7 ms·

Hundreds of Startups Tell Investors: Diversify, or Keep Your Money

17 points by thisisit 9y ago

zomg 9y ago
founders for change is yet another example of today's "do as i say, not as i do" attitude. look at the list of companies these founders are from... i'm sure nearly all are funded by "old white guys" (a term so loosely and arrogantly used today). if a startup is dumb enough to pass on a round of funding because there isn't "diversity" within the investment group, they aren't worth investing in anyway. have people forgotten that VC's are in the money making business? come on folks, get real.
- T2_t2 9y ago
  I worry more about this blending of life, work and passion into one miasma that is supposed to be consistent and all-encompassing, all the time. Used to be, we had a work life, a private life, friends and activities that more or less never interacted. Now it seems people want all the above, all the time, every minute of every day. Google runs the workplace like they are mum and dad, and everyone wants work to solve all their life's meaning, rather than providing a living so we can find meaning elsewhere. This blending of all facets of our lives is partly why privacy is so skew-if (as we broadcast all the time), and why it is so hard for people of differing views to seemingly get along. In my darker moments, I think a lot of the progressive stuff is a conspiracy by business to make everyone want to work 12 hour days - this idea is not helped by books like Lean In, or the way many modern workplaces invent ways to keep you at work longer and longer. In my less dark moments, I think good ideals have been co-opted or money making purposes, which is kind of how life seems to work. All this leads to ideas like this, where people not only can't separate different elements in life from their life, but demand that all elements of their life conform to their pre-set ideals. I'm not sure who wins long-run between the VCs and the startups in a situation like this, but the long run affects of this blending of life into one thing, well I'm just not sure the animal that is a human being really benefits from it at all. I really wish we could re-seperate out the spheres of our life, and not expect work to provide all our meaning, or provide all of the solutions. I wish instead that we could have a work life and a, for want of a better term, life-life, and (rarely?) the twain shall meet.
whb07 9y ago
This is such a weird way to virtue signal. What’s worse is that they believe they are in a position of power to be able to insinuate such things. How about they actually become outright superstars and then provide a road map for others like themselves? Get to the level of national notoriety and success before you start telling others how awesome you are in a startup that is likely to fail. Do you think the kids in Liberty City, Chicago, NYC know what a VC, startup, or much less those people from the article are? No they don’t know. Want to see a good spokesperson for hard working Hispanics ? Checkout A-Rod who’s always talking about his mom working hard and himself trying and failing and trying again. Kids can see him on Shark Tank tell his story and success. Not some virtue signaling nobody living in whacky world SV.
gohbgl 9y ago
A bunch of racists who feel morally superior.
maxsilver 9y ago
Startups may want to rethink what they are asking for here. They are demanding investors discriminate in their employment practices based on race/color/gender, which is both unethical and explicitly illegal by US employment law - https://www.eeoc.gov/laws/types/race_color.cfm https://www.eeoc.gov/laws/types/race_color.cfm Note that discrimination in employment is illegal even if you are discriminating against white people - "Title VII prohibits race/color discrimination against all persons, including Caucasians." - https://www.eeoc.gov/eeoc/publications/fs-race.cfm https://www.eeoc.gov/eeoc/publications/fs-race.cfm
mankash666 9y ago
Oh fuck off. Money has no race - and I say this as a minority. Further, if you're really in a position to turn down investment based on diversity of the investors (which is a made up reason), you've already probably made it.
zombieprocesses 9y ago
I worked for a NYC startup that was eventually bought out. Nobody cared about the VC and their hiring practices. We were busy working 24/7 to get the business profitable and we wanted investment to grow the business, hire more people, move to a bigger office, etc. Is there this much money slushing around that startups are now mocking investors? There are nearly 20,000 startups. Does that mean 19000+ startups told investors to "not diversify and give us your money"? Every day, the media disappoints me.
lopmotr 9y ago
I wonder when/if Asians (incl. Indians) will start to be recognized as being in a disproportionate majority or too-large minority in tech companies. Then, will diversity activists be demanding that companies hire fewer Asians and more white people? Somehow they've been ignored in most of these stories. I suppose because they don't fit the popular believe of white racism?
- fatjokes 9y ago
  Um... They already are. That's why the term "underrepresented" got prefixed to minority.

