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I've found that when there is some sort of disaster that hurts people and there's nothing I can do directly to fix things, it makes me feel better to at least g
by pg 14y ago
I've found that when there is some sort of disaster that hurts people and there's nothing I can do directly to fix things, it makes me feel better to at least go and help someone. I went to Watsi and funded a bunch of treatments after the Sandy Hook shootings too. It compensates in some way for random acts of violence to commit random acts of kindness.
- minimaxir 14y agoThat's not why the people of Twitter are upset. Everyone wants to see money given for relief. All of my Facebook/Twitter friends are asking for people to donate. However, there's a perceived conflict of interest in promoting one of your own portfolio companies as opposed to neutral charity institutions such as the Red Cross.
- pg 14y agoWatsi is not a portfolio company. They're a nonprofit we donated money to, not a company we invested in.
- minimaxir 14y agohttp://ycombinator.com/watsi.html http://ycombinator.com/watsi.html Per the announcement: Y Combinator is trying something new this batch: we're including a nonprofit along with the for-profit startups we're funding. Meet Watsi, where donors can fund medical treatments for people in need. [...] I've never been so excited about anything we've funded. If Watsi is not a portfolio company, that fact should be more explicit.
- pg 14y agoI'm not sure if you're including that quote because you think it contradicts what I said or reinforces it, but just in case it's the former: A portfolio company means a company that an investor has stock in, i.e. that is part of their portfolio of investments. We don't own any stock in Watsi. When we fund a for-profit startup, we trade money for stock. In Watsi's case, we simply gave them the money. A lot of people seem to have been confused about this. I feel like I've explained several times in HN threads that we have no financial interest in Watsi. We thought it was clever idea to start including nonprofits in YC, but it seems to have been such a left turn that it threw a lot of people off.
- minimaxir 14y ago@pg: That's a helpful explanation, because I was confused myself on the distinction. Unfortunately, Twitter users many not be aware.
- DanBC 14y agoThe 'contrarian opinion' is a problem that really needs fixing. Every time anyone says anything there's always someone who says "ZOMG!! You're a bad person". I find the hostile reaction to your tweet baffling. To be clear: constructive criticism is useful and valuable and desirable and all those other good words. But the level of harshness aimed at some things is just weird.
- pg 14y agoReputation is potential energy.