5 ms·

I can bet, if YC had the stats for race/ethnicity amount who applied, we would be shocked of the amount of blacks or Latinos who were never accepted. Especially

I can bet, if YC had the stats for race/ethnicity amount who applied, we would be shocked of the amount of blacks or Latinos who were never accepted. Especially from the early days. Count me and a few other Hispanics who never have been accepted. The only time its cared about is after the fact and just for show purposes like this. On a side Note: Yc doesn't understand people like me will never have the resume they are looking for, but have the talent and drive. I could game the application process to get accepted. Because we know what you accept and its not just a race issue.

Grustaf 9y ago
Are you suggesting that YC rejects applicants because they are black or hispanic? Why would they do that? You seem to also say that they want to brag about accepting these ethnicities, so why then they discriminate _against_ them?
- rmena123 9y ago
  It's not that they reject them for being black or Hispanic, but look at the numbers, not just recent classes. It's a hot topic for companies to do the right thing now, its then they start to care. I don't think its done on purpose or with a hatred, but its an issue, look around.
  - Grustaf 9y ago
    Sorry, I don't follow you. So they are not discriminating against hispanics? What exactly is the issue?
    - rmena123 9y ago
      Someone wrote this above... I agree with. The decision of who to fund may rely in part on seeking people similar to oneself and if the demographics of the applicant pool are not reflected in the staff of YC it may skew the outcome against minorities.
      - Grustaf 9y ago
        So then you are saying they discriminate against e.g. Hispanics, but subconsciously, while at the same time consciously they want to show off how many hispanics they acccept. Well I suppose it's not impossible.
  - Grustaf 9y ago
    The numbers of accepted hispanics tells you nothing about that on it's own, you'd need to know how many hispanics apply. For women for example you can see from the numbers that there is no bias in the acceptance rate, the thing is that very few women apply. Could be the same for hispanics. I don't know what proportion of engineering students are hispanics but it's likely that as for women the underrepresentation starts already in school.
  - toephu2 9y ago
    See my comment above or I will paste again here: What evidence is there that proves an equal percentage of every race and gender leads to a more profitable company (or has a higher chance of a successful exit)?* *Because I assume that by listing "UNDERREPRESENTED FOUNDERS" YC wishes there were 50% female founders and 50% male founders? And what about the racial makeup of founders? Is the ideal world for YC a racial make up of 20% white, 20% black, 20% asian, 20% middle eastern, and 20% other?
Powerofmene 9y ago
>On a side Note: Yc doesn't understand people like me will never have the resume they are looking for, but have the talent and drive. I could game the application process to get accepted. Because we know what you accept and its not just a race issue. I would venture to guess that YC understands more than you think. How could you game the application process to get accepted and what purpose would it serve? Sure you could misrepresent who are the founders in the video but don't you think they would not at the interview, assuming you would be offered an interview?
- rmena123 9y ago
  Yes, you could game the application, but yes it wouldn't take you far, maybe an interview to tell them what I did. Which I wouldn't do.
  - Powerofmene 9y ago
    I guess my question would be ....game the application to what end? While you clarified that you would not game the application I would venture to guess that it has probably happened or at least been seriously contemplated by other applicants. It seems to me that this would certainly be a very unwise decision given that the YC community is very tight knit. I guess there are those who would hope that if just given the chance to be heard during the interview that YC would see the passion and determination but it seems like it would be a very unwise way to start what he/she hopes would be a long term relationship. As you said, the application could be gamed but I don't think it would be looked upon as a good move and given the number of applications that YC receives, such a move is a terrible waste of the YC screeners valuable time.
mwseibel 9y ago
If you truly believe this than I am sorry. If you are interested - feel free to email me: michael@ycombinator.com
- rmena123 9y ago
  I'll email you sometime and I appreciate the response. Just to set my example, how many staff at YC are black or Hispanic in the list below? I find it odd considering the amount of population of these groups in the USA alone. Not many startups cater to this demographic, if they aren't being accepted. http://www.ycombinator.com/people/ http://www.ycombinator.com/people/
  - SirLJ 9y ago
    You are a spot on bro, they are all talk and no action...
  - jacquesm 9y ago
    You may have a point. The decision of who to fund may rely in part on seeking people similar to oneself and if the demographics of the applicant pool are not reflected in the staff of YC it may skew the outcome against minorities.
    - TheSpiceIsLife 9y ago
      Why does the concept of free association stop, and the and the chilling effect of we can't be seen together without a representatives from every phenotype begin? When do we start to demand that Latino rap groups (eg. Cypress Hill) hire to meet diversity quotas?
      - jacquesm 9y ago
        It stops when you're large enough that statistically speaking you should have people of all walks of life in your portfolio. If you then don't that's proof that there is some kind of bias at work.
prawn 9y ago
I always get the impression that they make a particular effort to understand groups outside their typical applicants and look for opportunities in other countries and cultures. Surely there's every chance that your application isn't strong enough?
- jaypaulynice 9y ago
  I think there are some implicit bias. I've noticed that most black startups in accelerators cater to other black groups or hail mostly from Africa. If not being strong enough was a criteria then you could guarantee that every startup would succeed, but looking at a lot of accelerators, there is still a high rate of fail, so who is to say strong enough? I've also seen people you least expect to succeed often succeed and some that you would expect to succeed fail... Your best bet as a black/latinx founder is to be that outlier or build something for your own group...
- rmena123 9y ago
  By no means am I saying I should of been accepted. I'm actually saying the opposite, I don't fit the mold and probably lack many things, but I rather look at it as a whole. The truth is the staff at YC lack blacks or Hispanics. And just recently started accepting Hispanics and black founders out of a current trend/topic for tech companies to accept diversity. If it wasn't brought up, would YC have made it a point to accept more blacks or Hispanics/woman now? I think YC is great, but they don't get the fact that founders can have a horrible application or even look horrible on paper. Being an entrepreneur is not a cookie cut process, nor is business or anything else.
  - prawn 9y ago
    "And just recently started accepting Hispanics and black founders out of a current trend/topic for tech companies to accept diversity." This is either very poorly worded or unfairly incorrect. When have they not accepted black or Hispanic founders?! They might have attracted mostly white/Asian applicants, but they have never precluded any group. "...they don't get the fact that founders can have a horrible application or even look horrible on paper." Of course they get that fact. They often speak about how often they miss opportunities - it's not a charity and they can't pick every winner in advance. They don't just judge applicants on paper. They take a video, and they look at product traction and so on. They have people from all sorts of backgrounds showing it's not a cookie cutter process. But if you do a bad job at presenting/explaining yourself and your idea, there's every chance you'll have similar struggles pitching to investors and customers.

