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You're right. To be honest, I am not too concerned with the state trying to prosecute me for having smoked a couple of joints in college. The state could try to

by Rod 18y ago

You're right. To be honest, I am not too concerned with the state trying to prosecute me for having smoked a couple of joints in college. The state could try to do it, but I don't see what it would gain exactly. I am more concerned about how confessing (hypothetically speaking) to have smoked weed in the past could harm my career in the future. For example, four friends of mine started a laser company after the dot-com crash in 2001. They needed $25 million of venture funding, and they got it. However, some (if not all) the VC firms hired private investigators to conduct a background check on my friends. The PI's researched and scrutinized their entire lives (both professional and personal). The PIs were so good at the job it was almost nauseating. Make no mistake about it, this kind of info can be used to find your weaknesses, and can be used against you. In fact, they used that info against my friends with devastating effects as soon as the company had some problems. It was not pretty.

jrockway 18y ago
So let's say your friends admitted to smoking weed, and the paranoid VCs pulled out. That just means some other VCs would have invested instead. (As another example, I have long hair. That means there are certain jobs that I probably couldn't get, as some companies have corporate policies against that. Do I care? No. I don't need those companies for anything.)
- Rod 18y ago
  "That just means some other VCs would have invested instead." I would say that would have worked if you wanted to build a software company. This was early 2001, the entire Tech bubble had just collapsed. It isn't very easy to find venture capital when you need tens of millions of dollars to afford world-class lasers, electronics and clean rooms. The scale and ambition of the project constrain you because there aren't many sources of venture capital of that magnitude. I don't have long hair, but I wouldn't want to work for a company who had a policy against it either. Such a policy would only make it clear that the company had the wrong values and priorities.

by Rod 18y ago

jrockway 18y ago

So let's say your friends admitted to smoking weed, and the paranoid VCs pulled out. That just means some other VCs would have invested instead. (As another example, I have long hair. That means there are certain jobs that I probably couldn't get, as some companies have corporate policies against that. Do I care? No. I don't need those companies for anything.)

Rod 18y ago
"That just means some other VCs would have invested instead." I would say that would have worked if you wanted to build a software company. This was early 2001, the entire Tech bubble had just collapsed. It isn't very easy to find venture capital when you need tens of millions of dollars to afford world-class lasers, electronics and clean rooms. The scale and ambition of the project constrain you because there aren't many sources of venture capital of that magnitude. I don't have long hair, but I wouldn't want to work for a company who had a policy against it either. Such a policy would only make it clear that the company had the wrong values and priorities.