Seems a lot of the newer YC bunch are playing dirty to win. pg encourages[1] this naughtiness, but I wonder if they sometimes go too far and what the recourse i

Seems a lot of the newer YC bunch are playing dirty to win. pg encourages[1] this naughtiness, but I wonder if they sometimes go too far and what the recourse is after brand damage like this and a major shunning from the very communities they're targeting for. Startups like Airbnb which have engaged in this sort of behavior are a little entrenched by now and have considerable traction, but for littler guys like Teevox, this is pretty strong stuff I'd imagine. pg obviously isn't going to micromanage every startup he funds every season, yet there's clearly a problem. edit: Then again, it could be argued these sorts of things are necessary in some cases to build traction. YC startups just need to learn to be better trolls and build up better, more believable stories. Or actually be more transparent in cases like this which don't involve divulging actual userbase yet (which is crucial in the case of something like Reddit, which had to do this in a sense. Who wants to use a dead/empty site?). The fake dude and all was unnecessary. Another small company in the same space (in this same thread) was more transparent about it all and this was appreciated by the targeted market and gave them good karma and brand value in the minds of readers who'll stumble across the name again and again. edit again: also some commenters on Reddit have pointed out other shady tactics including blocking jtv ads which are the income source for jtv and the players, as well as soliciting donations under the guise of the heroic lone coder giving back to the community...which turns out to be a violation of Paypal TOS. Redditors have already reported them for this. [1] http://paulgraham.com/founders.html http://paulgraham.com/founders.html