9 ms·

Female Founders of Y Combinator’s Winter 2013 Class

44 points by dmor 14y ago

loganfrederick 14y ago
Typo in: "Grace Garey – Wasti". Should be Watsi.
- benatkin 14y ago
  It appears to have been fixed.
jpdoctor 14y ago
> As is the team’s “Food Wench” :facepalm: don’t get all up in arms Excellent. It's just marketing by using words that would otherwise be pejorative.
- parfe 14y ago
  I'm not sure Food Wench (servant) is in the same category as Marco Polo (worldwide trader), Dos Equis Guy(most interesting man in the world), and Jesse Pinkman (master cook).
- dmor 14y ago
  They've got a pirate theme going, get a sense of humor!
  - jpdoctor 14y ago
    Perhaps you've missed the sexist issue postings. Wench = OK, get funded. Dongle = Problem, lose job.
    - dmor 14y ago
      This is off topic, let's focus on the awesome women fundraising for their companies today at Demo Day.
    - saraid216 14y ago
      Are you, like, context-challenged or something?
      - jpdoctor 14y ago
        Yep. Must be. I didn't think people should lose their jobs over "dongle", but apparently there's a lot of trigger finger around.
        hurfdurferson 14y ago
        If it's any consolation, Adria got fired too. Anonymous griefers also DDoSed her personal blog, posted her phone number and address and those of her father online, and threatened her with rape and murder through multiple communications channels. Yes sir, it's pretty safe to be a guy in this industry right now, trigger fingers notwithstanding.
    - mindcrime 14y ago
      I'm pretty sure dmor is a woman... as such, unless you are as well, she's probably more tuned into issues around sexism facing women, than you are. And remember, not every reference to gender is automatically sexist. "Wench" is a word which is completely archaic in the modern world and almost never used in any context other than some reference to pirates / medieval times. To me, it seems like quite a stretch to try and paint this as sexism. But I'm a guy, so what do I know?
      - jpdoctor 14y ago
        > "Wench" is a word which is completely archaic in the modern world and almost never used in any context other than some reference to pirates / medieval times. Let's not whitewash, that's only half right: http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=wench http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=wench
- groby_b 14y ago
  It's actually not pejorative. (The term "wenching", however, is. Go English language! :) It's not the most fortunate choice of title, but given that they're trying to create a pirate context - I'm not sure it's worth getting too upset about. (And please, before somebody wants to throw sexism accusations my way, do check my posting history :) Edit: I stand corrected. If urbandictionary is your source of what language means, it is pejorative. Interesting. I wonder if Vanessa was even aware of that.
  - jpdoctor 14y ago
    It's actually not pejorative. (The term "wenching", however, is. Go English language! :) I've linked elsewhere: First defn from first hit on google: http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=wench http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=wench
    - mbrameld 14y ago
      When I type "define wench" in to Google I get this before the Urban Dictionary result: Noun A girl or young woman.
      - testing12341234 14y ago
        Unfortunately, you stopped short according to [0] wench (wnch) n. 1. A young woman or girl, especially a peasant girl. 2. A woman servant. 3. A wanton woman. intr.v. wenched, wench·ing, wench·es To consort or engage in sex with wanton women. Used of a man. [0] http://www.thefreedictionary.com/wench http://www.thefreedictionary.com/wench
        jack-r-abbit 14y ago
        and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wench http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wench: a historical British Modern English colloquial term for a lower class woman and/or promiscuous woman. Also in the 19th and early 20th centuries a term for a black woman, the male counterpart being "buck", both of which would be considered offensive and derogatory in modern times. and http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/wench http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/wench: a lewd woman : prostitute
ch4ch4 14y ago
Why are there no female engineers?
- benatkin 14y ago
  There is at least one, if I'm reading it correctly: Cindy Wu.
- beambot 14y ago
  Fei Deyle (CEO of Lollipuff & my wife) is an EE by training. Before Lollipuff, she was an regional sales director at a company selling electrical power SCADA software / hardware. She quit that job to do Lollipuff. Trust me... she's a hardcore engineer at heart -- she just loves fashion too.
- caseorganic 14y ago
  There are plenty out there, but the overwhelming majority of them are doing their job instead of talking about it.
areyoumental 14y ago
