Live data from Hacker News

The "Me, Too" Startup Syndrome

funtrepreneur.tumblr.com

61–65 of 65 posts

Re: The "Me, Too" Startup Syndrome

#61
post #57
post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well I don't want to play professor here, but I don't think you understand the meaning of irony. The fact that you find fault with the implication that women aren't just as likely as men to pursue startups but then say that your girlfriend would do much better than yourself at them if "only she had the inkling to do one" is ironic. You see, you resent the implication that women don't do startups. Your girlfriend does…

The amount of assumptions you stuffed into the reply is simply mind boggling. I'll start by dispelling a simple one: Better half doesn't necessarily equate to girlfriend. Furthermore, the condescending tone and verbiage used in the reply is nothing more than inflammatory. I would disservice myself to continue responding past this point.

>Better half doesn't necessarily equate to girlfriend.

The original post was talking about girlfriends, so contextually it sounded like you meant girlfriend by "better half". You're a terrible spokesman for ending sexism as you seem to replace one form of ignorance for another combined with hypersensitivity (having said that, yes the original "joke" was a lame one).

Re: The "Me, Too" Startup Syndrome

#62
post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can't we just be glad that we're no longer looked at as "dorky programmers that can't even get a mate" and just move on? Why kick the hornet's nest?

Because your 'we' in this case assumes your reader is male. Again.

Oops, you just projected. He said "mate" and "dorky programmers". Both of those stereotypes could mean female programmers as well so you assuming he could only mean males means that part is coming from you.

Re: The "Me, Too" Startup Syndrome

#63
post #52
post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I'm male, but let me tell you that the above statement infuriates me as it perpetuates the stereotype that women are not entrepreneurs. I'm sure I'm not the only one who believes that my better half would be wildly more successful than I would be if she had an inkling to do a startup. Can you spot the irony in this statement?

There is no irony because as I stated, "I'm sure I'm not the only one." This sentence conveys that in "some" not "all" cases women make better entrepreneurs. Irony would only exist if I made a sweeping comment about all women being better as entrepreneurs, which I assure you, I did not make.

Since you chose to take the "some... not all" defense of yourself, let me point out that the poem said "a few" not "all" girlfriends.

Is that irony? (I've always had a hard time with that question)

Re: The "Me, Too" Startup Syndrome

#64
post #5

There's a subtle, rather meta feeling I can't shake when I read "cautionary" blog posts like these. It's the feeling that maybe the author isn't writing it for anyone else's benefit as much as their own. Like the author writes to reinforce that, unlike said "friend" who's making all these cautionary mistakes, they themselves are in it for all the right reasons. Every time the author makes a, "he" statement, you can j…

Anyone who has been through an incubator has probably heard this line: "Most of your companies will fail. And now that I've said that, you're all feeling sorry for everyone else in the room." Honestly, I encourage my friends to take risks and try new things, even if I have inner doubts about their ability to pull it off. I do so because I think that trying something really, really hard improves you skill set -- even…

I have never heard the line "most of your companies will fail" from anyone I know of in Y Combinator. Mostly because "fail" isn't really well defined -- even a mediocre startup is usually more interesting than a boring job. Even founding the next Instagram might be a failure for someone who really cares about medicine or space.

Re: The "Me, Too" Startup Syndrome

#65
post #43

Aside from all of the other possibly insulting remarks from the post, this particular one caught my eye: "And a few girlfriends slept alone in their beds While visions of exits danced in their boyfriends’ heads" I'm male, but let me tell you that the above statement infuriates me as it perpetuates the stereotype that women are not entrepreneurs. I'm sure I'm not the only one who believes that my better half would be…

I am almost certain there are more gay male (and thus might have boyfriend) startup founders than female startup founders (who might also have boyfriends), too.

It's probably better to use something generic to represent the general case.

Post reply on HN