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Startup America needs to look more like America

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Re: Startup America needs to look more like America

#11

Post by trustfundbaby »

stretchwithme wrote: post #2

As if founders have to be selected or hired by others. Founding means hiring yourself. Founders have to be ready for a protracted struggle against the status quo, not special adoption by it. I had to laugh when the Founder Institute's admission of Lecole Cole was mentioned as taking some kind of educated chance. Lecole had a proven track record before that experience and didn't need any special treatment. But he abso…

You make good points but I think you're looking at this from a slightly different point of view, than might allow you understand what the writer is trying to say

True ... users don't care about what color you are. As long as you bring something to market that they like, they will buy it. But what about all the little steps needed to get you to that point?

You know, getting a developer/business guy to partner up with? Getting someone to fund your idea? Getting the meeting to even see that guy? etc etc ...

You see, race plays a very subconscious (and sometimes a very overt) role in the way some of these things play out ... and without screaming "RACISM" ... I think people need to be open to the idea that there can be subtle biases in the entire process that makes it so that ... if you don't fit a certain profile, you don't get funded.

There is also the more cancerous problem of some minorities not having an example they can follow ... if Obama didn't become president ... there would still be an entire Generation of kids that thought it wasn't possible for a Black person to be president in America today.

Obama didn't give a fuck about that, which is what makes him so special ... but you have to realize that he's an outlier ... and not everybody has his kind of brilliance and just plain cojones to actually do the very thing that nobody thinks you can.

Yet its undeniable that once there's a visible minority role model to point to, people will actually look up to them and follow in their footsteps.

So yes, I realize the author makes that point in a very accusatory way ... it irks me too. But if you put that aside and realize that by actually going out of your way to hire/mentor a black/latino developer/designer/business analyst to your start up, you're opening that world up to an entire generation of minority kids that would never even have had that shot ... then I think we're halfway to where we need to be.

Re: Startup America needs to look more like America

#12

Post by trotsky »

pnathan wrote: post #10

I'm not even sure what most of the important people in tech look like, outside of the big-names that get their pictures put on websites. I like it that way in many aspects, because it provides a clear disassociation with physical externalities and allows a clarity on their ideas, unclouded by whatever biases I have. It's one reason I prefer all-text chat to avatar chats.

I'm not even sure what most of the important people in tech look like

I'm pretty sure you can make an educated guess.

Not knowing isn't some sort of trump card to a systemic problem. No more than ignoring your book keeping is a solution to bankruptcy.

Re: Startup America needs to look more like America

#13

Post by trustfundbaby »

stretchwithme wrote: post #7
mikx wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're out of your mind if you think that a pair of hippies could build the world's biggest tech company. It's always an uphill battle no matter who you are. The world isn't fair; disregard it and startup anyways.

yeah, the last thing you want to do is buy into the notion that the world is aligned against you. Its a self fulfilling prophecy and we do people a disservice propagating the idea.

Yet ... many many minority kids grow up with that mindset, and just telling them they're wrong is not going to get them to change their mindset ... in fact it will only make them more defensive and angry at you.

You know what could be productive? Acknowledging that there are more things stacked against them than the average white kid, for example, but that life is kind of like that.

So since nobody rises to low expectations ... they need to set high standards for themselves and fight like hell to achieve those expectations because even though the odds aren't in their favor ... what used to be a 20 foot concrete wall now is nowadays only a little hurdle ... they just have to actually jump

Re: Startup America needs to look more like America

#14

Post by trustfundbaby »

stretchwithme wrote: post #9
michaelchisari wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Things aren't that simple, we're not just dealing with people selling a proven, viable product, we're dealing with how venture capital is acquired and funding secured, especially for ideas which are risky or unproven, which "disruptive" technologies inherently are. There's the concept of social capital, and how social networks and cultural bias affect that for founders. It's true that a non-privileged founder who bui…

Even the dumb, biased people with money have to compete with smart investors that leave no stone, black or white, unturned in their search for opportunity. Hegemony is simply not there. There is competition in venture capital and against venture capital. It only takes a minority of investors to make an investment. And most of them are quite used to dissenting and thinking for themselves.

