Delve removed from Y Combinator • Hacker News Board

Re: Delve removed from Y Combinator

#251

Post by whoknowsidont » Sat, Apr 04, 2026, 1:00 PM UTC

kshri24 wrote: post #142

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…

>choose those who have graduated from tier-1 institutions. University degrees mean nothing at the end of the day.

It means everything for YC's model.

YC does not care about the software.

They care about the founders.

YC's model and ecosystem is explicitly designed to be a who's who club of interconnected founders that are very, very encouraged to """rely""" on each other when building their companies.

YC uses a lot of double speak regarding this ecosystem, but if you explained the concept to a layman on the street they'd tell you exactly what this concept is in just a very few, very blunt words.

Elite-class founders and lots of cheap, imported, or "passionate" labor.

Let's get real here folks.

Re: Delve removed from Y Combinator

#252

Post by joenot443 » Sat, Apr 04, 2026, 1:09 PM UTC

penguoir wrote: post #213

Here is Delve’s defence to the whistleblower https://delve.co/blog/response-to-misleading-claims

Wow, that writing is... earnest?

> Below are just some of the many inaccuracies in the story and then the truth.

> The Substack inaccurately said Delve relies on “Indian certification mills operating through front companies” and cannot pass legitimate audits. This too is not accurate.

At least it's not GPT but my goodness - you can definitely sense the panic. I think Karun is a little worried.

Re: Delve removed from Y Combinator

#253

Post by toyg » Sat, Apr 04, 2026, 1:10 PM UTC

energy123 wrote: post #250

Zak wrote: post #239

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

That's mostly imputable to Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Reddit is a footnote in the mainstream, which is dominated by those 3.

Re: Delve removed from Y Combinator

#254

Post by margalabargala » Sat, Apr 04, 2026, 1:24 PM UTC

huhkerrf wrote: post #121

margalabargala wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"I wish them well" is an idiom for "I never want to see them again". Kinda like "bless your heart", which means nothing of the sort.

Why do non-Southerners keep insisting on this? Bless your heart can be said sincerely or ironically, like pretty much any other phrase.

You mean kinds like "I wish them well" here?

My comment is an internet comment about idioms, not a comprehensive linguistic treatise.

You seem like you're looking for something to be upset about. I wish you well.

Re: Delve removed from Y Combinator

#255

Post by user_7832 » Sat, Apr 04, 2026, 1:24 PM UTC

senko wrote: post #181

throwaway27448 wrote: post #107

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)

How about the privacy darling Flock?

Re: Delve removed from Y Combinator

#256

Post by tim333 » Sat, Apr 04, 2026, 1:27 PM UTC

transcriptase wrote: post #216

barry-cotter wrote: post #210

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They’re responsible for the existence of scribd. Not aware of any other obviously socially net negative companies.

For the uninformed what’s the deal with scribd?

Scribd are quite annoying. The pitch was "the YouTube for documents" allowing stuff to be posted and shared but they tend to try and get subscription money off you to see anything unlike the likes of YouTube.

Re: Delve removed from Y Combinator

#257

Post by lezojeda » Sat, Apr 04, 2026, 1:29 PM UTC

saagarjha wrote: post #186

BugsJustFindMe wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

Someone doing harm to you doesn't automatically mean you wish harm to them. Not that I necessarily take what Garry says at face value but it's definitely possible to unironically take this viewpoint.

[dead]

Re: Delve removed from Y Combinator

#258

Post by energy123 » Sat, Apr 04, 2026, 1:29 PM UTC

toyg wrote: post #253

energy123 wrote: post #250

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

That's mostly imputable to Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Reddit is a footnote in the mainstream, which is dominated by those 3.

Given the number of Reddit users across the Anglosphere, I disagree that Reddit is not a major contributor.

Re: Delve removed from Y Combinator

#259

Post by ramraj07 » Sat, Apr 04, 2026, 1:31 PM UTC

mgraczyk wrote: post #212

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…

We have done SOC2 and it's not fake. Its real and enforced some good practices and we spent a lot of time collecting evidence and submitting it. You can take it seriously or you can choose not to.

Re: Delve removed from Y Combinator

#260

Post by dvfjsdhgfv » Sat, Apr 04, 2026, 1:36 PM UTC

fontain wrote: post #98

maxbond wrote: 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…

> YC is, ultimately, not responsible for what these startups choose to do.

Formally they might not be (depends on the case), but morally they are.