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> Postmates raised $141 million in a financing round led by Founders Fund. The San Francisco VC firm, co-founded by billionaire Peter Thiel So much for the Sil

by rjvir 10y ago

> Postmates raised $141 million in a financing round led by Founders Fund. The San Francisco VC firm, co-founded by billionaire Peter Thiel So much for the Silicon Valley boycott of Peter Thiel. I wonder if they would have raised from Thiel if they were in a position of strength, and had other options.

Naritai 10y ago
I'm reminded of an old Hollywood quote, "I'll never work with <actor X> again, unless he's right for the part". Business is business.
- JumpCrisscross 10y ago
  Which, if one is honest, is what makes America work. I disagree with Thiel. Sixty percent of Americans see similarly [1]. But guess what: democracy depends on tolerating--and reconciling--different views. In Evelyn Beatrice Hall words, "I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it" [2]. The same fraction of Americans who disagree with Trump agreed with interracial marriage as recently as the 1990s [3]. Democracy is messy. If you like overruling others with force, don't pretend to like our system. You're lazy, trading liberty for security, and in turn deserve neither. [1] https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2015/09/14/sixty-percent-of-americans-dont-think-donald-trump-is-qualified-to-be-president/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2015/09/14/si... [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evelyn_Beatrice_Hall https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evelyn_Beatrice_Hall [3] https://mechanicalbrain.files.wordpress.com/2012/04/interracial-marriage.gif https://mechanicalbrain.files.wordpress.com/2012/04/interrac...
  - foobarian 10y ago
    TIL I've been misattributing that quote to Voltaire this whole time. Thank you!
- intoverflow2 10y ago
  I'm all for "business is business" but it just gets irritating when these startups pretend to have an ethical approach but then that approach goes out the window when money is involved. Not sure how they expect us to swallow it.
  - Naritai 10y ago
    I wish they were more upfront about it as well. Of course, then Silicon Valley (the tv show) wouldn't have the fodder for jokes that it now does.
tha234 10y ago
Ugh, thanks for the reminder, I'll use Caviar, Uber Eats, DoorDash etc. Supporting UFO level insanity like Thiel's and other conservatives is just ridiculous.
meritt 10y ago
I'm still boycotting Thiel and any of his significant investments. For example, we cancelled our corporate Asana account after the Republican Convention and cited that as the sole reason for cancellation. After his egregious Trump support, I absolutely refuse to utilize any service or product of which he's a prominent private investor. I know it's just a drop in the bucket, but dammit, you have to take a stand at some point, even if it's effectively meaningless.
- dcgudeman 10y ago
  So you are not going to use facebook?
  - bbcbasic 10y ago
    That's easy to not do
- CN7R 10y ago
  Here's a list to make it easy for you: http://foundersfund.com/portfolio/ http://foundersfund.com/portfolio/
  - deleted 10y ago
    [deleted]
- OoTheNigerian 10y ago
  Makes sense. Especially as the founder of Asana is spending millions supporting Clinton against Trump
  - meritt 10y ago
    If Dustin and Justin wants to really come out against it, they'll come against Thiel explicitly. Continuing to take his money while claiming to supporting the opposite is hypocritical. They are playing the same bullshit card that Sam Altman is and trying to brush it off as mere politics while hedging their bets and playing both sides. I view Trump as an existential threat to everything that America is founded upon and I will not stand idly while "leaders" in the tech community support him.
CN7R 10y ago
I honestly don't think the 'boycott' was reflective the majority's opinion. Unless someone can compile a list of people who've said they outright weren't going to do business with Thiel.
- chronic6l 10y ago
  People on HN like to complain (expected from the 18-25 year old crowd). But at the end of the day, they realize business is business and will do what's necessary to survive. Boycott Thiel in front of your friends (a public position) but continue secretly dealing with him (a private) position. Sound oddly familiar...
  - lathiat 10y ago
    It's also entirely possibly you're legally obligated to do so. As a simplified example; if they are the only option to get funding, it may be fiscally irresponsible to the other share holders to deny that option. Same thing happens with bankruptcies, mergers & acquisitions, etc all the time - stuff may be sold to a company that the founders or anyone else is very objectionte to but they may have absolutely no say in the matter whether through no control in bankruptcy or simply not enough voting power with multiple interests. Makes you really think about contracts and other such sometimes, just because you trust this company and it's founders or leadership now doesn't mean you can trust them later if they lose control.
- tyre 10y ago
  We are a YC S16 company and will not take money from Peter Thiel. May not be the majority's opinion, but that seems irrelevant.
  - potatosoup 10y ago
    That's an unusual stance for someone who is a CEO of a company for "rekindling passion for public service in millions of local government employees" and is worrisome. You wouldn't support people like these government employees to have freedom of political opinion?
achow 10y ago
"Peter Thiel, was already an investor but agreed to step up its support.." Looks like Thiel came to the rescue when Postmates was not able to raise fund from anywhere else. >I wonder if they would have raised from Thiel if they were in a position of strength, and had other options. Seems like Postmates did try raising from somewhere else first - at higher valuation perhaps, but maybe they were getting devalued?

by rjvir 10y ago

Naritai 10y ago

I'm reminded of an old Hollywood quote, "I'll never work with <actor X> again, unless he's right for the part". Business is business.

