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Y Combinator Mentoring for Women

christine.net

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Re: Y Combinator Mentoring for Women

#101

Post by axod »

misuba wrote: post #98
axod wrote: post #97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sure, for the same reason if something is for whites only it's offensive, or for men only. It's pointless anyway... Why aren't there more white basketball players? Racism? Probably more likely the same reason there aren't more women founders. You have to admit a special school only for white basketball players would be pretty offensive. no?

No no no; I said _ask yourself._ Don't just repeat what you already know; think a little longer and look a little deeper into where the offense, the _feeling of offense in you,_ comes from.

heh I don't take life seriously enough to get offended.

I'm just looking for a bit of consistency here though. Either every instance of racism/sexism is offensive, or they are all fine.

Re: Y Combinator Mentoring for Women

#102

Post by lisawilliams »

blurry wrote: post #82

As a female/startup co-founder, I find it rather unfortunate that Christine chose to close with: Let's work constructively to get more bright young women to apply. Why young? Are women over 30 over-represented among start-up founders? Does she feel that we are ticking time bombs waiting to run off to have babies? Is she simply uncomfortable mentoring someone slightly older? What is it? I don't question the intentions…

My sense is that most of the YC applicants are not just male but under 30. Is this incorrect?

I am one of the mentors in the group and participated in TechStars at the grand old age of 38 and have two young children, and I can say that our group would be happy to work with applicants of any age. I don't believe that Christine's comment is meant to indicate our support of women within a particular age range (or whether they have or plan to have children) -- it's a reference to what we believe the median age of YC applicants are.

Your comment does make me wonder, however: what is that number? Does anyone know?

Re: Y Combinator Mentoring for Women

#103

Post by spacejockeys »

lisawilliams wrote: post #102
blurry wrote: post #82

As a female/startup co-founder, I find it rather unfortunate that Christine chose to close with: Let's work constructively to get more bright young women to apply. Why young? Are women over 30 over-represented among start-up founders? Does she feel that we are ticking time bombs waiting to run off to have babies? Is she simply uncomfortable mentoring someone slightly older? What is it? I don't question the intentions…

My sense is that most of the YC applicants are not just male but under 30. Is this incorrect? I am one of the mentors in the group and participated in TechStars at the grand old age of 38 and have two young children, and I can say that our group would be happy to work with applicants of any age. I don't believe that Christine's comment is meant to indicate our support of women within a particular age range (or whethe…

Lisa is correct - the comment was pragmatic, not didactic. I don't know the actual median age of the YC applicant pool, but in my own anecdotal and unscientific experience (e.g., who have I met in person at events, or heard a pitch from) the median YC participant is around 23, and has yet to develop the familiarity with pitching that comes from years in the industry. Also, if program awareness comes from social networking or from university outreach, I'd expect a dominant concentration of 20-somethings in the pool.

Re: Y Combinator Mentoring for Women

#104

Post by bootload »

trevelyan wrote: post #53
bootload wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"... I don't see how sex matters when you're a business person, when you're programming, when you're building things ..." Maybe because you are a member (myself included) of a homogeneous monk-like cloistered society that meets daily with your own kind where everyone knows the secret hand-shake and acknowledges you. Given that nobody does lone-programming anymore if you are different you are going to be side-lined. I…

> Given that nobody does lone-programming anymore Really? I need a support group.

"... > Given that nobody does lone-programming anymore Really? I need a support group. ..."

I'm being facetious.

This was a throw away line Doug Crockford gave in a talk I was listening to, "Quality" talk I was listening to the other day (about 10-15m in) ~ http://developer.yahoo.net/blogs/theater/archives/2007/05/do...

For most SoftCo. management this is probably what they think.

Re: Y Combinator Mentoring for Women

#105

Post by bootload »

jimbokun wrote: post #70
bootload wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"... I don't see how sex matters when you're a business person, when you're programming, when you're building things ..." Maybe because you are a member (myself included) of a homogeneous monk-like cloistered society that meets daily with your own kind where everyone knows the secret hand-shake and acknowledges you. Given that nobody does lone-programming anymore if you are different you are going to be side-lined. I…

I thought some orchestras started having blind auditions, where the performer is behind some kind of opaque barrier?

