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SoftBank launches $100m minorities startup fund

reuters.com

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Re: SoftBank launches $100m minorities startup fund

#101

Post by nononever »

blackoil wrote: post #44
neximo64 wrote: post #29

I hope the venture fails. It's just racism under another name.

A person snatched stick of a blind man and threw it, another helped him cross the street. Both treated him differently because he was blind. Only one of them was asshole.

Race isn't a disability. The analogy has pretty awful implications. "We need to help them because they can't help themselves" Even if that's not true today it will become the truth in the future as more people take advantage of the special treatment. The reality is that you actually need to put in the hard work. Yes it sucks but there is no free lunch.

Re: SoftBank launches $100m minorities startup fund

#102

Post by rbg246 »

sillysaurusx wrote: post #10
Thorentis wrote: post #2

Limiting initiatives like this based on skin color, implies that the reason for them needing help is their skin color. What about white people that come from low-socioeconomic backgrounds? Broken families? Didn't finish high-school? Abused as a child/teenager? Single parent family? Aren't these the real reasons why people are disadvantaged? People of all colors come from these backgrounds. I'm sick of the hypocrisy o…

That's a valid stance. But reflect on why it matters to you. So what if someone is giving special opportunities to someone based on their skin color, or their gender? There are plenty of special opportunities to go around for all of us. I think you'll get a lot of flak for this sentiment. But I used to feel the same way as you. What helped me change my mind was to realize that no one is taking away opportunities from…

That was such a lovely reply, I already agree with your viewpoint but this has given me a new way of looking at things. Thank you.

Re: SoftBank launches $100m minorities startup fund

#103

Post by sneak »

Thorentis wrote: post #2

Limiting initiatives like this based on skin color, implies that the reason for them needing help is their skin color. What about white people that come from low-socioeconomic backgrounds? Broken families? Didn't finish high-school? Abused as a child/teenager? Single parent family? Aren't these the real reasons why people are disadvantaged? People of all colors come from these backgrounds. I'm sick of the hypocrisy o…

“This system of helping people does not help all people who need help, therefore it is bad.”

No. This comment is similar to responding to “black lives matter” with “all lives matter”.

Helping a subset of those who need help is acceptable too.

Put aside your hardwired, human-as-social-animal unfairness alert criticism, and recognize that this is a good thing, and it is better that this exists than the case where it does not.

Affirmative action isn’t fair either, but it is still a good thing that it exists.

Once everyone in society is treated equally and has equal opportunities, then and only then can we start criticizing equality improvement efforts on fairness.

There is no requirement that helping people who need help be done so fairly or evenly. Abandon that concept.

Re: SoftBank launches $100m minorities startup fund

#104

Post by neximo64 »

blackoil wrote: post #44
neximo64 wrote: post #29

I hope the venture fails. It's just racism under another name.

A person snatched stick of a blind man and threw it, another helped him cross the street. Both treated him differently because he was blind. Only one of them was asshole.

Sure, if you believe a race is any less able.

Re: SoftBank launches $100m minorities startup fund

#105

Post by donw »

baddox wrote: post #77
donw wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have a question, just because I don't know if there is data on this. I've seen a bunch of studies on things like "stereotypically-african-american-name" vs "stereotypically-white-name", which are good evidence as to why a good hiring process should remove personally-identifying details from resumes. Not just the name of the applicant, either -- school names and locations can also introduce unfair biases. Company na…

I don’t know if there is such evidence, and while it could be interesting to know just out of curiosity, it doesn’t strike me as particularly valuable to test the impact of adding additional irrelevant information to job applications.

Fair enough. Kind of a data geek, hence the ask.

Re: SoftBank launches $100m minorities startup fund

#106

Post by dntbnmpls »

blackoil wrote: post #49
RcouF1uZ4gsC wrote: post #6

> SoftBank also runs the $100 billion Vision Fund, which is headed by Rajeev Misra and invests amounts larger than the entire new fund in startups around the world. Neither Rajeev Misra nor Masayoshi Son sound like “white” names. I find it fascinating how Asians in general are excluded from the term “people of color”.

Asians do not have a historical baggage in USA. Do they face similar racism/bias in general (ignore temporary surge like now by Corona)?

> Asians do not have a historical baggage in USA.