Grustaf 9y ago

Are you suggesting that YC rejects applicants because they are black or hispanic? Why would they do that? You seem to also say that they want to brag about accepting these ethnicities, so why then they discriminate _against_ them?

rmena123 9y ago
It's not that they reject them for being black or Hispanic, but look at the numbers, not just recent classes. It's a hot topic for companies to do the right thing now, its then they start to care. I don't think its done on purpose or with a hatred, but its an issue, look around.
- Grustaf 9y ago
  Sorry, I don't follow you. So they are not discriminating against hispanics? What exactly is the issue?
  - rmena123 9y ago
    Someone wrote this above... I agree with. The decision of who to fund may rely in part on seeking people similar to oneself and if the demographics of the applicant pool are not reflected in the staff of YC it may skew the outcome against minorities.
    - Grustaf 9y ago
      So then you are saying they discriminate against e.g. Hispanics, but subconsciously, while at the same time consciously they want to show off how many hispanics they acccept. Well I suppose it's not impossible.
- Grustaf 9y ago
  The numbers of accepted hispanics tells you nothing about that on it's own, you'd need to know how many hispanics apply. For women for example you can see from the numbers that there is no bias in the acceptance rate, the thing is that very few women apply. Could be the same for hispanics. I don't know what proportion of engineering students are hispanics but it's likely that as for women the underrepresentation starts already in school.
- toephu2 9y ago
  See my comment above or I will paste again here: What evidence is there that proves an equal percentage of every race and gender leads to a more profitable company (or has a higher chance of a successful exit)?* *Because I assume that by listing "UNDERREPRESENTED FOUNDERS" YC wishes there were 50% female founders and 50% male founders? And what about the racial makeup of founders? Is the ideal world for YC a racial make up of 20% white, 20% black, 20% asian, 20% middle eastern, and 20% other?

