4 ms·

I remember YC stating that they will "forfeit" (probably not the right legal term) their shares in companies that turn out to do unethical things. Now, let's se

by shafyy 4y ago

I remember YC stating that they will "forfeit" (probably not the right legal term) their shares in companies that turn out to do unethical things. Now, let's see if they stick to their principles.

nrmitchi 4y ago
“Forfeiting” shares in a company that has raised a couple million and funding and lost $42M in user funds seems like a bit of an empty gesture from YC
- shafyy 4y ago
  Of course. But I bet they're still not going to do it...
  - jacquesm 4y ago
    They stayed in Installmonetizer and Scribd afaict.
    - RF_Savage 4y ago
      Scribd at least was interesting. I wonder if it has any future as a platform for selling documents and articles.
- josu 4y ago
  Backstopping those losses would be the right thing to do.
blitzar 4y ago
> I remember YC stating that they will "forfeit" their shares in companies that turn out to do unethical things. Shares in a company are typically "forfeit" when the company you invested in goes bust. While its a nice virtue signalling headline - giving up something worth 0 (only not worth a large negative number as shares are limited in liability) is not at all noble.
- shafyy 4y ago
  Sure, but if I remember correctly they said that they would give the shares back for free or something. So even if the unethical company didn't go bust but exited, they wouldn't get any cash.
  - ALittleLight 4y ago
    Wouldn't that create an incentive for successful companies to be unethical?
    - patrickaljord 4y ago
      I don't think YC would ever forfeit their shares from a successful company.
      - webmaven 4y ago
        It would be an interesting side bet, wouldn't it?
    - blitzar 4y ago
      Hey YC that 25mil you paid for 20% of my company, its 0% now caus I am unethical.
gadders 4y ago
I think for "forfeit" you can substitute "cut them loose".