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Y Combinator Female Founders Conference LiveStream
- facepalm 13y ago"Unfortunately, this video is not available in Germany because it may contain music for which GEMA has not granted the respective music rights." (Quote YouTube)
- namenotrequired 13y agoThis link works for me from the Netherlands: http://www.livestream.com/femalefounders http://www.livestream.com/femalefounders
- zem 13y agoseldom has your username been more appropriate
- namenotrequired 13y agoFor those who wouldn't click cause it's "Female Founders" - so far it's been just as inspiring as Startup School (even for me as a man).
- zbruhnke 13y agoAgreed! been watching the entire thing so far
- semerda 13y agoDitto. Some great speakers and great nuggets of education! Watching it now :-)
- kmfrk 13y ago>For those who wouldn't click cause it's "Female Founders" - so far it's been just as inspiring as Startup School (even for me as a man). ?!
- namenotrequired 13y agoDo you have a question?
- igravious 13y agoAh, you may not be acquainted with English punctuation. The ? (question mark) and ! (exclamation point) when combined so ?! usually denotes (connotes?) baffled incredulity[0] or something similar. [0] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exclamation_mark http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exclamation_mark From good ol' