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A Reminder To Investors

blog.ycombinator.com

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Re: A Reminder To Investors

#201

Post by facepalm »

StandardFuture wrote: post #143
brogrammer90 wrote: post #93

This is no surprise. There's no metro area in the USA as cringe worthy as SV when it comes to relationships between men and women. Sexually frustrated neck beards and moderately attractive women do not mix. I can't even count the number of times a coworker has confessed his love to another, get rejected, then go out of his way to sabotage their career.

Does this come from the fact that most "computer nerds" spend their lives (whether by choice or 'lot in life') in pure isolation (if not physically then mentally)? In other words, does this void of 'sociality' in their life lead them to completely lack sympathy, empathy, and general kindness towards others? And does our tech environment (that encourages that lifestyle) also 'justify' that this mentality is not only o…

How is falling in love with somebody (or even just being infatuated) displaying a complete lack of sympathy, empathy and general kindness towards others? Maybe you should work on your empathy...

Re: A Reminder To Investors

#202

Post by lobotryas »

simplemind wrote: post #119
tptacek wrote: post #104

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You think YC won't notice that, or will continue working with investors that studiously avoid investing in women?

They haven't to date, right?

This is silly. If I, as an investor, never find any female-led startups that are worth funding in an already very small pool, then I should be punished?

Re: A Reminder To Investors

#203

Post by yid »

balls187 wrote: post #198
AnimalMuppet wrote: post #155

So here's what I think it comes down to: You're an investor. You're at demo day. There's this female founder, and you think she's hot. You interact with her purely professionally, but you still feel the chemistry, and you think she does, too. You want to ask her out, because you think there might be something there. So what do you do? You resign from your role as a VC/investor. That's what it's going to cost. Then yo…

>But if asking her out isn't worth more to you than your job is, then leave things professional. Quit your job just to ask a woman out? Asking a woman out you recently met isn't sexual harassment. Some advice to your specific example: 1. Don't do it during demo day. She's a founder, and that's her time to meet with investors. 2. If you are planning on investing in her company- potential conflict of interest. Don't ge…

> Quit your job just to ask a woman out?

No, but you can recuse yourself from that particular deal.

Re: A Reminder To Investors

#204

Post by bmelton »

dkarapetyan wrote: post #199
mkal_tsr wrote: post #174

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, if you go purely anonymous in all aspects, you prevent a lot of these things from even being an issue and rely only on the merit of the idea, quality of MVP, and thoroughness of the business plan - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8169051

I don't use Uber. I use Lyft. Why? Because Lyft is better people. Given the choice I'd rather support the better people. SF is full of startups that are indistinguishable in terms of technical merit, idea, business plan, etc. They are different though when it comes to the people.

How are the Lyft people better than the Uber people?

Re: A Reminder To Investors

#205

Post by god_bless_texas »

This reminds me of HR departments that send out emails to the entire company telling them to watch their asses on their sick time because BY GOD some single person misused it and it will not happen again.

OK YC how about counseling the person that did it instead of treating everyone else like trash.

Re: A Reminder To Investors

#206

Post by balls187 »

yid wrote: post #203
balls187 wrote: post #198

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>But if asking her out isn't worth more to you than your job is, then leave things professional. Quit your job just to ask a woman out? Asking a woman out you recently met isn't sexual harassment. Some advice to your specific example: 1. Don't do it during demo day. She's a founder, and that's her time to meet with investors. 2. If you are planning on investing in her company- potential conflict of interest. Don't ge…

> Quit your job just to ask a woman out? No, but you can recuse yourself from that particular deal.

That was in response to the original comment suggesting an Investor should at least consider quitting their job before asking out a founder they met at a demo-day event.

Which is very much cutting off your nose to spite your face.

Re: A Reminder To Investors

#208

Post by wbharding »

SkyMarshal wrote: post #70

Possibly prompted by this anonymous Forbes piece making the rounds on Twitter recently: http://www.forbes.com/sites/jeffbercovici/2014/08/07/what-it...

Discouraging. Folks like "Masseuse" that most need to shape up are probably least likely to have the capacity to listen. Maybe it's because having wealth melts ones brain, or maybe a certain level of sociopathy is advantageous in accumulating wealth. However the cause-and-effect works out, I struggle to imagine a person who exhibits such behaviors being fixable through sound reasoning.

The battle to get scummy dudes to behave appropriately feels in some ways like the battle to get thieves not to steal. You can tell a thief not to steal, you can describe to them how a victim feels when their house is broken into, but it just doesn't register. A certain subset of the population lacks the empathy to respond to such appeals.

If the thieving analogy holds, the only way to fix someone like the masseuse would be to threaten punishment, but good luck creating/enforcing that.

Re: A Reminder To Investors

#209

Post by dkarapetyan »

bmelton wrote: post #204
dkarapetyan wrote: post #199

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't use Uber. I use Lyft. Why? Because Lyft is better people. Given the choice I'd rather support the better people. SF is full of startups that are indistinguishable in terms of technical merit, idea, business plan, etc. They are different though when it comes to the people.

How are the Lyft people better than the Uber people?

No 5000 orders and cancellation for one. One documented example http://valleywag.gawker.com/ubers-dirty-trick-campaign-again.... There was also another front page post recently that was an interview with Uber's CEO on the same matter.

Re: A Reminder To Investors

#210

Post by mkal_tsr »

dkarapetyan wrote: post #199
mkal_tsr wrote: post #174

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, if you go purely anonymous in all aspects, you prevent a lot of these things from even being an issue and rely only on the merit of the idea, quality of MVP, and thoroughness of the business plan - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8169051

I don't use Uber. I use Lyft. Why? Because Lyft is better people. Given the choice I'd rather support the better people. SF is full of startups that are indistinguishable in terms of technical merit, idea, business plan, etc. They are different though when it comes to the people.

Please fully describe how the age, race, gender, height, orientation, and religious aspects of employees for both Lyft and Uber are relevant and intertwined with the actions of the company. You say "better people" but I think you mean "acting ethically" and I see no relation to how that has anything to do with the above 6 descriptors I listed.
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