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Tell HN: YC company Anima Health is spamming email addresses posted to HN

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Tell HN: YC company Anima Health is spamming email addresses posted to HN

#1
I just received a seemingly personalized message from Anima Health (YC21). The email is signed with the name of the CEO (Shun) with his name in the From field, too. This is not the first time I've seen it. I received an identical message in my inbox through another address previously posted in plaintext on HN months ago under a different username.

The reason I know it's spam: It's literally the same message. The only difference is the person (HN username) it's addressed to. It also starts out:

> Saw your profile on HN and we think your skills look like a good fit for our team - wondered if you'd be interested in our YC company, Anima.

This doesn't make sense, given what I've posted through this account. Motivated by the recent Ask HN thread "Who needs help this holidays", I posted a little about my situation.

It's bad enough to spam people here, let alone what is in reality just an invitation to spend your time applying to their company, masquerading as a personalized message like this. But to do so indiscriminately, such that it will necessarily also ensnare people who are literally struggling to pay for food and facing homelessness is cruel. It's a careless cruelty, but it's cruelty all the same.

Shun: You need to stop this immediately.

Re: Tell HN: YC company Anima Health is spamming email addresses posted to HN

#4
Why startups needs to spam for candidates? Is it too hard to find good engineers, especially now that your pool is almost worldwide (if you accept remote)? Consider the amount of layoffs lately, I'd say startups should have it easy.

The explanation is probably that I don't understand the market at all...

Re: Tell HN: YC company Anima Health is spamming email addresses posted to HN

#5
They've been at this for a while, I got one in Sept 2022

"Saw your profile on HN and we think your skills look like a good fit for our team"

If it had been "we saw you are engaged on hacker news" instead of "we saw your profile" I might have actually responded. I don't have a profile on this site. I have a barely reputable profile, and I'm lucky when my engagement is received positively.

It's like when I get spam images from thirsty IG bots, NOBODY ever talks to me like that. Even if they did, the context / content of what they say immediately tells me whether this is a scripted interaction or genuine. When you are at the depths of despair it is almost IMPOSSIBLE to have a properly calibrated bullshit detector and you will fall for seemingly "easy to see" things like this.

I agree with the other posters, it's less than optimal. I'm lucky to be on the greener side of the grass today but I can see why others responded more hostile.

Re: Tell HN: YC company Anima Health is spamming email addresses posted to HN

#7

I received the same email after the first time I posted to the monthly “Who wants to be hired?” thread. Gross, really.

I'm confused - you posted in the "who wants to be hired" thread, and then got an email from this company asking if you'd be interested?

Re: Tell HN: YC company Anima Health is spamming email addresses posted to HN

#8
post #6

"Don't ask for permission, ask for forgiveness later"

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26638703

I specifically cite this comment because of the "naughtiness" topic, but also feel dang's context is important. "naughtiness" and "pg" keywords in the search brings up lots on the topic for those who want to dive deep.

https://techcrunch.com/2011/05/24/y-combinators-paul-graham-... ("Y Combinator's Paul Graham: We're Looking For People Like Us")

> Another key factor: Naughtiness. “Startups often have to do slightly devious things,” Graham says. “You can tell if people have a gleam in their eye. You don’t want people who would be obedient employees… we’re not looking for people who did what they were told in life.”

(I have no strong opinion on the topic; YC's job is to obtain VC asset class returns telling founders they are special and to grind people and markets until liquidity or failure, but dang is nice and effective for keeping this third space decent and vibrant)

Re: Tell HN: YC company Anima Health is spamming email addresses posted to HN

#9
post #7

I received the same email after the first time I posted to the monthly “Who wants to be hired?” thread. Gross, really.

I'm confused - you posted in the "who wants to be hired" thread, and then got an email from this company asking if you'd be interested?

The same with OP. I don't understand this thread at all.

Re: Tell HN: YC company Anima Health is spamming email addresses posted to HN

#10
post #6

"Don't ask for permission, ask for forgiveness later"

If taken literally, this saying really bothers me.

Why would I forgive someone of an act that stems from a policy that they repentantly continue to hold?

Start by telling me why what you did that was wrong, and that you're committed to not repeating that behavior. Then we'll talk about forgiveness.

Otherwise you're just adding to your list of wrongs by playing me for a chump.

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