JumpCrisscross 10y ago
Which, if one is honest, is what makes America work. I disagree with Thiel. Sixty percent of Americans see similarly [1]. But guess what: democracy depends on tolerating--and reconciling--different views. In Evelyn Beatrice Hall words, "I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it" [2]. The same fraction of Americans who disagree with Trump agreed with interracial marriage as recently as the 1990s [3]. Democracy is messy. If you like overruling others with force, don't pretend to like our system. You're lazy, trading liberty for security, and in turn deserve neither. [1] https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2015/09/14/sixty-percent-of-americans-dont-think-donald-trump-is-qualified-to-be-president/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2015/09/14/si... [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evelyn_Beatrice_Hall https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evelyn_Beatrice_Hall [3] https://mechanicalbrain.files.wordpress.com/2012/04/interracial-marriage.gif https://mechanicalbrain.files.wordpress.com/2012/04/interrac...
- foobarian 10y ago
  TIL I've been misattributing that quote to Voltaire this whole time. Thank you!
intoverflow2 10y ago
I'm all for "business is business" but it just gets irritating when these startups pretend to have an ethical approach but then that approach goes out the window when money is involved. Not sure how they expect us to swallow it.
- Naritai 10y ago
  I wish they were more upfront about it as well. Of course, then Silicon Valley (the tv show) wouldn't have the fodder for jokes that it now does.

tha234 10y ago

Ugh, thanks for the reminder, I'll use Caviar, Uber Eats, DoorDash etc. Supporting UFO level insanity like Thiel's and other conservatives is just ridiculous.

meritt 10y ago

I'm still boycotting Thiel and any of his significant investments. For example, we cancelled our corporate Asana account after the Republican Convention and cited that as the sole reason for cancellation. After his egregious Trump support, I absolutely refuse to utilize any service or product of which he's a prominent private investor. I know it's just a drop in the bucket, but dammit, you have to take a stand at some point, even if it's effectively meaningless.

dcgudeman 10y ago
So you are not going to use facebook?
- bbcbasic 10y ago
  That's easy to not do
CN7R 10y ago
Here's a list to make it easy for you: http://foundersfund.com/portfolio/ http://foundersfund.com/portfolio/
- deleted 10y ago
  [deleted]
OoTheNigerian 10y ago
Makes sense. Especially as the founder of Asana is spending millions supporting Clinton against Trump
- meritt 10y ago
  If Dustin and Justin wants to really come out against it, they'll come against Thiel explicitly. Continuing to take his money while claiming to supporting the opposite is hypocritical. They are playing the same bullshit card that Sam Altman is and trying to brush it off as mere politics while hedging their bets and playing both sides. I view Trump as an existential threat to everything that America is founded upon and I will not stand idly while "leaders" in the tech community support him.

CN7R 10y ago

I honestly don't think the 'boycott' was reflective the majority's opinion. Unless someone can compile a list of people who've said they outright weren't going to do business with Thiel.

chronic6l 10y ago
People on HN like to complain (expected from the 18-25 year old crowd). But at the end of the day, they realize business is business and will do what's necessary to survive. Boycott Thiel in front of your friends (a public position) but continue secretly dealing with him (a private) position. Sound oddly familiar...
- lathiat 10y ago
  It's also entirely possibly you're legally obligated to do so. As a simplified example; if they are the only option to get funding, it may be fiscally irresponsible to the other share holders to deny that option. Same thing happens with bankruptcies, mergers & acquisitions, etc all the time - stuff may be sold to a company that the founders or anyone else is very objectionte to but they may have absolutely no say in the matter whether through no control in bankruptcy or simply not enough voting power with multiple interests. Makes you really think about contracts and other such sometimes, just because you trust this company and it's founders or leadership now doesn't mean you can trust them later if they lose control.
tyre 10y ago
We are a YC S16 company and will not take money from Peter Thiel. May not be the majority's opinion, but that seems irrelevant.
- potatosoup 10y ago
  That's an unusual stance for someone who is a CEO of a company for "rekindling passion for public service in millions of local government employees" and is worrisome. You wouldn't support people like these government employees to have freedom of political opinion?

achow 10y ago

"Peter Thiel, was already an investor but agreed to step up its support.." Looks like Thiel came to the rescue when Postmates was not able to raise fund from anywhere else. >I wonder if they would have raised from Thiel if they were in a position of strength, and had other options. Seems like Postmates did try raising from somewhere else first - at higher valuation perhaps, but maybe they were getting devalued?