4 ms·
If you’re financially backing and providing direct hands on strategic guidance to an active and blatant scheme to commit securities fraud then you are doing som
by CPLX 4y ago
If you’re financially backing and providing direct hands on strategic guidance to an active and blatant scheme to commit securities fraud then you are doing something you should not be doing.
The previous sentence isn’t and shouldn’t be particularly controversial.
- jsjohnst 4y ago> If you’re financially backing and providing direct hands on strategic guidance to an active and blatant scheme to commit securities fraud then you are doing something you should not be doing. As you wrote it as a generic hypothetical, no, it’s not really controversial to me. If however you are meaning to say it as a passive aggressive way to accuse YC, yeah, it very much is controversial. To not be controversial (for me anyway), you’d need to meet some burden of proof with evidence. How much would be enough to meet that burden? I’m not sure at this moment, but as you’ve presented zero that I’ve seen, I think “more than zero” is a fair starting point.
- CPLX 4y agoBy definition, a “YC Company” is given hundreds of thousands of dollars and direct hands on strategic advice on how to run the company. That’s the meaning of the concept. The company in question has blatant securities fraud as their core business model. QED Here’s a logical construct in return. When people you like do unethical things they are still unethical.
- jsjohnst 4y agoI feel like there’s a lot of leaps in your “logical construct” there. First and foremost, did YC approve of this “core business model”? Sure, the founders got into YC, but did they pivot during the program (frequently happens)? And while YC may be on the board, they don’t have controlling interest either. So yeah, there’s a lot of scenarios where people “you know” and/or “partner with” do unethical things, but that fact alone doesn’t mean you are unethical. You very well could be, but guilt by association isn’t enough proof here imho.
- webmaven 4y agoIt isn't particularly controversial, but who is to say that the founders in question took the advice being given, or even showed up for the feedback sessions? Has anyone ever been kicked out of YC? Given the number of companies that have gone through the program, I'd be surprised if there wasn't at least one that completely ignored everything the founders didn't want to hear or do.
- nradov 4y agoYes companies have been kicked out of YC. I don't know whether these allegations are true and have no opinion on which party was in the right here. "Dark CEO Paul Biggar said YC booting him for tweeting about internal posts on skipping COVID-19 vaccine lines. Prolific CEO Katia Damer said she was cut after calling out misogyny by YC founders.“ https://www.businessinsider.com/ycombinator-katia-damer-paul-biggar-criticized-founders-vaccine-line-skipping-2021-6 https://www.businessinsider.com/ycombinator-katia-damer-paul... https://techcrunch.com/2021/06/09/does-what-happens-at-yc-stay-at-yc/ https://techcrunch.com/2021/06/09/does-what-happens-at-yc-st... https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27399581 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27399581
- webmaven 4y agoHmm. Both those cases seem to be more along the lines of "said/posted things that made YC look bad" rather than "kicked out for ghosting their mentor" or "kicked out for scamming their users"