise...

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

#154

Post by coldtea »

chrischen wrote: post #125
ithinkinstereo wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, they met as two professionals in the context of an open job position. Inappropriate move #1 was contacting the job applicant over FB, #2 was making a comment about whether or not to "hire" or "hit on" her. The fact that he places the chances of hiring her in relation to "hitting" on her is wildly inappropriate. If he wanted a relationship, there are infinitely better and more appropriate ways to go about it, esp…

Someone else here mentioned that Bill Gates met Melinda (his wife) while she was working at Microsoft. Wouldn't this mean their relationship shouldn't have happened/is wrong?

As long as the women doesn't complain it's fine.

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

#155

Post by 192837192321 »

skj wrote: post #48
thanksgiving wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is this sexual harassment? It sounds like calling a party where the food is bad "literally Auschwitz". Reverse the genders. Is this still sexual harassment? If not, then this isn't sexual harassment either. I still think this is in poor taste. The attempts to defend it is worse. However, let us commit to refraining from calling it sexual harassment until it is sexual harassment. Calling this sexual harassment is like…

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.

Indeed. I find it sexist that men rarely get those kinds of compliments.

[Moderators, have fun censoring this comment, it seems to be all you can do ...]

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

#156

Post by 7952 »

plinkplonk wrote: post #105

something I've never understood. These guys (Kalanick, McClure) are multi millionaires, and could probably get any number of women to take interest in them on that basis alone. Why risk career suicide? Why would they need to hit on women at their workplaces ? Why isn't the normal dating game (where they have a massive edge via being loaded) sufficient? I don't get it (at all). What am I missing? These guys seem to be…

You could flip it around and ask why people have this career at all. Maybe they like to have this kind of power over people. Everyone has a mix of motivations, some of which are not particularly becoming. Managers have to be aware of that and work around their more instinctive feelings.

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

#157

Post by muninn_ »

NDT wrote: post #148
chrischen wrote: post #125

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Someone else here mentioned that Bill Gates met Melinda (his wife) while she was working at Microsoft. Wouldn't this mean their relationship shouldn't have happened/is wrong?

There are many public figures who have met, dated, and married their colleagues. One that comes to mind is Jimmy Kimmel and his wife (head writer for his show). I think as long as it doesn't affect hiring/promoting/professional decisions it's a different situation. This is also assuming, of course, that there is no form of harassment going on.

Well it definitely has an affect, the only difference is everybody is either ok with it or indifferent to it. If all of a sudden Jimmy's wife starts being an asshole and gets fired then what? You don't think it would be handled differently if the head writer wasn't his wife? Just like this Facebook message thing. If she had been receptive to it, everybody is cool. But since she wasn't all of a sudden we've got the pitchforks out. I'm not saying it isn't wrong per se, but it's a far cry from some sort of clear-cut breech of ethics when whether it's ok or not depends on somebody's reception to it, and we sit here and happily condone marriages in the workplace and pretend they don't have an effect.

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

#158

Post by dboreham »

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/

If you were in the business of trawling for hot female founders, isn't this exactly the kind of thing you'd do?

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

#160

Post by heartbreak »

jee_accnt wrote: post #139
ithinkinstereo wrote: post #98

Oh and he referenced his penis size at a startup event: https://twitter.com/founderofstick/status/880977488494469122 Sarah Kunst, the woman quoted in the NYT, mentions that other women have reached out to her about McClure. Like Caldwell, also all women of color: https://twitter.com/sarahkunst/status/881004317674577920

Not gonna defend any harassment but this one's just nitpicking. He made a joke. I see him as the real life version of Erlich Bachman or Russ Hanneman from Silicon Valley. He is inappropriate, which is what makes him more likable (to some people). You could argue that its unprofessional, but then so is wearing t-shirt and shorts to work. Tech culture quite proudly does not care much about appearances.

Awful lot of defensive green names popping up in this thread. Upstream there's one with obscure knowledge of the PR industry.

Just a coincidence though, right?

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