> Even the dumb, biased people with money have to compete with smart investors that leave no stone, black or white, unturned in their search for opportunity

You might be surprised at how untrue that turns out to be. Investors are focused on winning ... and to do that they'll usually go with what fits the prototype of a winner ... much the same way NFL teams pick quarterbacks (right height, right throwing motion, etc)

People aren't just going to throw thousands of dollars after minorities just because there might be a Google there somewhere ... they're going to go where the hits are coming ... MIT, San Francisco, Harvard ... places that many minorities are not.

Re: Startup America needs to look more like America

#15

Post by trustfundbaby »

stretchwithme wrote: post #4
neutronicus wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Customers want value. If a feature will save them $5 a month, they'll trade with martians if they have to. You're out of your mind if you think that white men who golf don't have a leg up for all things B2B.

you're out of your mind if you think they won't cross the street if they can make a million more.

Sure they will ... the problem is they typically don't think the average black/latino kid is going to make them that million, if he isn't playing professional sports

Re: Startup America needs to look more like America

#16

Post by to »

he does not mention that there are many indians and persians in the startup scene. just look at yelp.

i find the article is by itself very racist. i dont think that startups look only for white people to hire. if you look into the startup scene in europe you dont find such a situation but even if i ignore the black in france, england and germany who dont have any worse or better education than their peers, nobody would even bring it up because the divide is not as huge as in america. it's the cultural divide in america with a huge color based unequality of money. blacks are poor, so are asiens and mexicans. thats the stereotype and sadly its mostly true and because america has a terrible school system this leads to a poorer education. on top comes the struggle for money even if you made it to a good college. rich parents pay for their kids education, poor parents cant and the kid has to work on the side. of course that means he has no time to be creative and therefore chances of creating a startup are non existant.

american tech start ups dont look like america because they are in america.

Re: Startup America needs to look more like America

#17

Post by mikx »

pnathan wrote: post #10

I'm not even sure what most of the important people in tech look like, outside of the big-names that get their pictures put on websites. I like it that way in many aspects, because it provides a clear disassociation with physical externalities and allows a clarity on their ideas, unclouded by whatever biases I have. It's one reason I prefer all-text chat to avatar chats.

In this article, it says that the majority of founders in SV are immigrants: http://www.cnn.com/2010/OPINION/10/28/west.immigration/index...

Re: Startup America needs to look more like America

#18

Post by stretchwithme »

trustfundbaby wrote: post #13
stretchwithme wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

yeah, the last thing you want to do is buy into the notion that the world is aligned against you. Its a self fulfilling prophecy and we do people a disservice propagating the idea.

Yet ... many many minority kids grow up with that mindset, and just telling them they're wrong is not going to get them to change their mindset ... in fact it will only make them more defensive and angry at you. You know what could be productive? Acknowledging that there are more things stacked against them than the average white kid, for example, but that life is kind of like that. So since nobody rises to low expec…

Well, I'm not in the business of telling minority kids they are wrong.

I'm just advocating that we don't reinforce the idea that achievement requires that you must be approved of by the mainstream. It does not. Dozens of other things are more important. Let us focus on those.

Re: Startup America needs to look more like America

#19

Post by mikx »

I would like to see a survey on how many people actually WANT to be founders based on race/sex compared to the percentage of the population that ARE. This article assumes that every profession needs to match the distribution of the overall population

Re: Startup America needs to look more like America

#20

Post by michaelchisari »

stretchwithme wrote: post #18
trustfundbaby wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yet ... many many minority kids grow up with that mindset, and just telling them they're wrong is not going to get them to change their mindset ... in fact it will only make them more defensive and angry at you. You know what could be productive? Acknowledging that there are more things stacked against them than the average white kid, for example, but that life is kind of like that. So since nobody rises to low expec…

Well, I'm not in the business of telling minority kids they are wrong. I'm just advocating that we don't reinforce the idea that achievement requires that you must be approved of by the mainstream. It does not. Dozens of other things are more important. Let us focus on those.

Recognizing the myriad factors involved in social capital, social networks, and cultural bias should not be misconstrued as reinforcing privilege. In practice, it's exactly the opposite.
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