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As a founder, with due respect, why you don't do anything about it? I think they are good ideas. So how is that you expect someone else to do the work for you?

As a founder, with due respect, why you don't do anything about it? I think they are good ideas. So how is that you expect someone else to do the work for you? As a founder I know how hard is to make an idea a reality, and my ideas had relative success(I managed to get things done and most people look to me now like "all I have was given" to me, or that what I created was obvious and easy, as it is obvious now, but the same person was arguing to me how it "was never going to work" in the past). Most people are not that lucky, but they try anyway. So if you care about this, why you don't take action? You expect someone else, who is a man (and does not care, there are more urgent problems to them), to do something you should be doing in my opinion. The "frat house" is working very well and there is no reason to change what works. Different systems could work, but with different people, and different focus. You could start working on this. It is impossible to do it alone, but organizing with others there is nothing imposible.

ericabiz 13y ago
> As a founder, with due respect, why you don't do anything about it? There's a difference between "good idea" and "marketable business." As founders, we have to make that distinction. I'd like to see YC do blind interviews because I think it's a good idea for them to do so. I am not working on that myself because I can't see that good idea, in and of itself, turning into a business--a product a company could replicate and sell to others. Perhaps other founders have the necessary domain expertise to turn something like what I suggested into a replicable, marketable business. If so, I support them in doing so. > So if you care about this, why you don't take action? I did. I took time away from my business to write this comment and make a suggestion. I hope YC takes it into account. I think it would make an awesome experiment for them. > The "frat house" is working very well and there is no reason to change what works. I suspect this might have been your real point. Sure, YC has worked well...but could it work better? Those are the questions we as hackers ask all the time. I think it's worth a shot to try something different and unique that could work even better than the status quo. Given the popularity of my comment here, I'm not the only one who thinks so. We'll see if YC (or any other accelerator) runs with this suggestion!
- girvo 13y ago
  The issue arises when it comes to defining "better"...
tesseractive 13y ago
> The "frat house" is working very well and there is no reason to change what works. Different systems could work, but with different people, and different focus. Yes. Y Combinator could very well decide that their current process is offputting to women, but that it is so successful that they don't care, and that they're perfectly happy to keep doing what they're doing even if it effectively excludes women. But if this is the case, then their only two options are to lie about it or to stand up in public and say that they don't care about including women. The former has significant risk as a long-term strategy, and the latter is a PR debacle that could negatively impact their ability to attract a significant percentage of male founders -- which is to say, anyone who cares about gender equality.

ericabiz 13y ago

> As a founder, with due respect, why you don't do anything about it? There's a difference between "good idea" and "marketable business." As founders, we have to make that distinction. I'd like to see YC do blind interviews because I think it's a good idea for them to do so. I am not working on that myself because I can't see that good idea, in and of itself, turning into a business--a product a company could replicate and sell to others. Perhaps other founders have the necessary domain expertise to turn something like what I suggested into a replicable, marketable business. If so, I support them in doing so. > So if you care about this, why you don't take action? I did. I took time away from my business to write this comment and make a suggestion. I hope YC takes it into account. I think it would make an awesome experiment for them. > The "frat house" is working very well and there is no reason to change what works. I suspect this might have been your real point. Sure, YC has worked well...but could it work better? Those are the questions we as hackers ask all the time. I think it's worth a shot to try something different and unique that could work even better than the status quo. Given the popularity of my comment here, I'm not the only one who thinks so. We'll see if YC (or any other accelerator) runs with this suggestion!

girvo 13y ago
The issue arises when it comes to defining "better"...

tesseractive 13y ago

> The "frat house" is working very well and there is no reason to change what works. Different systems could work, but with different people, and different focus. Yes. Y Combinator could very well decide that their current process is offputting to women, but that it is so successful that they don't care, and that they're perfectly happy to keep doing what they're doing even if it effectively excludes women. But if this is the case, then their only two options are to lie about it or to stand up in public and say that they don't care about including women. The former has significant risk as a long-term strategy, and the latter is a PR debacle that could negatively impact their ability to attract a significant percentage of male founders -- which is to say, anyone who cares about gender equality.