This is simply not true. Though we associate lynchings with blacks, the first mass lynchings in the US was of asians.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_massacre_of_1871

The first non-native pogrom was of asians.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rock_Springs_massacre

> Do they face similar racism/bias in general (ignore temporary surge like now by Corona)?

They were denied citizenship and the right to own land.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_Alien_Land_Law_of_1...

They were banned from immigrating to the US - the first and only national and racial group to have ever been banned.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_Exclusion_Act

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Immigration_Act_of_1924

Dumped into concentration camps - once again the first and only ethnic/racial group to have been put into concentration camps in the US.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internment_of_Japanese_America...

All non-whites faced racial abuse and discrimination. Even white people faced racial abuse and discrimination.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/March_14,_1891_New_Orleans_lyn...

Re: SoftBank launches $100m minorities startup fund

#107

Post by mc_blue »

kinkrtyavimoodh wrote: post #79
blackoil wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A person snatched stick of a blind man and threw it, another helped him cross the street. Both treated him differently because he was blind. Only one of them was asshole.

Try this argument the next time someone calls you racist for assuming all Asians are good at Math. Maybe the blind guy did not want to be patronizingly helped with crossing the road. Maybe he would have asked for help if needed it and could have done without a sighted knight. If these arguments sound perverse just swap out some other 'issue' and they will start sounding familiar.

I'm not sure I understand your counterpoint analogy. Regardless, I take issue with your second statement on the blind person asking for help if needed. Minorities do ask for help, I think it's disingenuous to imply that minorities have never requested assistance in being treated more like the majority. I think many times we push responsibility for achieving equality onto those who are treated unequally, the old 'pull yourself up by your bootstraps'. Martin Luther King Jr: "it's a nice thing to say to people that you oughta lift yourself by your own bootstraps, but it is a cruel jest to say to a bootless man that he oughta lift himself by his own bootstraps."

Re: SoftBank launches $100m minorities startup fund

#108

Post by renewiltord »

quickthrower2 wrote: post #98
renewiltord wrote: post #90

I like it. Very clever. If there are founders out there who are capable but underserved sorely because they're not in the right social circles then this is a good attempt at capitalizing on that. I love watching the market in action. Wonder if it will pay off.

Isn’t YC this too? Anyone can apply. I don’t get the impression it’s about who you know.

Well, the theory is that they think YC’s selection process drops capable people for whatever reason (insufficient room, poor selection criteria, etc.). It’s definitely worth a tiny bet.

Re: SoftBank launches $100m minorities startup fund

#109

Post by malandrew »

fiblye wrote: post #87
malandrew wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> with the benefit of getting some returns. I've never understood this argument in the context of investing. If there was an opportunity to get outsized returns by investing in the people this targets, then investors would already be going after these opportunities, motivated by the returns alone. They wouldn't even need the social signaling aspect of announcing a fund like this. If anything, they'd probably keep suc…

If maximum returns meant picking people based on race, they’d do it. If it doesn’t, they’ll announce that they’re picking people based on race as a good-will move. They’re probably not burning money with this decision, but they’d probably make more if they picked based on some other metric. The PR is the important thing here, which is why they’re making a point of announcing it to the world.

Yeah. I wasn't disputing what you're saying. I'm just disputing the point I was replying to where they talked about getting returns.

That thesis makes sense in some markets such as lifestyle products and services catering to a market segment. Fashion and entertainment are a perfect examples.

In the context of technology however, there's nothing about building the next platform as a service for example that would lend itself to be more successful if it were built by a specific demographic. If that were the case, investors would already be chasing those opportunities.

Re: SoftBank launches $100m minorities startup fund

#110

Post by m-ee »

RcouF1uZ4gsC wrote: post #45
m-ee wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The article never claimed Softbank leadership was white nor that Asian's are not people of color

> SoftBank Group Corp (9984.T) is launching a $100 million fund to invest in “companies led by founders and entrepreneurs of colour”, > Named the “Opportunity Growth Fund” and focused on African Americans and Latinos in the U.S. it is, SoftBank says, the largest fund of its kind. Kind of implied there.

I don't see a contradiction. The fund will be dedicated to companies founded by PoC, but with a specific focus African Americans and Latinos in the US because by most metrics those groups are more systemically disadvantaged than others (not exhaustively of course, native americans still probably face the biggest obstacles)
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