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Has YC ever funded a company with a Black founder?

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Re: Has YC ever funded a company with a Black founder?

#81

Post by true_religion »

Udo wrote: post #76
true_religion wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Do they really, naturally? I don't think that many people are walking around, constantly repeating an inner mantra like "I'm a white middle-aged male", always comparing everyone against what they themselves look like in the mirror? Who does that? The term "naturally" implies that it is an automatic function (e.g. breathing is natural ). Did you not realize this or are you intentionally leaping to the straw-man argu…

I know what you meant by naturally. I also think we could discuss this for ages and not come to an agreement. I don't subscribe to evolutionary pop psychology, we're simply not speaking the same language.

You're right... if you're going to call it pop psychology then you've thrown the entire theory in the bin before discussion has begun.

Re: Has YC ever funded a company with a Black founder?

#82

Post by AlexC04 »

DanielBMarkham wrote: post #67
prime0196 wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just looking for some inspiration. It's that simple. I don't think 'THE MAN' is trying to hold me down. If I had that mentality I would have never made it this far.

I must be an idiot, because I still don't understand it. So I'm an old fat ugly-looking guy. According to you, I should be looking for other folks like me who made it? This will somehow be inspirational? And what good, exactly, does finding another person who _looks_ like me going to accomplish? What the hell difference does it make? Have you ever visited or not visited a web site because of the way the person who cr…

I thought his question was perfectly legitimate and interesting. I look for people like me who've succeeded for inspiration and ideas.

The black experience in the United States is likely quite different than the white one. Ever watched a Tyler Perry movie? His films have grossed over $400 Million and go largely unseen by whites. It's because the black experience in the USA is so different. The people who live it, identify with it.

I'm sure it really was a fair question based on interest. Not any sort of accusation.

Re: Has YC ever funded a company with a Black founder?

#83

Post by Udo »

wheels wrote: post #75
Udo wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> What would you or your friends parents think if you announced your engagement to a Turkish girl / guy? I have been in a relationship with a Turkish girl for eight years, dude. Everyone was OK with it. Not once did anyone say anything about it. You know what? It was just fine. > That's a fairly typical German viewpoint Did you just assert that I'm a "fairly typical" German racist? If you knew me at all you wouldn't…

Sorry, no, my intent was not at all to paint you as being racist. What I meant as "typically German" is that most Germans, even those who are not particularly racist themselves, have something of a blind-spot for noticing the depth of racism within German society. And sure, there are families where race is a non-issue. I could list examples as well of where I've seen things go the other way, but that's side-stepping…

> even those who are not particularly racist themselves, have something of a blind-spot for noticing the depth of racism within German society.

In this context it's worth pointing out that my grandpa was a Nazi, and even worse, as is one of my cousins to this day - in an otherwise lefty-liberal family. So if I want to see racism, I don't have to look very hard. But even the Nazi cousin behaved normally toward my girl friend at the time, I guess his hatred is geared more toward anonymous concepts and not actual people. When I asked him flat-out, he spouted some nonsense about how my girl friend is somehow not part of "The Turkish Problem" at all.

> surely you'd agree that in many, many families it would be an issue?

I'm not even remotely qualified to answer this in a meaningful way, especially after the feedback I got here today. All I can say is that, being from Germany, I know a lot of people who elevated being mean and destructive into an artform. Some of them are fascists, some of them are bad in other ways. What I can attest to is the general social climate here, it's just as bad as the actual climate.

Re: Has YC ever funded a company with a Black founder?

#85

Post by [deleted] »

true_religion wrote: post #81
Udo wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I know what you meant by naturally. I also think we could discuss this for ages and not come to an agreement. I don't subscribe to evolutionary pop psychology, we're simply not speaking the same language.

You're right... if you're going to call it pop psychology then you've thrown the entire theory in the bin before discussion has begun.

[deleted]

Re: Has YC ever funded a company with a Black founder?

#86

Post by elliottcarlson »

Udo wrote: post #44
_delirium wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It definitely matters in Europe, possibly moreso than in the USA, at least in the circles I've been in (I'm white myself, so this is mostly from observation and friends). In Denmark at least, there is a lot of awkwardness around race, and it certainly isn't the case that non-white people generally feel comfortable in groups where they're the only non-white person (even worse if everyone else is not only white, but sp…

That's interesting. I'm from Germany myself, and I'm convinced it's the most unfriendly "western" country ever. There is certainly a lot of racism here, but it generally happens in socially and economically compromised regions with low unemployment, and then it's usually directed toward the Turks (because "they took our jooooooobs"). Not that there are many black people in Germany to begin with, but I worked with a l…

Interestingly, the same viewpoint exists in Belgium but towards Moroccans and not so much the Turks. The problem is that in the 60's Belgium had a guest worker program which brought the majority of the Turks and Moroccans to Belgium. This helped build up a lot of portions of Belgium however when the worker program was ended in the mid 70's people failed to realize that at this point people had established themselves in a new country and they weren't simply going to go back to their home countries. With family reunification laws these guest workers were able to bring in their families and settle themselves completely.