I don't care if they're female or not.
- mindcrime 14y ago
  I long for a day when this can be the worldview of most everybody... when we don't even have to care about gender differences, because we believe (rightly) that every individual is afford equal opportunity to do/be/build/dream/create as they see fit, without gender (or race, or religion or skin color, etc.) even entering into the equation. That said, we aren't in that world yet, so celebrating the accomplishments of female founders, and hoping they will serve as role models (or at least inspiration) for others who may feel disadvantaged or inhibited in some way, is probably a good thing.
- philtar 14y ago
  I was thinking of a way to say it without hurting any feelings and you did that perfectly. In Kuwait, people went through what the technology industry is going through now. People were so up in arms about women not being treated fairly that the women have been compensated so much people are complaining the other way around now. A man was running against a woman for a government position and his slogan against her was "Was she elected despite being a woman or because she is a woman?" That struck a chord with a lot of people and he annihilated her at the polls.
  - vowelless 14y ago
    I was in Kuwait for the 09 elections when women were first elected to the parliament. What was the incident you talk about? Additionally, high castes in India frequently complain about the government mandated reservations for low castes and other minorities (example, at the IIT [1]). I remember there was a year when the low caste positions went vacant just because they were reserved for them, while qualified high caste students were rejected. [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reservation_policy_in_Indian_Institutes_of_Technology http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reservation_policy_in_Indian_In...
- caseorganic 14y ago
  Thank you. I'm much more interested in 'people' in tech and interesting founders. What about the most interesting founders in the class? The most interesting 'people' in the class? So many people are excited about one kind of person in tech that they draw attention in the wrong way.
lanthe 14y ago
You missed me.
- dmor 14y ago
  I'm sorry Iolanthe, Vu let me know and I am going to update the post as soon as I can (just trying to keep the site up with 2 simultaneous front page stories at the moment). So sorry! Hey everyone, meet Iolanthe is CEO and cofounder of Swish.com - a YC W13 company that let's you pre-order products from all over the web.
whitehat2k9 14y ago
Number of females with an explicit mention of technical expertise: 0.
- deleted 14y ago
  [deleted]
- waterhouse 14y ago
  Taking "technical expertise" to mean "science, technology, engineering, and mathematics", and having nothing to do with art or psychology or anything else that could be dismissed by a certain type of person as "fuzzy": "Cindy is a transplant from Seattle, where she was previously a Research Scientist and Engineer @UW Bioengineering." --Seems to qualify. "Kelly was previously at Google as a UX design intern for YouTube and is currently Senior at Carnegie Mellon University double majoring in Human Computer Interaction and Industrial Design." --Borderline. I'm not sure whether UX design includes handling code or not; if so, it would definitely qualify; if not, it could be dismissed. "Prior to Goldbely Vanessa headed up UX and Visual Design at Blip.tv, and was a Senior Interactive Designer for Gilt Groupe. [...] Vanessa handles UI/UX and all things creative at Goldbely." --Again, if "UI/UX" includes handling code, that would seem to qualify; if not, maybe not. So it looks like 1 to 3, assuming you mean what I think you mean. [Edit: not originally included was this: "Iolanthe received her Masters of Engineering, EECS in 2010 from MIT and also holds a B.S., EECS, Physics from MIT." This brings the count up to 2-4 out of 10.]
  - jcr 14y ago
    Fei Deyle is an electrical engineer. So %50 are technical of the ones who are known. Two more are still in stealth mode.
- jquery 14y ago
  As a coder, why would you join one of these companies with non-technical founders instead of just building or co-founding your own product and collecting vastly more equity? I don't see the draw.
  - 14y ago
colmvp 14y ago
Looking forward to the meet x male African American and x male Hispanic American Founders of YC.
- dmor 14y ago
  I'd love to write those posts for you, but I believe it was 0 and 0 for this batch.
  - kclay 14y ago
    Maybe I should join next batch hehe
- rdl 14y ago
  There have been in previous batches, though (way more Hispanic background than African-American, though)
- joshguthrie 14y ago
  Again, "male"s, are you kidding me? But of course, I was expecting no less from the male-fuelled bro-powered testosterone world of HackerNews... Well, sexism won't lead you to more readers! (PS: Sarcasm.)
deleted 14y ago
[deleted]