"... I thought some orchestras started having blind auditions ..."

That's what I thought and was the reason I chose this instance. I remember seeing an example of perceived vs actual performance and more women where hired because of bias selection. How many Orchestras try this I don't know.

Re: Y Combinator Mentoring for Women

#106

Post by anamax »

kwamenum86 wrote: post #48
ALee wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Don't worry aston, the News.YC audience is primarily white male libertarian (both right and left) leaning. Although it's a philosophically consistent position, I think it fails to recognize that there are deep inequities in society that the market/competition just cannot fix (and sometime the market sometimes exacerbates).

Free markets never fix societal inequities. In fact, they exacerbate them. People with wealth use that wealth to generate more wealth. Additionally, only a percentage of the lower class can climb to the upper class in each generation. It amazes me that anyone thinks there can ever be "equality".

Given a choice between equality in actual misery and "poor" people who have multiple TVs, decent housing, way too much food, and so on, why would anyone prefer equality?

I mention that tradeoff because it's the decision we get to make. Free markets give us poor people who live like kings compared to the poor bastards who are all equal.

I think that Bill Gates and Warren Buffet are an acceptable price to pay for a well-off poor people.

Me - I'm far more concerned with what I've got than I am with what someone else has. Why are you so concerned with what other people have? More to the point, how much are you willing to give up for equality?

Re: Y Combinator Mentoring for Women

#107

Post by opal »

meredydd wrote: post #93
opal wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just to add, the guys have it far worse in this situation.

Just to add, the guys have it far worse in this situation. -Clonk.- Yes, the guys have it worse if you view it primarily as a dating situation . But viewing it primarily as a dating situation is a large part of what makes it so uncomfortable for the women in the first place. Consider this very crude quantitative model: There is a group of 10 (straight) male hackers who spend workdays together. They would prefer to sp…

Wow, interesting. The only shortcoming is that you made this all up.

People in PLENTY of more evenly paired occupations flirt all day long. If flirting is something a woman hates then go right ahead into programming! You can easily avoid human interaction almost entirely.

Re: Y Combinator Mentoring for Women

#109

Post by webwright »

pinkgarage wrote: post #94
webwright wrote: post #84

Is it ever okay to suggest that a demographic balance is just fine? There is a lack of european-descent long-distance runners in the top tiers. Not too many woman play football. Very few men do much knitting. Do we need outreach and mentoring to change make sure that all groups are a mirror of the world's demographic makeup? Women and men are different, and perhaps the reason that software startups are male-dominated…

So white males are the most affluent, successful class because of their geneitics? ROFL.

Feel free to read up on what a Straw Man Argument is at your leisure:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Straw_man

Re: Y Combinator Mentoring for Women

#110

Post by kwamenum86 »

anamax wrote: post #106
kwamenum86 wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Free markets never fix societal inequities. In fact, they exacerbate them. People with wealth use that wealth to generate more wealth. Additionally, only a percentage of the lower class can climb to the upper class in each generation. It amazes me that anyone thinks there can ever be "equality".

Given a choice between equality in actual misery and "poor" people who have multiple TVs, decent housing, way too much food, and so on, why would anyone prefer equality? I mention that tradeoff because it's the decision we get to make. Free markets give us poor people who live like kings compared to the poor bastards who are all equal. I think that Bill Gates and Warren Buffet are an acceptable price to pay for a wel…

I am not sure why equality === misery. But I am not talking about everyone having the same amount of money- using the word equality did not adequately convey my feelings on this. I am talking about setting a standard for living (we already have explicit and implicit standards) and then actually following the standard.

Depending on the metric you are using we do well. If you are talking about making sure people have the bare essentials, we do pretty well. The "extras" like education are lacking though.

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