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Delve removed from Y Combinator

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Re: Delve removed from Y Combinator

#151
post #128

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Have you considered whistleblowing?

Yes. But I'm not working at either company and I'm 99.9% sure that it would lead to absolutely nothing other than a lot of misery for myself. The NDA's I sign have some pretty stiff penalties attached. I was actually hoping to see my trust in the auditing company confirmed and I'm still more than a little bit annoyed that they did not respond in a more constructive way. My response however is a simple one: I used to…

Wouldn't it require a huge leap of faith for them to admit the audit was improper in order to have that discussion? Who's to say you aren't recording?

Re: Delve removed from Y Combinator

#152

Someone leaked an internal Bookface chat from Garry Tan (YC CEO) saying: We have asked Delve to leave YC. YC is a community, not just an accelerator. The founders in our community have to trust each other, and we have to trust them. When that trust breaks down, there's really only one thing to do. We're not going to get into the details publicly. We wish them well. https://x.com/___4o____/status/2040271468874076380 I…

"They've betrayed my trust but I wish them well" is an interesting statement.

It's giving Gwyneth Paltrow at the conclusion of her ski crash trial.

Re: Delve removed from Y Combinator

#153

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes. But I'm not working at either company and I'm 99.9% sure that it would lead to absolutely nothing other than a lot of misery for myself. The NDA's I sign have some pretty stiff penalties attached. I was actually hoping to see my trust in the auditing company confirmed and I'm still more than a little bit annoyed that they did not respond in a more constructive way. My response however is a simple one: I used to…

Wouldn't it require a huge leap of faith for them to admit the audit was improper in order to have that discussion? Who's to say you aren't recording?

I've already established that it was improper. It's up to them to make the most of that knowledge and then to determine of this is a singleton or an example of a class that has more representation. In that sense it is free to them, I'm under absolutely no obligation to provide them with a service. But I'm willing to expend the time and effort required to get them to make the most of it. What I'm not going to do is to allow them to play the blame game or 'shoot the messenger'.

Re: Delve removed from Y Combinator

#154
post #132

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"They've betrayed my trust but I wish them well" is an interesting statement.

Don't you wish well on people you don't want to associate with? It would be interesting if you didn't, imo.

> people you don't want to associate with

That’s an oversimplification of what your parent comment said, which was someone who has betrayed your trust.

> It would be interesting if you didn't

Why? What’s interesting about it? You don’t have to actively wish harm on people who harmed you, but there’s nothing strange about not wishing them well.

Re: Delve removed from Y Combinator

#155
post #34

I'm getting the impression that a lot of people in this thread think this is because they violated an open-source license and saying things to the effect of, "they're just the ones who got caught". I also thought that was the scandal initially. (And when it comes to license violations, yes, there's absolutely more where that came from.) But that's just the cherry on top. I don't think they're being thrown out because…

There's an excellent podcast and writeup on this from Patrick mcKenzie, which explains the story in more detail, including an interpretation of their statement and background on why this is a scandal in the first place.

https://www.complexsystemspodcast.com/episodes/delve-into-co...

Re: Delve removed from Y Combinator

#156
post #98
post #34

I'm getting the impression that a lot of people in this thread think this is because they violated an open-source license and saying things to the effect of, "they're just the ones who got caught". I also thought that was the scandal initially. (And when it comes to license violations, yes, there's absolutely more where that came from.) But that's just the cherry on top. I don't think they're being thrown out because…

YC has no problem with morally questionable behavior, many YC startups do things that are just as shady. YC is, ultimately, not responsible for what these startups choose to do. Delve’s problem is that they betrayed so many other YC companies in the process. An important value of being in YC is access to a ready-made customer base. The licensing issue is nothing compared to their fake audits but it is an affront to t…

I think it’s partly that, but also that when you have something that is toxic, radioactive and on fire on your ship, you shove it overboard, and assess just how bad the damage was afterwards.

Re: Delve removed from Y Combinator

#157

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To be honest, I would even go further: if you think certification equals security, you are even more lost. So many controls are dubious, sometimes even actively harmful for some set-ups/situations. And even moreso, it's also perfectly feasible to pass the gates with a burning pile of trash.

And they do not track the industry at all, at best they'll help you win the war of five years ago.

Imagine my face when I had to take periodic backups of stateless, immutable read-only filesystem, non-root containers for "compliance".

Re: Delve removed from Y Combinator

#159
post #61

It's not just about delve. It's about yc's model. YC encourages YC companies to trust other YC companies even though they are early. If you can't trust your batch mates for something as crucial as compliance, the model doesn't work.

this is a teachable moment for yc, maybe the cost of investing in a sour apple is a lot more than half a mil, maybe there's a brand or reputational cost, even in places you least expect it right, these two seemingly had everything laid out for them by investors, did they even come up with compliance? who told them to work on that? now look what happened, it's like everyone cant get far enough fast enough now. What about their lead investor insight partners? what's that conversation like?

it's all just very strange and stupid, ironically from the the startup posing as auditors..

Re: Delve removed from Y Combinator

#160
post #128

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Have you considered whistleblowing?

Yes. But I'm not working at either company and I'm 99.9% sure that it would lead to absolutely nothing other than a lot of misery for myself. The NDA's I sign have some pretty stiff penalties attached. I was actually hoping to see my trust in the auditing company confirmed and I'm still more than a little bit annoyed that they did not respond in a more constructive way. My response however is a simple one: I used to…

Similar boat. Seen the same shenanigans being played with actors who really should know better - everything from military secrets to medical data, and absolutely YOLOing it with an audit mill. I have it on good authority that there are superuser credentials floating around for their production systems that they’ve lost track of.

And no, I won’t whistleblow either, as it would mostly be me that would face repercussions, and I am unafraid to say that I am a coward.

We choose the battles we fight, and I’d like to believe that ultimately, entropy will defeat them without me lifting a finger.

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