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YC Summer 2017 Stats

blog.ycombinator.com

101–110 of 124 posts

Re: YC Summer 2017 Stats

#101
post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I always get the impression that they make a particular effort to understand groups outside their typical applicants and look for opportunities in other countries and cultures. Surely there's every chance that your application isn't strong enough?

By no means am I saying I should of been accepted. I'm actually saying the opposite, I don't fit the mold and probably lack many things, but I rather look at it as a whole. The truth is the staff at YC lack blacks or Hispanics. And just recently started accepting Hispanics and black founders out of a current trend/topic for tech companies to accept diversity. If it wasn't brought up, would YC have made it a point to…

"And just recently started accepting Hispanics and black founders out of a current trend/topic for tech companies to accept diversity."

This is either very poorly worded or unfairly incorrect. When have they not accepted black or Hispanic founders?! They might have attracted mostly white/Asian applicants, but they have never precluded any group.

"...they don't get the fact that founders can have a horrible application or even look horrible on paper."

Of course they get that fact. They often speak about how often they miss opportunities - it's not a charity and they can't pick every winner in advance. They don't just judge applicants on paper. They take a video, and they look at product traction and so on. They have people from all sorts of backgrounds showing it's not a cookie cutter process.

But if you do a bad job at presenting/explaining yourself and your idea, there's every chance you'll have similar struggles pitching to investors and customers.

Re: YC Summer 2017 Stats

#102
post #21

It's cool that this batch is so international. I'm surprised to see companies from that many different regions. That said, I'm also really surprised, given how international this batch is, that there isn't a single Chinese company.

Possible reasons other than "just so happened": * VC money is more accessible for Chinese startups in China * Chinese startups are mostly targeting local market * Visa issues? (these are all wild guesses)

I'm not sure about this batch, but there has definitely been YC companies in the past with Chinese (and HK) founding teams, and based in CN/HK. 9gag, for example, is HK based. I'm also personally an investor in a S15 YC company with mainland Chinese founders.

Re: YC Summer 2017 Stats

#103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You may have a point. The decision of who to fund may rely in part on seeking people similar to oneself and if the demographics of the applicant pool are not reflected in the staff of YC it may skew the outcome against minorities.

Why does the concept of free association stop, and the and the chilling effect of we can't be seen together without a representatives from every phenotype begin? When do we start to demand that Latino rap groups (eg. Cypress Hill) hire to meet diversity quotas?

It stops when you're large enough that statistically speaking you should have people of all walks of life in your portfolio. If you then don't that's proof that there is some kind of bias at work.

Re: YC Summer 2017 Stats

#104
post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are you suggesting that YC rejects applicants because they are black or hispanic? Why would they do that? You seem to also say that they want to brag about accepting these ethnicities, so why then they discriminate _against_ them?

It's not that they reject them for being black or Hispanic, but look at the numbers, not just recent classes. It's a hot topic for companies to do the right thing now, its then they start to care. I don't think its done on purpose or with a hatred, but its an issue, look around.

Sorry, I don't follow you. So they are not discriminating against hispanics? What exactly is the issue?

Re: YC Summer 2017 Stats

#105

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not that they reject them for being black or Hispanic, but look at the numbers, not just recent classes. It's a hot topic for companies to do the right thing now, its then they start to care. I don't think its done on purpose or with a hatred, but its an issue, look around.

Sorry, I don't follow you. So they are not discriminating against hispanics? What exactly is the issue?

Someone wrote this above... I agree with.

The decision of who to fund may rely in part on seeking people similar to oneself and if the demographics of the applicant pool are not reflected in the staff of YC it may skew the outcome against minorities.

Re: YC Summer 2017 Stats

#106
post #101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

By no means am I saying I should of been accepted. I'm actually saying the opposite, I don't fit the mold and probably lack many things, but I rather look at it as a whole. The truth is the staff at YC lack blacks or Hispanics. And just recently started accepting Hispanics and black founders out of a current trend/topic for tech companies to accept diversity. If it wasn't brought up, would YC have made it a point to…

"And just recently started accepting Hispanics and black founders out of a current trend/topic for tech companies to accept diversity." This is either very poorly worded or unfairly incorrect. When have they not accepted black or Hispanic founders?! They might have attracted mostly white/Asian applicants, but they have never precluded any group. "...they don't get the fact that founders can have a horrible applicatio…

Did you see any black or Hispanic founders in YC for the first years?

Not to repeat myself, but look at the YC staff today. How many? http://www.ycombinator.com/people/

Re: YC Summer 2017 Stats

#107
post #101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"And just recently started accepting Hispanics and black founders out of a current trend/topic for tech companies to accept diversity." This is either very poorly worded or unfairly incorrect. When have they not accepted black or Hispanic founders?! They might have attracted mostly white/Asian applicants, but they have never precluded any group. "...they don't get the fact that founders can have a horrible applicatio…

Did you see any black or Hispanic founders in YC for the first years? Not to repeat myself, but look at the YC staff today. How many? http://www.ycombinator.com/people/

[deleted]

Re: YC Summer 2017 Stats

#108
What evidence is there that proves an equal percentage of every race and gender leads to a more profitable company (or has a higher chance of a successful exit)?*

*Because I assume that by listing "UNDERREPRESENTED FOUNDERS" YC wishes there were 50% female founders and 50% male founders? And what about the racial makeup of founders? Is the ideal world for YC a racial make up of 20% white, 20% black, 20% asian, 20% middle eastern, and 20% other?

Re: YC Summer 2017 Stats

#109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sorry, I don't follow you. So they are not discriminating against hispanics? What exactly is the issue?

Someone wrote this above... I agree with. The decision of who to fund may rely in part on seeking people similar to oneself and if the demographics of the applicant pool are not reflected in the staff of YC it may skew the outcome against minorities.

So then you are saying they discriminate against e.g. Hispanics, but subconsciously, while at the same time consciously they want to show off how many hispanics they acccept.

Well I suppose it's not impossible.

Re: YC Summer 2017 Stats

#110
post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are you suggesting that YC rejects applicants because they are black or hispanic? Why would they do that? You seem to also say that they want to brag about accepting these ethnicities, so why then they discriminate _against_ them?

It's not that they reject them for being black or Hispanic, but look at the numbers, not just recent classes. It's a hot topic for companies to do the right thing now, its then they start to care. I don't think its done on purpose or with a hatred, but its an issue, look around.

The numbers of accepted hispanics tells you nothing about that on it's own, you'd need to know how many hispanics apply.

For women for example you can see from the numbers that there is no bias in the acceptance rate, the thing is that very few women apply. Could be the same for hispanics. I don't know what proportion of engineering students are hispanics but it's likely that as for women the underrepresentation starts already in school.

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