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State of Startups 2017 Survey Results

stateofstartups.firstround.com

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Re: State of Startups 2017 Survey Results

#51

Post by jdavis703 »

sillysaurus3 wrote: post #6

Since 3 out of 9 are about sexual harassment and one is about politics, I was hoping to get your thoughts. These days, people feel increasingly under fire. We have to watch what we say, what we do, who we offend, what our political affiliations are, and whether we are crossing any lines. A little anecdote: I was hacking away on a couch in a mall, and a couple of techies came up to me doing a user study. They asked me…

It seems like you're over-thinking this. There are clear things that are bad (making sexual jokes about a coworker or business partners). There are other areas that are more gray, and sometimes you might say the wrong thing. Sometimes we'll all say the wrong thing. Apologize, don't try to justify your remarks, move on and realize that everyone has different things that might offend or make them uncomfortable. That's really all you can do. The high-profile things you're hearing about aren't generally one-time slip ups, it's people exhibiting a pattern of bad behavior.

Re: State of Startups 2017 Survey Results

#52

Post by Silhouette »

haaen wrote: post #42

#9 reveals the prejudice of the authors. It's about founders who experienced difficulty in fundraising because of their sex. Last sentence of that paragraph, in bold: To the 12 men who said it hurt their chances... really?

I was irritated by that comment as well. Obviously some groups are subject to prejudice more often than others, but measures like reverse discrimination and quotas cause their share of problems for the opposite groups as well. Likewise, some groups may be more subject to unwanted advances at work than others, but again that doesn't mean no-one in the opposite groups is. It's hardly inconceivable that 1-2% of male respondents in a survey like this would have been affected by such issues in one form or another.

Re: State of Startups 2017 Survey Results

#53

Post by Silhouette »

sp527 wrote: post #33
Silhouette wrote: post #4

I love this one: How confident are you that you're building a billion dollar company? 18.6% I'm certain we will 41.8% I'm confident we have a decent shot 23.2% It's possible, but I'm not so sure 10.1% I doubt it 6.4% Definitely not They interviewed 869 venture-backed founders to get the data. As of December 2017, WSJ lists 168 VC-backed private companies valued at over $1B in the entire world . Meanwhile, how many ye…

Isn't delusional overconfidence practically a prerequisite to get through the VC filter? Chris Sacca for instance once praised Systrom for talking in radical future-spect when raising seed funding (paraphrasing, 'once we reach 50 million users, we'll add this...'). If the VC community is applying selective pressure to identify that type of person, then it's no surprise that these kinds of surveys will reflect that. V…

On the flip side, entrepreneurs know they have to deploy an airtight reality distortion field.

When dealing with the outside world, sure, the appearance of having faith in your business is important. But believing your own hype to the point of wildly overestimating your prospects doesn't seem like a healthy characteristic in anyone running a business. At some point it's probably going to lead to bad decision-making.

Re: State of Startups 2017 Survey Results

#54

Post by sampl »

sillysaurus3 wrote: post #6

Since 3 out of 9 are about sexual harassment and one is about politics, I was hoping to get your thoughts. These days, people feel increasingly under fire. We have to watch what we say, what we do, who we offend, what our political affiliations are, and whether we are crossing any lines. A little anecdote: I was hacking away on a couch in a mall, and a couple of techies came up to me doing a user study. They asked me…

> I know what's in my heart, and it's nothing but positive intentions.

I’m sure you mean the very best.

However, one of the most interesting things about racism, sexism etc is happens not because people are evil assholes—it’s that we’ve all grown up in society that is still kinda sexist and racist, and that becomes part of us whether we want it or not.

My heart has the best intentions too, but I also recognize that I don’t always see others perfectly fairly because of these built-in models. My goal is to recognize and examine those thoughts that so I think them less—not give myself a pass because I’m a “good person”.

Re: State of Startups 2017 Survey Results

#55

Post by cyberpunk0 »

k__ wrote: post #50
jansho wrote: post #41

#53 is interesting! I assumed that there would be more 20-something founders. But 31-35 year olds account for 23%, and 41-50 year olds account for 30%

Same here, but on the other hand I never worked with Maybe this feeling comes up because they prefer to hire <30 people because they are cheaper?

Most start ups want you to have a lot of experience so they don't have to train you. That level of experience isn't found in most people in their 20s. The older age bracket I'd wager are finance and venture capital types. Startups are mostly toys for rich people

Re: State of Startups 2017 Survey Results

#56

Post by Silhouette »

jansho wrote: post #41

#53 is interesting! I assumed that there would be more 20-something founders. But 31-35 year olds account for 23%, and 41-50 year olds account for 30%

I tend to see a lot more 30+ founders outside of the bubble around high-profile, high-tech businesses, which naturally gets a lot of coverage on sites like HN.

Also, they're talking about startups that were in good enough shape to raise VC funding. It's possible that a lot more than 1 in 7 of all startups is founded by under-30s but that the lack of experience means those startups disproportionately fail to reach a stage where they are worth funding by VCs.

Re: State of Startups 2017 Survey Results

#58

Post by k__ »

cyberpunk0 wrote: post #55
k__ wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Same here, but on the other hand I never worked with Maybe this feeling comes up because they prefer to hire <30 people because they are cheaper?

Most start ups want you to have a lot of experience so they don't have to train you. That level of experience isn't found in most people in their 20s. The older age bracket I'd wager are finance and venture capital types. Startups are mostly toys for rich people

Sure, but this doesn't explain why most people working in startups are in their twenties.

Re: State of Startups 2017 Survey Results

#59

Post by JSONwebtoken »

haaen wrote: post #42

#9 reveals the prejudice of the authors. It's about founders who experienced difficulty in fundraising because of their sex. Last sentence of that paragraph, in bold: To the 12 men who said it hurt their chances... really?

#15 under Complete Survey Results asks "Has your gender helped or hindered your ability to fundraise?"

58.2% said their gender directly hindered them. Unless the majority of respondents to this survey are female I don't see how the numbers can add up if only 12 men make up that 58.2%?

Re: State of Startups 2017 Survey Results

#60

Post by venning »

haaen wrote: post #42

#9 reveals the prejudice of the authors. It's about founders who experienced difficulty in fundraising because of their sex. Last sentence of that paragraph, in bold: To the 12 men who said it hurt their chances... really?

This quote demonstrates a VC firm (First Round) questioning and implicitly belittling founders who expressed feelings of being discriminated against by VC firms. Really shouldn't be surprising given the rest of the survey results, unfortunately.
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