17 points by thisisit 9y ago

zomg 9y ago

founders for change is yet another example of today's "do as i say, not as i do" attitude. look at the list of companies these founders are from... i'm sure nearly all are funded by "old white guys" (a term so loosely and arrogantly used today). if a startup is dumb enough to pass on a round of funding because there isn't "diversity" within the investment group, they aren't worth investing in anyway. have people forgotten that VC's are in the money making business? come on folks, get real.

T2_t2 9y ago
I worry more about this blending of life, work and passion into one miasma that is supposed to be consistent and all-encompassing, all the time. Used to be, we had a work life, a private life, friends and activities that more or less never interacted. Now it seems people want all the above, all the time, every minute of every day. Google runs the workplace like they are mum and dad, and everyone wants work to solve all their life's meaning, rather than providing a living so we can find meaning elsewhere. This blending of all facets of our lives is partly why privacy is so skew-if (as we broadcast all the time), and why it is so hard for people of differing views to seemingly get along. In my darker moments, I think a lot of the progressive stuff is a conspiracy by business to make everyone want to work 12 hour days - this idea is not helped by books like Lean In, or the way many modern workplaces invent ways to keep you at work longer and longer. In my less dark moments, I think good ideals have been co-opted or money making purposes, which is kind of how life seems to work. All this leads to ideas like this, where people not only can't separate different elements in life from their life, but demand that all elements of their life conform to their pre-set ideals. I'm not sure who wins long-run between the VCs and the startups in a situation like this, but the long run affects of this blending of life into one thing, well I'm just not sure the animal that is a human being really benefits from it at all. I really wish we could re-seperate out the spheres of our life, and not expect work to provide all our meaning, or provide all of the solutions. I wish instead that we could have a work life and a, for want of a better term, life-life, and (rarely?) the twain shall meet.

whb07 9y ago

This is such a weird way to virtue signal. What’s worse is that they believe they are in a position of power to be able to insinuate such things. How about they actually become outright superstars and then provide a road map for others like themselves? Get to the level of national notoriety and success before you start telling others how awesome you are in a startup that is likely to fail. Do you think the kids in Liberty City, Chicago, NYC know what a VC, startup, or much less those people from the article are? No they don’t know. Want to see a good spokesperson for hard working Hispanics ? Checkout A-Rod who’s always talking about his mom working hard and himself trying and failing and trying again. Kids can see him on Shark Tank tell his story and success. Not some virtue signaling nobody living in whacky world SV.

gohbgl 9y ago

A bunch of racists who feel morally superior.

maxsilver 9y ago

Startups may want to rethink what they are asking for here. They are demanding investors discriminate in their employment practices based on race/color/gender, which is both unethical and explicitly illegal by US employment law - https://www.eeoc.gov/laws/types/race_color.cfm https://www.eeoc.gov/laws/types/race_color.cfm Note that discrimination in employment is illegal even if you are discriminating against white people - "Title VII prohibits race/color discrimination against all persons, including Caucasians." - https://www.eeoc.gov/eeoc/publications/fs-race.cfm https://www.eeoc.gov/eeoc/publications/fs-race.cfm

mankash666 9y ago

Oh fuck off. Money has no race - and I say this as a minority. Further, if you're really in a position to turn down investment based on diversity of the investors (which is a made up reason), you've already probably made it.

zombieprocesses 9y ago

I worked for a NYC startup that was eventually bought out. Nobody cared about the VC and their hiring practices. We were busy working 24/7 to get the business profitable and we wanted investment to grow the business, hire more people, move to a bigger office, etc. Is there this much money slushing around that startups are now mocking investors? There are nearly 20,000 startups. Does that mean 19000+ startups told investors to "not diversify and give us your money"? Every day, the media disappoints me.

lopmotr 9y ago

I wonder when/if Asians (incl. Indians) will start to be recognized as being in a disproportionate majority or too-large minority in tech companies. Then, will diversity activists be demanding that companies hire fewer Asians and more white people? Somehow they've been ignored in most of these stories. I suppose because they don't fit the popular believe of white racism?

fatjokes 9y ago
Um... They already are. That's why the term "underrepresented" got prefixed to minority.