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Delve removed from Y Combinator

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241–250 of 344 posts

Re: Delve removed from Y Combinator

#241

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

It's the polite way of saying goodbye when you actually mean "eff off"

People don’t realize that the people at the top of organizations are effectively like politicians in democratic systems only the vote comes in confidence; usually manipulative, lying, and deceptive because they are inherently dependent on maintaining perception of the people they rely on and underpin their roles and power.

One way in which they do that is to ride or effectively are selected by the system for their mastery of the psychological trick of positivity and optimism that predisposes people to follow and trust, e.g., even when someone betrays you, you “wish them well.

In such systems, courage and hard lines that enforce strict rules, discipline, and principles does not provide the leaders in that system the affordances and benefits of leadership. As has been indicated, the subject behaviors are not only not novel, nor are they unique. What precipitated this current action appears to be the egregious and probably violative nature of the behavior, not the behavior itself. The veneer of perception was pierced, which is the real trigger of action.

Just use my saying what I just said above as an example, there will be people who have not even read this last paragraph and will it will have the urge to down vote what I said solely on the basis that they want to punish me, the messenger, because I’m pointing out things that are very much true and not saying it in a positive manner. It causes feelings of discomfort and especially in American society today where everything is geared towards positivity and good feelings opium, not bad feelings, even if you’re being scammed or defrauded or lied to, you have to remain positive, say things in positive ways, be “constructive”.

I don’t know if it’s sustainable because it’s such a con job at its very core, an abusive confidence trick, maintaining the perception of confidence and optimism to keep people happy and positive and optimistic regardless of red flags; however, we shall all find out one day if no one being able to deal with reality anymore if it’s not wrapped some nicety, is sustainable. Hence, “They violated us/me” but “I wish them well”. See, they are wished well, so everything is fine and we just removed the bad apple, nothing to see here, keep being positive as the telescreen instructs you to.

Re: Delve removed from Y Combinator

#242
post #181

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> YC is, ultimately, not responsible for what these startups choose to do. Of course they're responsible for their investments; they're just not liable. YC has a lot to answer for in the damage it's wreaked over the years.

> YC has a lot to answer for in the damage it's wreaked over the years. What damage is that? (excluding the present case)

[deleted]

Re: Delve removed from Y Combinator

#244

YC needs to go back to how it was. Choosing those who know what they are doing, and have been in the game for long and not blindly choose those who have graduated from tier-1 institutions. University degrees mean nothing at the end of the day. And please stop investing in slop/wrappers. They do not solve World's problems. I feel there has been complacency set into investing in general where investors are chasing quic…

It starts from the top

Re: Delve removed from Y Combinator

#245
post #238

Having gone through the SOC2 process multiple times and having worked with and read SOC2 reports from many public companies, it's difficult for me to understand the outrage. The specific fraud allegations are bad (lying about US based auditors) but it's completely normal and common for soc2 reports to be templates with no company specific information. It would be unusual for reports to include anything about the spec…

There are typically two soc2 reports generated from an audit. The first is the one for general use, often just shared publicly. This is probably what you look at from public companies that you have no binding relationship with. The other is the restricted use report which details all the findings and controls. That is typically only shared under NDA.

I haven't seen that and all the reports I got were under nda

Re: Delve removed from Y Combinator

#246
This thread is going to use very dressed up and lofty language discussing the issue, in order for the express purpose of dancing around the fundamental issue here.

Y Combinator as a concept, and all of its "children" are rotten to the core.

Every single company is "evil" in some form, and not in the usual "private companies are big baddies" kind of way. They grossly and recklessly violate laws and ethical boundaries day in and day out.

The sooner people are even willing to entertain this, the sooner we can have actual conversation around these issues.

Re: Delve removed from Y Combinator

#247

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you care about this stuff you need to in-house auditing and do your own audits with people who care. Then get certified by an external auditor for the paper. You can start very lightweight with doing spec driven development with the help of AI if you're at a size where you can't afford that. It's better than nothing. But the important part is you, as a company, should inherently care. If you rely on an auditor fee…

But companies don't care . They don't want compliance for feel goods, they want compliance because their partners require it. They do the minimum amount required to check the box

Caring about security and comparing about some of the arbitrary hoops you have to jump through for some of these compliance regimes don’t always overlap as much as you’d expect.

I’ve been at companies where we cared deeply about security, but certain compliance things felt like gimmicks on the side. We absolutely wanted to to do the minimum required to check that box so we could get back to the real work.

Re: Delve removed from Y Combinator

#248
post #128

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Have you considered whistleblowing?

I'd called out fraud (blatant lying in investor updates) at a VC backed startup where I was a technical co-founder, once. I emailed all the investors and presented all the evidence to them. They decided to not rock the boat and keep my charlatan co-founder. So, I left. Now, the company is slowly bleeding to death.

[deleted]

Re: Delve removed from Y Combinator

#249
post #128

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Have you considered whistleblowing?

I'd called out fraud (blatant lying in investor updates) at a VC backed startup where I was a technical co-founder, once. I emailed all the investors and presented all the evidence to them. They decided to not rock the boat and keep my charlatan co-founder. So, I left. Now, the company is slowly bleeding to death.

To be fair, I’m not sure blatant lying in investor updates alone constitutes fraud. There needs to be harm (or the intent thereof) AFAIK. The other party needs to be using that information to make a decision. If you give me a dollar and then later I tell you I’m actually Beyonce, is that fraud? Or am I just a lying sonofabitch?

Re: Delve removed from Y Combinator

#250
post #239

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Reddit

I think when making the claim a company is a net negative, it's necessary to explore what would have happened if the company hadn't been founded. I find it unlikely, for example that there would not be a dominant centralized forum platform. People would have certainly started problematic communities on the dominant platform, and it's unlikely a platform with strict moderation would have gained dominance before 2015 o…

It would have happened more slowly at least, delaying the increase in populism, nihilism and depression in the Western world, the anglosphere in particular.
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