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VCs Promised to Help Black Founders – My Experience Shows a Different Reality

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211–220 of 261 posts

Re: VCs Promised to Help Black Founders – My Experience Shows a Different Reality

#211
post #126

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So VCs pass the buck to Google, and Google passes the buck to universities. And universities presumably pass the buck to K-12 education, and the whole thing circles back to an abstract debate about “fixing the educational system” (which we have been trying to do for decades with zero results). Do you see why people are mad?

> Do you see why people are mad? Because it's an extremely hard problem, and it's easier to be abstractly mad and hope someone else solves it, than to come up with concrete practical effective solutions?

Here's a concrete, practical solution:

Radical affirmative action. Not radical in the rioting / revolution understanding of the word, but in its application.

So, if the issue with systematic racism is such that it endangers the foundational core of American society, it's time to take a big risk: literally pull random people to sit on VC and companies boards, in skilled jobs, etc. (a bit like the Diversity Visa Lottery the US already does for immigration). And train them on the job.

Sure, there will be issues here and there, but it would definitely solve the issue once and for all. It wouldn't even have to be explicitly racial. If it's truly random, you would end up with an accurate representation of the population.

It would also desegregate schools and neighborhoods, too, because with such a disruption people would have to move to match their new jobs.

Now, an exception should be made of course for professions where an error would mean life or death (or injury): doctors, airline pilots, etc. But I suspect 95% of careers at least could be desegregated in this way.

And perhaps an exception for jobs that truly require special abilities: professor of physics, professional athlete, etc.

Re: VCs Promised to Help Black Founders – My Experience Shows a Different Reality

#212
post #209

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No. You cannot pepper a thread with demands for people to source their arguments and then confront a wall of sources with your own ad hoc thoughts. Source your rebuttals comparably. You set the bar, now clear it yourself.

I haven't demanded anything of anyone, but for some reason you're telling me what I cannot do. Are you a moderator? Where people have made scientific claims I've asked them for the source of their information. This is a reasonable question - not a "demand". When someone replies to you citing another argument, it's reasonable to read that argument and to point out any flaws in it if you see them. That's what I did her…

There is no use arguing in this woke universe. I am fed up with it. Gosh I am so fed up. If you still want to try, sincere good luck.

As soon as you try to actually be given precise examples to back the myriad of baseless assertions, because you actually want to learn something as long as it's proven (ie scientific), then you are given the runaround, the goalposts are shifted, you are gaslighted and told to be supportive instead of asking questions, or simply ignored. This whole dogma is simply unfalsifiable. Plain and simple.

And even if you get to the scientific arguments... how to explain (and be believed!) that a significant part of the scientific world has been hijacked, and there is now an entire part of science where rigorous scientific methodology does not apply. To the public eye it's still written science, therefore truthful.

Disclaimer: Of course, I am not saying anything that I am not actually saying, despite the current tendency of some people to extrapolate to the moon the darkest opinions, thoughts, intentions and general respectability from someone speaking a narrow intervention on a specific topic. The issues evoked here are important, my rant has nothing to do with their gravity. I should not have to say it if people were reasonable in the first place.

Thank you internet for reading my rant. I am not sure it has accomplished anything, but apparently the submit button has been clicked anyway :)

Re: VCs Promised to Help Black Founders – My Experience Shows a Different Reality

#213

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How much evidence would ever convince you? How much evidence of racism do you need? How about red lining that continued until the 90s which locked black families out of home ownership? There is so much evidence available that demanding evidence at this point is more a sign of willful blindness than intellectual rigor.

Such evidence needs to actually be quantifiable in such a way that you have a sense of how big an effect it has. You might compare economic performance against immigrants whose parents were red-lined out of America until the 90's. It's easier to migrate to NYC from West Philly than from Nigeria.

Immigrants who come to the US do so with a substantial advantage in social capital, if not economic capital. Someone whose parents are professionals in Nigeria has a huge leg up from someone whose parents were excluded from professional jobs due to segregation in the US, even if the immigrant comes to the US initially with limited financial resources.

Re: VCs Promised to Help Black Founders – My Experience Shows a Different Reality

#214
post #209

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I haven't demanded anything of anyone, but for some reason you're telling me what I cannot do. Are you a moderator? Where people have made scientific claims I've asked them for the source of their information. This is a reasonable question - not a "demand". When someone replies to you citing another argument, it's reasonable to read that argument and to point out any flaws in it if you see them. That's what I did her…

There is no use arguing in this woke universe. I am fed up with it. Gosh I am so fed up. If you still want to try, sincere good luck. As soon as you try to actually be given precise examples to back the myriad of baseless assertions, because you actually want to learn something as long as it's proven (ie scientific), then you are given the runaround, the goalposts are shifted, you are gaslighted and told to be suppor…

Yeah, there is a real "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" vibe to the whole woke thing. Creeps me out.

