5 ms·

"While we acknowledge that we are a partnership of six middle-aged white men, we have tried to be a positive force in support of women as entrepreneurs and vent

"While we acknowledge that we are a partnership of six middle-aged white men, we have tried to be a positive force in support of women as entrepreneurs and venture capitalists." I'm sorry. I have no doubt the Foundry Group partners are good people (I've met and liked a few of them) but this disclaimer simply doesn't fly. If you really want to stand up for gender equality in tech, hire more women into the partnership. That would do far more than another blog post with a set of commitments that dance around that.

tentakull 9y ago
Not sure why you're being downvoted. The proof is in the pudding, grandstanding about equality while lacking staff diversity seems more like marketing and insurance against an Uberesque downfall that would lose them money. "We deeply appreciate the bravery of the women who have publicly come forward and disclosed their specific issues of sexual harassment. The behavior they experienced is not ok, has never been ok, and will simply not be tolerated by us in any way." "That's not ok with us." LOL, I can hear the muffled echoes of smug boardroom back-pats from here. Really? "a [VC] partnership of six middle-aged white men" lauding female bravery. This would be so much more interesting if they acknowledged discrimination in the industry and held up their company as an example of that. America isn't 100% white middle-aged men now is it? I mean, how does that happen, I'm multiracial myself and the people I spitball company ideas with certainly aren't all male nor are they all the same ethnicity. The infantile, forceful, moralistic writing makes this all the worse.
- david38 9y ago
  You don't understand the difference between grandstanding and public support. That's why you don't understand how it's being downvoted.
  - tentakull 9y ago
    It was also rhetorical as the rest of my post was critical. Also looks like it went from - to +, so you can ignore that comment now.
david38 9y ago
So all those people who say they are gay allies but don't happen to employing gay people are full of shit? It absolutely flies. Just because YOU think they should be all or nothing doesn't mean they should. Maybe you should make a competing partnership and hire all women. Hiring is not the only way to show support. Public statements apply pressure to other groups, signal that this place is a good place for women to do business with, etc.
- s73ver 9y ago
  At the same time, hiring is one of the better ways to do it. And there is absolutely nothing stopping them from adding a female partner. Without them willing to do that, their words kinda ring hollow. I hope this action has positive impact, but it's hard to get my hopes up with this kind of environment.
- tentakull 9y ago
  Foundry Board: 6 white men, middle-aged Percentage of LGBTQ in U.S: 3.4% Percentage of women in U.S.: 50% LGBTQ individual that should be on board: 0.204 Percentage of women that should be on board: 3 Yea, they're full of shit. That's a 0% diversity score, so objectively they discriminate in employment. Like I said in my above post, I don't even understand (translated for you: It's fucking absurd) how this happens.

tentakull 9y ago

Not sure why you're being downvoted. The proof is in the pudding, grandstanding about equality while lacking staff diversity seems more like marketing and insurance against an Uberesque downfall that would lose them money. "We deeply appreciate the bravery of the women who have publicly come forward and disclosed their specific issues of sexual harassment. The behavior they experienced is not ok, has never been ok, and will simply not be tolerated by us in any way." "That's not ok with us." LOL, I can hear the muffled echoes of smug boardroom back-pats from here. Really? "a [VC] partnership of six middle-aged white men" lauding female bravery. This would be so much more interesting if they acknowledged discrimination in the industry and held up their company as an example of that. America isn't 100% white middle-aged men now is it? I mean, how does that happen, I'm multiracial myself and the people I spitball company ideas with certainly aren't all male nor are they all the same ethnicity. The infantile, forceful, moralistic writing makes this all the worse.

david38 9y ago
You don't understand the difference between grandstanding and public support. That's why you don't understand how it's being downvoted.
- tentakull 9y ago
  It was also rhetorical as the rest of my post was critical. Also looks like it went from - to +, so you can ignore that comment now.

david38 9y ago

So all those people who say they are gay allies but don't happen to employing gay people are full of shit? It absolutely flies. Just because YOU think they should be all or nothing doesn't mean they should. Maybe you should make a competing partnership and hire all women. Hiring is not the only way to show support. Public statements apply pressure to other groups, signal that this place is a good place for women to do business with, etc.

s73ver 9y ago
At the same time, hiring is one of the better ways to do it. And there is absolutely nothing stopping them from adding a female partner. Without them willing to do that, their words kinda ring hollow. I hope this action has positive impact, but it's hard to get my hopes up with this kind of environment.
tentakull 9y ago
Foundry Board: 6 white men, middle-aged Percentage of LGBTQ in U.S: 3.4% Percentage of women in U.S.: 50% LGBTQ individual that should be on board: 0.204 Percentage of women that should be on board: 3 Yea, they're full of shit. That's a 0% diversity score, so objectively they discriminate in employment. Like I said in my above post, I don't even understand (translated for you: It's fucking absurd) how this happens.