"“Bad actors” doesn’t simply mean money from rulers in the gulf who turn out to be cold blooded killers." - like we all did not know that before the referenced event?
You're not the only one puzzled by this namby pamby opinion piece.
Who Are My Investors?
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Re: Who Are My Investors?
#12At any business effort beyond hyper local markets, there is virtually no way to avoid tainted money or unethical markets. You're going to have to compromise somewhere. The question is, how and where do you draw the line?
At some point as a founder/fundraiser, you will cross paths with finance or supply chains that support exploitation, coercion, violence or illegality.
The most successful business people don't seem to care about these cases, and as long as they don't come with explicit connections that would be bad for business or can't be managed, the more the merrier.
At any scale of business that is globally impactful, it's fundamentally impossible to avoid these chains, so I'm not sure what the actual response should be.
I've thought through many approaches here, from realpolitik pragmatism to ethical fundamentalism but none feel correct.
Re: Who Are My Investors?
#13I find the way he describes "gulf interests" to be almost racist. Is money from Kuwait the same as money from Saudi Arabia? Obviously not. [Corrected syria to saudi Arabia]
It is shorthand for UAE, Bahrain, Qatar, Kuwait and Saudi - countries that are just a few of the handful remaining autocratic theocracies in the world with terrible human rights records
Re: Who Are My Investors?
#14> that has found its way into the startup/tech sector over the last decade
That seems disingenuous "we stumbled upon some mountains of money"
Re: Who Are My Investors?
#15Side question: why do VCs never disclose who their LPs are?
My guess: that information could stifle entrepreneurship
Re: Who Are My Investors?
#16My general feeling is that no one involved really wants to know how the sausage is made. Recent events have highlighted Saudi Arabia as a major investor and that's caused more focus but deep down I don't think engineers, executives, VCs and everyone involved is really committed to getting the most transparent view of money flows. Because at the end of the day it means less money overall.
I think regulation would have to come into play to enforce transparency, do firms disclose their largest investors when filing an S-1? Even if they do, is it possible to get down to the root of each dollar? Shell companies exist for a reason.
Re: Who Are My Investors?
#17Side question: why do VCs never disclose who their LPs are?
just wondering, it would disclose a large part of their portfolio and so their investment strategy
Re: Who Are My Investors?
#18I find the way he describes "gulf interests" to be almost racist. Is money from Kuwait the same as money from Saudi Arabia? Obviously not. [Corrected syria to saudi Arabia]
Relax. It's clearly a euphemism for Saudi Arabia.
They should say that then. The gulf countries are not the same.
Re: Who Are My Investors?
#19oh nice, I hope they dont take any Chinese money, any Russian money, any African money, US money, European money, I hope they dont borrow money from banks, from foreign banks.
Re: Who Are My Investors?
#20This moral compromise by silicon valley is going to come home to roost in the near future.
Dictators are wealthy by virtue of stealing money from their subjects. No free person should voluntarily work for a dictator by accepting resources stolen from the enslaved.
People in free countries should reject all investment from dictators. And they should reject jobs at companies that take their investment.
As technology increases transparency across the world it inexorably raises the moral standard for all free people.