Hope I'm not speaking too soon, but it seems like actual liberals on the left are finally waking up to this Kafkaesque ideology they've been making excuses for [1]

[1] https://harpers.org/a-letter-on-justice-and-open-debate/

Re: VCs Promised to Help Black Founders – My Experience Shows a Different Reality

#215
post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

VCs invest into your track record and the ability to put together and retain a good team. "Ex-Google" is a good signal that the person can at the very least _technically_ do what they are promising to do, once they take the cash. What's your track record? Nobody has ever promised that money will be given for phenotype traits alone.

Alphabet has 120K employees right now. Ex-Google was a meaningful distinction 15 years ago. Today it does not remotely entitle you to being funded. Many VCs today recognize that Google is an extremely bureaucratic place that does not resemble a startup and I know more than a few who view Google experience as a negative signal.

> Google is an extremely bureaucratic place

And that would be accurate, to a large extent. But it's also one of the few remaining _technically competent_ places that does not hire people who can't code.

That is why I qualified my statement by saying that the prospective founder would be _technically_ capable, not capable in general. If anything, they could be less organizationally capable, but that can be resolved with the right co-founder.

To put it into more concrete terms: say you had a million dollars and would want to allocate it towards a bet in order to potentially turn it into a lot more. Who would _you_ pick, someone with tech aptitude credentials (which a substantial stint at Google as an engineer all but guarantees), or someone with no discernible credentials?

Note that I'm not even mentioning race here. Race/gender/sexual orientation is 100% irrelevant in this calculation unless it actually confers an increased chance of turning $1M into $10M. E.g. as an investor I'd probably prefer a gay person to lead a gay dating service, just for the domain expertise. I'd still require that they have technical and/or business chops, however.

Re: VCs Promised to Help Black Founders – My Experience Shows a Different Reality

#216
post #185

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What is the source of the data you're citing, and how does it establish that race is a causal factor?

Please stop responding to every comment asking for a source, it’s incredibly unhelpful. If that’s honestly all you got from this discussion about inequality then I truly feel sorry for you.

Absurd. When someone makes a scientific claim it's perfectly reasonable to ask them for the evidence. That's how science works.

Re: VCs Promised to Help Black Founders – My Experience Shows a Different Reality

#217

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have zero business experience whatsoever. That said, I wouldn't have invested in her business for the simple reason she made it too easy to cut out the middleman. She intends to make money by hooking people up with personal trainers but there's nothing stopping said trainers and clients from just doing business themselves after she's done the work of connecting them.

That’s something a VC could say instead of silence. Helping someone build their business would be incredibly supportive. However it seems that no VCs were interested in doing that.

Having been a VC-backed wannabe for a period of time (and pitched some well known investors), I learned that most investors would rather not offer that kind of feedback because it inevitably raises counterpoints which extends the conversation they didn't want to have in the first place. A simple "no, thank you" let's them get on with their day.

It sucks for the founders but that's really just the nature of being a "salesperson" in any field - constant rejection and little insight.

Re: VCs Promised to Help Black Founders – My Experience Shows a Different Reality

#218
post #214

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is no use arguing in this woke universe. I am fed up with it. Gosh I am so fed up. If you still want to try, sincere good luck. As soon as you try to actually be given precise examples to back the myriad of baseless assertions, because you actually want to learn something as long as it's proven (ie scientific), then you are given the runaround, the goalposts are shifted, you are gaslighted and told to be suppor…

Yeah, there is a real "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" vibe to the whole woke thing. Creeps me out. Hope I'm not speaking too soon, but it seems like actual liberals on the left are finally waking up to this Kafkaesque ideology they've been making excuses for [1] [1] https://harpers.org/a-letter-on-justice-and-open-debate/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HMqZ2PPOLik [1]

[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HMqZ2PPOLik

Re: VCs Promised to Help Black Founders – My Experience Shows a Different Reality

#219

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The author's point about VC firms providing no contact information disproportionately impacting minority founders who don't have network connections is also a good one, and fixable.

Whether or not they publish contact details, someone without a 'pedigree' or serious traction is far more likely to end up in meetings with VCs by applying to well-known accelerators like YC than by reaching out directly to VCs. This is the primary way that founders without a network get plugged in. There can obviously be bias issues at the accelerator level too, so I'm not saying it's a solution, but you can be sure…

There are accelerators that focus on under represented groups, Morgan Stanley has one. Like you said, once you’re in accelerator you can quickly build out your network .

Re: VCs Promised to Help Black Founders – My Experience Shows a Different Reality

#220
post #216

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Please stop responding to every comment asking for a source, it’s incredibly unhelpful. If that’s honestly all you got from this discussion about inequality then I truly feel sorry for you.

Absurd. When someone makes a scientific claim it's perfectly reasonable to ask them for the evidence. That's how science works.

You read the sourced paper then and your mind has been changed due to new evidence?
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