3 ms·

When you (the VC) say you want to help Black founders, and then do not respond to a Black founder while responding to a non-Black founder for the same product,

• pluto9 6y ago
  There were a hell of a lot of very relevant differences between the two founders, none which were their gender or race. The product is garbage either way, but garbage being pitched by someone with a track record of accomplishment and success makes no sense, so that might pique my curiosity enough to respond and see if there's a reasonable explanation for a bunch of obviously fraudulent reviews. The same product pitched by some random person with no qualifications or experience can reasonably be assumed to be spam like many similar pitches VCs receive. Credibility matters. This should not come as a surprise to anyone. And let's not forget that these people were from her husband's contact list. He very likely actually knows many of them. Of course they're going to open the email. I open emails from everyone I know in real life. It's rude not to, and I'm curious about what they want and what they're up to. I don't feel any such obligation or curiosity towards random strangers. Do you honestly believe that a VC that pledges to help black founders is obligated to respond to every black founder who emails them, even when doing so will obviously be a waste of their time? Furthermore, do you believe a founder who is obviously engaging in deceptive practices to trick investors even deserves the respect of a reply?