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People can make up whatever motivation they want if they feel slighted. All it takes is for the female founder to ascribe sexism to the VC when he suggests swap

People can make up whatever motivation they want if they feel slighted. All it takes is for the female founder to ascribe sexism to the VC when he suggests swapping CEOs, and you've got the entire media circus on your neck. And then people stop being rational actors when mob mentality kicks in.

igorkraw 6y ago
Well if that was the case where are all the horror stories? With the acceptance rates of startups at VC pitches etc., shouldn't we be expecting a lot of VCs being hounded with allegations of sexism and the media circus going amok? How is YC still in business given their acceptance rates?
- carmen_sandiego 6y ago
  > Well if that was the case where are all the horror stories? Pre-empted by the abundance of caution described in the article? It's not a very deep game, so I assume the strategy in question is readily apparent to almost any man in such a position.
  - igorkraw 6y ago
    Isn't that circular logic? Everyone is afraid of something bad happens, so everyone censors themselves way too much...but it's somehow still so well known that it would happen?
    - carmen_sandiego 6y ago
      I don't think so... you can predict things won't go well without necessarily having observed exactly the same thing in the exact same context. E.g. I'm sure tourist issues when travelling to North Korea are vanishingly rare, and yet I bet I'm pretty good at guessing what not to do. You can glean that kind of thing from the totality of your experiences and knowledge without necessarily testing it. That's not to say I wouldn't be over-cautious or that I'd be a perfect predictor, but that's just about the looming cost of a false negative. I don't think it's rationally faulty or circular to just act in a self-preserving and overcautious way.
      - igorkraw 6y ago
        But in this thread people have repeatedly explained to me that no matter what you say, people can and will accuse you...so why do we not hear more about rejected female, black etc. entrepeneurs calling down the PC mob on VCs that rejected them? Or at least attempting to?
    - terminal_object 6y ago
      No, there's no circular logic. What does it mean "but it's somehow still so well known that it would happen?". All one needs is a non-negligible probability that it would, since the payoff from criticising isn't usually stellar.
- krageon 6y ago
  > where are all the horror stories If you talk about this (either as a personal thing or something you've seen happen to someone else) you will get crucified, basically anywhere. It doesn't take a whole lot of extrapolating to see why there are no horror stories.

igorkraw 6y ago

Well if that was the case where are all the horror stories? With the acceptance rates of startups at VC pitches etc., shouldn't we be expecting a lot of VCs being hounded with allegations of sexism and the media circus going amok? How is YC still in business given their acceptance rates?

carmen_sandiego 6y ago
> Well if that was the case where are all the horror stories? Pre-empted by the abundance of caution described in the article? It's not a very deep game, so I assume the strategy in question is readily apparent to almost any man in such a position.
- igorkraw 6y ago
  Isn't that circular logic? Everyone is afraid of something bad happens, so everyone censors themselves way too much...but it's somehow still so well known that it would happen?
  - carmen_sandiego 6y ago
    I don't think so... you can predict things won't go well without necessarily having observed exactly the same thing in the exact same context. E.g. I'm sure tourist issues when travelling to North Korea are vanishingly rare, and yet I bet I'm pretty good at guessing what not to do. You can glean that kind of thing from the totality of your experiences and knowledge without necessarily testing it. That's not to say I wouldn't be over-cautious or that I'd be a perfect predictor, but that's just about the looming cost of a false negative. I don't think it's rationally faulty or circular to just act in a self-preserving and overcautious way.
    - igorkraw 6y ago
      But in this thread people have repeatedly explained to me that no matter what you say, people can and will accuse you...so why do we not hear more about rejected female, black etc. entrepeneurs calling down the PC mob on VCs that rejected them? Or at least attempting to?
  - terminal_object 6y ago
    No, there's no circular logic. What does it mean "but it's somehow still so well known that it would happen?". All one needs is a non-negligible probability that it would, since the payoff from criticising isn't usually stellar.
krageon 6y ago
> where are all the horror stories If you talk about this (either as a personal thing or something you've seen happen to someone else) you will get crucified, basically anywhere. It doesn't take a whole lot of extrapolating to see why there are no horror stories.