44 points by dmor 14y ago

loganfrederick 14y ago

Typo in: "Grace Garey – Wasti". Should be Watsi.

benatkin 14y ago
It appears to have been fixed.

jpdoctor 14y ago

> As is the team’s “Food Wench” :facepalm: don’t get all up in arms Excellent. It's just marketing by using words that would otherwise be pejorative.

parfe 14y ago
I'm not sure Food Wench (servant) is in the same category as Marco Polo (worldwide trader), Dos Equis Guy(most interesting man in the world), and Jesse Pinkman (master cook).
dmor 14y ago
They've got a pirate theme going, get a sense of humor!
- jpdoctor 14y ago
  Perhaps you've missed the sexist issue postings. Wench = OK, get funded. Dongle = Problem, lose job.
  - dmor 14y ago
    This is off topic, let's focus on the awesome women fundraising for their companies today at Demo Day.
  - saraid216 14y ago
    Are you, like, context-challenged or something?
    - jpdoctor 14y ago
      Yep. Must be. I didn't think people should lose their jobs over "dongle", but apparently there's a lot of trigger finger around.
      - hurfdurferson 14y ago
        If it's any consolation, Adria got fired too. Anonymous griefers also DDoSed her personal blog, posted her phone number and address and those of her father online, and threatened her with rape and murder through multiple communications channels. Yes sir, it's pretty safe to be a guy in this industry right now, trigger fingers notwithstanding.
  - mindcrime 14y ago
    I'm pretty sure dmor is a woman... as such, unless you are as well, she's probably more tuned into issues around sexism facing women, than you are. And remember, not every reference to gender is automatically sexist. "Wench" is a word which is completely archaic in the modern world and almost never used in any context other than some reference to pirates / medieval times. To me, it seems like quite a stretch to try and paint this as sexism. But I'm a guy, so what do I know?
    - jpdoctor 14y ago
      > "Wench" is a word which is completely archaic in the modern world and almost never used in any context other than some reference to pirates / medieval times. Let's not whitewash, that's only half right: http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=wench http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=wench
groby_b 14y ago
It's actually not pejorative. (The term "wenching", however, is. Go English language! :) It's not the most fortunate choice of title, but given that they're trying to create a pirate context - I'm not sure it's worth getting too upset about. (And please, before somebody wants to throw sexism accusations my way, do check my posting history :) Edit: I stand corrected. If urbandictionary is your source of what language means, it is pejorative. Interesting. I wonder if Vanessa was even aware of that.
- jpdoctor 14y ago
  It's actually not pejorative. (The term "wenching", however, is. Go English language! :) I've linked elsewhere: First defn from first hit on google: http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=wench http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=wench
  - mbrameld 14y ago
    When I type "define wench" in to Google I get this before the Urban Dictionary result: Noun A girl or young woman.
    - testing12341234 14y ago
      Unfortunately, you stopped short according to [0] wench (wnch) n. 1. A young woman or girl, especially a peasant girl. 2. A woman servant. 3. A wanton woman. intr.v. wenched, wench·ing, wench·es To consort or engage in sex with wanton women. Used of a man. [0] http://www.thefreedictionary.com/wench http://www.thefreedictionary.com/wench
      - jack-r-abbit 14y ago
        and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wench http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wench: a historical British Modern English colloquial term for a lower class woman and/or promiscuous woman. Also in the 19th and early 20th centuries a term for a black woman, the male counterpart being "buck", both of which would be considered offensive and derogatory in modern times. and http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/wench http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/wench: a lewd woman : prostitute

ch4ch4 14y ago

Why are there no female engineers?

benatkin 14y ago
There is at least one, if I'm reading it correctly: Cindy Wu.
beambot 14y ago
Fei Deyle (CEO of Lollipuff & my wife) is an EE by training. Before Lollipuff, she was an regional sales director at a company selling electrical power SCADA software / hardware. She quit that job to do Lollipuff. Trust me... she's a hardcore engineer at heart -- she just loves fashion too.
caseorganic 14y ago
There are plenty out there, but the overwhelming majority of them are doing their job instead of talking about it.