There is a lot of racism back in Belgium towards Moroccans, and they are certainly treated as the minority group (at least when I lived there 10+ years ago). This leads me back to a previous post in this thread, where the bottom line is that minority's aren't offered the same opportunities as other citizens and therefor behave differently back towards society - causing further racism. Sadly this has caused it to go as far as having a far-right political party (Vlaams Blok) gain more and more traction because the views of the populous are slowly matching their viewpoints on nationalism.

It would not surprise if the same mentality exist in various other countries that are experiencing the same type of historical issues with regards to racism.

Re: Has YC ever funded a company with a Black founder?

#87

Post by DanielBMarkham »

AlexC04 wrote: post #82
DanielBMarkham wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I must be an idiot, because I still don't understand it. So I'm an old fat ugly-looking guy. According to you, I should be looking for other folks like me who made it? This will somehow be inspirational? And what good, exactly, does finding another person who _looks_ like me going to accomplish? What the hell difference does it make? Have you ever visited or not visited a web site because of the way the person who cr…

I thought his question was perfectly legitimate and interesting. I look for people like me who've succeeded for inspiration and ideas. The black experience in the United States is likely quite different than the white one. Ever watched a Tyler Perry movie? His films have grossed over $400 Million and go largely unseen by whites. It's because the black experience in the USA is so different. The people who live it, ide…

Yes, it's a fair question, as I tried to explain. Hell I upvoted your reply.

My point was that the answer to the question has no usefulness that I can determine. You can either explain it or not, but please don't assign emotions and attitudes to me that I am not having.

There are a lot of people with various experiences that share some commonality. Ever attend a Jewish wedding? Spend some time in a mosque? Been to Mardi Gras? Had perogies? Unless you are saying that the "black experience" is somehow different from the "Puerto Rican experience" or the "Eastern European experience" then all of these issues are on the table and should be treated equally.

I don't think you're saying that, so please stop picking on me. I was simply saying that the question had no value that I could determine. These things might (unfairly) be success criteria for a cocktail party, but never a startup. I'd love to be proven wrong. How many ways can I say "Stop looking to people outside yourself and to attributes you can't control and instead go make something happen?" before it sinks in? And what's so controversial about saying that?

Re: Has YC ever funded a company with a Black founder?

#88

Post by [deleted] »

prime0196 wrote: post #17
citricsquid wrote: post #6

As a black person why do you think this is?

Not many black programming role models. Sad to say but many black youth still see sports and entertainment and the only way to achieve a high level of success in America. My primary goal in life is to try to change that perception by becoming a successful programmer.

[deleted]

Re: Has YC ever funded a company with a Black founder?

#89

Post by _pius »

raganwald wrote: post #79
_pius wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Here's an "Interesting new phenomena" for you to chew on: How dare you suggest that I'm Black? My father is Scottish-Canadian. I went to St. Andrews, a Scottish-themed boarding school. I grew up listening to Rush. I play hockey. I listen to Jazz music. I ride a mountain bike. I'm told I speak with a standard North American accent. What is this "Black" thing you speak of? I figured you'd say that ... I think you've bl…

I'm not saying anything about the topic. It's really the specific discussion, which at the time I wrote my post, was rather non-specific. Questions I would personally find interesting might include: "I'm black and interested in applying to YCombinator. Does this matter?" "13% of the population is black but 25% of the YCombinator founders are black. Why is that?" "I'm black and pitching my company to VCs. I've noticed…

I'm not saying anything about the topic. It's really the specific discussion, which at the time I wrote my post, was rather non-specific.

...

It just seems to me that if HN is going to discuss this, there should be something HN-ish about this and not simply a general, non-specific rehash of a jillion other discussions about the participation or lack of participation by blacks in tech.

"Has YC ever founded a black founder?" seems pretty specific and HN-ish to me.

I'm certainly not going to complain bitterly if the discussion leads to positive change.

Fair enough. What a sad picture in your post.

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