Powerofmene 9y ago

>On a side Note: Yc doesn't understand people like me will never have the resume they are looking for, but have the talent and drive. I could game the application process to get accepted. Because we know what you accept and its not just a race issue. I would venture to guess that YC understands more than you think. How could you game the application process to get accepted and what purpose would it serve? Sure you could misrepresent who are the founders in the video but don't you think they would not at the interview, assuming you would be offered an interview?

rmena123 9y ago
Yes, you could game the application, but yes it wouldn't take you far, maybe an interview to tell them what I did. Which I wouldn't do.
- Powerofmene 9y ago
  I guess my question would be ....game the application to what end? While you clarified that you would not game the application I would venture to guess that it has probably happened or at least been seriously contemplated by other applicants. It seems to me that this would certainly be a very unwise decision given that the YC community is very tight knit. I guess there are those who would hope that if just given the chance to be heard during the interview that YC would see the passion and determination but it seems like it would be a very unwise way to start what he/she hopes would be a long term relationship. As you said, the application could be gamed but I don't think it would be looked upon as a good move and given the number of applications that YC receives, such a move is a terrible waste of the YC screeners valuable time.

mwseibel 9y ago

If you truly believe this than I am sorry. If you are interested - feel free to email me: michael@ycombinator.com

rmena123 9y ago
I'll email you sometime and I appreciate the response. Just to set my example, how many staff at YC are black or Hispanic in the list below? I find it odd considering the amount of population of these groups in the USA alone. Not many startups cater to this demographic, if they aren't being accepted. http://www.ycombinator.com/people/ http://www.ycombinator.com/people/
- SirLJ 9y ago
  You are a spot on bro, they are all talk and no action...
- jacquesm 9y ago
  You may have a point. The decision of who to fund may rely in part on seeking people similar to oneself and if the demographics of the applicant pool are not reflected in the staff of YC it may skew the outcome against minorities.
  - TheSpiceIsLife 9y ago
    Why does the concept of free association stop, and the and the chilling effect of we can't be seen together without a representatives from every phenotype begin? When do we start to demand that Latino rap groups (eg. Cypress Hill) hire to meet diversity quotas?
    - jacquesm 9y ago
      It stops when you're large enough that statistically speaking you should have people of all walks of life in your portfolio. If you then don't that's proof that there is some kind of bias at work.

prawn 9y ago

I always get the impression that they make a particular effort to understand groups outside their typical applicants and look for opportunities in other countries and cultures. Surely there's every chance that your application isn't strong enough?

jaypaulynice 9y ago
I think there are some implicit bias. I've noticed that most black startups in accelerators cater to other black groups or hail mostly from Africa. If not being strong enough was a criteria then you could guarantee that every startup would succeed, but looking at a lot of accelerators, there is still a high rate of fail, so who is to say strong enough? I've also seen people you least expect to succeed often succeed and some that you would expect to succeed fail... Your best bet as a black/latinx founder is to be that outlier or build something for your own group...
rmena123 9y ago
By no means am I saying I should of been accepted. I'm actually saying the opposite, I don't fit the mold and probably lack many things, but I rather look at it as a whole. The truth is the staff at YC lack blacks or Hispanics. And just recently started accepting Hispanics and black founders out of a current trend/topic for tech companies to accept diversity. If it wasn't brought up, would YC have made it a point to accept more blacks or Hispanics/woman now? I think YC is great, but they don't get the fact that founders can have a horrible application or even look horrible on paper. Being an entrepreneur is not a cookie cut process, nor is business or anything else.
- prawn 9y ago
  "And just recently started accepting Hispanics and black founders out of a current trend/topic for tech companies to accept diversity." This is either very poorly worded or unfairly incorrect. When have they not accepted black or Hispanic founders?! They might have attracted mostly white/Asian applicants, but they have never precluded any group. "...they don't get the fact that founders can have a horrible application or even look horrible on paper." Of course they get that fact. They often speak about how often they miss opportunities - it's not a charity and they can't pick every winner in advance. They don't just judge applicants on paper. They take a video, and they look at product traction and so on. They have people from all sorts of backgrounds showing it's not a cookie cutter process. But if you do a bad job at presenting/explaining yourself and your idea, there's every chance you'll have similar struggles pitching to investors and customers.