areyoumental 14y ago

I don't care if they're female or not.

mindcrime 14y ago
I long for a day when this can be the worldview of most everybody... when we don't even have to care about gender differences, because we believe (rightly) that every individual is afford equal opportunity to do/be/build/dream/create as they see fit, without gender (or race, or religion or skin color, etc.) even entering into the equation. That said, we aren't in that world yet, so celebrating the accomplishments of female founders, and hoping they will serve as role models (or at least inspiration) for others who may feel disadvantaged or inhibited in some way, is probably a good thing.
philtar 14y ago
I was thinking of a way to say it without hurting any feelings and you did that perfectly. In Kuwait, people went through what the technology industry is going through now. People were so up in arms about women not being treated fairly that the women have been compensated so much people are complaining the other way around now. A man was running against a woman for a government position and his slogan against her was "Was she elected despite being a woman or because she is a woman?" That struck a chord with a lot of people and he annihilated her at the polls.
- vowelless 14y ago
  I was in Kuwait for the 09 elections when women were first elected to the parliament. What was the incident you talk about? Additionally, high castes in India frequently complain about the government mandated reservations for low castes and other minorities (example, at the IIT [1]). I remember there was a year when the low caste positions went vacant just because they were reserved for them, while qualified high caste students were rejected. [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reservation_policy_in_Indian_Institutes_of_Technology http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reservation_policy_in_Indian_In...
caseorganic 14y ago
Thank you. I'm much more interested in 'people' in tech and interesting founders. What about the most interesting founders in the class? The most interesting 'people' in the class? So many people are excited about one kind of person in tech that they draw attention in the wrong way.

lanthe 14y ago

You missed me.

dmor 14y ago
I'm sorry Iolanthe, Vu let me know and I am going to update the post as soon as I can (just trying to keep the site up with 2 simultaneous front page stories at the moment). So sorry! Hey everyone, meet Iolanthe is CEO and cofounder of Swish.com - a YC W13 company that let's you pre-order products from all over the web.

whitehat2k9 14y ago

Number of females with an explicit mention of technical expertise: 0.

deleted 14y ago
[deleted]
waterhouse 14y ago
Taking "technical expertise" to mean "science, technology, engineering, and mathematics", and having nothing to do with art or psychology or anything else that could be dismissed by a certain type of person as "fuzzy": "Cindy is a transplant from Seattle, where she was previously a Research Scientist and Engineer @UW Bioengineering." --Seems to qualify. "Kelly was previously at Google as a UX design intern for YouTube and is currently Senior at Carnegie Mellon University double majoring in Human Computer Interaction and Industrial Design." --Borderline. I'm not sure whether UX design includes handling code or not; if so, it would definitely qualify; if not, it could be dismissed. "Prior to Goldbely Vanessa headed up UX and Visual Design at Blip.tv, and was a Senior Interactive Designer for Gilt Groupe. [...] Vanessa handles UI/UX and all things creative at Goldbely." --Again, if "UI/UX" includes handling code, that would seem to qualify; if not, maybe not. So it looks like 1 to 3, assuming you mean what I think you mean. [Edit: not originally included was this: "Iolanthe received her Masters of Engineering, EECS in 2010 from MIT and also holds a B.S., EECS, Physics from MIT." This brings the count up to 2-4 out of 10.]
- jcr 14y ago
  Fei Deyle is an electrical engineer. So %50 are technical of the ones who are known. Two more are still in stealth mode.
jquery 14y ago
As a coder, why would you join one of these companies with non-technical founders instead of just building or co-founding your own product and collecting vastly more equity? I don't see the draw.
- 14y ago

colmvp 14y ago

Looking forward to the meet x male African American and x male Hispanic American Founders of YC.

dmor 14y ago
I'd love to write those posts for you, but I believe it was 0 and 0 for this batch.
- kclay 14y ago
  Maybe I should join next batch hehe
rdl 14y ago
There have been in previous batches, though (way more Hispanic background than African-American, though)
joshguthrie 14y ago
Again, "male"s, are you kidding me? But of course, I was expecting no less from the male-fuelled bro-powered testosterone world of HackerNews... Well, sexism won't lead you to more readers! (PS: Sarcasm.)

deleted 14y ago

[deleted]