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This is a great question. It seems like it'd be difficult for YC to be neutral on such topics, considering they are actively pursuing pilot projects on things t

This is a great question. It seems like it'd be difficult for YC to be neutral on such topics, considering they are actively pursuing pilot projects on things that very left-wing, like a basic income. From the perspective of a non-profit, it's probably less likely because the argument is probably less "invest and see what thrives [so we can make money off anything that makes money]" and more "help craft the world in our image". While YC is, in general, pretty good about staying above the partisan fray (even if they do clearly prefer left-wing policies), I think they'd have a harder time supporting a non-profit whose beliefs and/or values they didn't feel properly aligned with their own. I'm not sure what the value proposition in that would be for them. Personally I'd be worried that YC would even accept a pro-Trump founder. It was nice that they didn't shun Thiel despite public pressure, but they did feel the need to write a blog post justifying his presence and disavowing his political beliefs. One has to wonder how far they'd be willing to go for a lowly founder whose tweets, Facebook posts, or HN comments didn't mesh with the party line.

Jach 10y ago
Wasn't this basically answered by the Pinboard fiasco a while back? (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11633517 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11633517) It wasn't really over left-wing/right-wing political differences but there was a clash.
- cookiecaper 10y ago
  Thanks for the link. I do vaguely remember seeing a controversy around that, but not really having the time to get into the threads. No one really knows what happened on the call between "kevin" (who I guess is important) and idlewords, but it does seems like they were quick to dismiss him. I could probably understand if they tried it for a month or so and it fell apart; it is true that some people have personality clashes that are not really worth the investment to overcome vs. having each party just move on independently, but he seems to expect a "connection" to materialize in a couple of minutes. That speaks to the bubble that these VC types end up believing to be reality, and unfortunately it means that a lot of people who aren't necessarily convinced that there's any reason they should be pitching a VC are written off as low-energy merely because they're being compared to all the sycophants who will say anything to get a check. The next question is whether someone being conservative, a Trump supporter, and/or both is enough to make the YC partners feel like they can't establish a "connection". One would hope that Thiel is proof to them that it is possible. The question is whether they'd give the benefit of the doubt to someone who doesn't already have billions of dollars.
  - koolba 10y ago
    > The next question is whether someone being conservative, a Trump supporter, and/or both is enough to make the YC partners feel like they can't establish a "connection". One would hope that Thiel is proof to them that it is possible. The question is whether they'd give the benefit of the doubt to someone who doesn't already have billions of dollars. I'm convinced they wouldn't. The various opinion pieces posted by sama made it pretty clear that they've got a particular agenda and the choices for YC applicants going forward are either 1) hop on the wagon, or 2) keep your beliefs to yourself.

Jach 10y ago

Wasn't this basically answered by the Pinboard fiasco a while back? (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11633517 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11633517) It wasn't really over left-wing/right-wing political differences but there was a clash.

cookiecaper 10y ago
Thanks for the link. I do vaguely remember seeing a controversy around that, but not really having the time to get into the threads. No one really knows what happened on the call between "kevin" (who I guess is important) and idlewords, but it does seems like they were quick to dismiss him. I could probably understand if they tried it for a month or so and it fell apart; it is true that some people have personality clashes that are not really worth the investment to overcome vs. having each party just move on independently, but he seems to expect a "connection" to materialize in a couple of minutes. That speaks to the bubble that these VC types end up believing to be reality, and unfortunately it means that a lot of people who aren't necessarily convinced that there's any reason they should be pitching a VC are written off as low-energy merely because they're being compared to all the sycophants who will say anything to get a check. The next question is whether someone being conservative, a Trump supporter, and/or both is enough to make the YC partners feel like they can't establish a "connection". One would hope that Thiel is proof to them that it is possible. The question is whether they'd give the benefit of the doubt to someone who doesn't already have billions of dollars.
- koolba 10y ago
  > The next question is whether someone being conservative, a Trump supporter, and/or both is enough to make the YC partners feel like they can't establish a "connection". One would hope that Thiel is proof to them that it is possible. The question is whether they'd give the benefit of the doubt to someone who doesn't already have billions of dollars. I'm convinced they wouldn't. The various opinion pieces posted by sama made it pretty clear that they've got a particular agenda and the choices for YC applicants going forward are either 1) hop on the wagon, or 2) keep your beliefs to yourself.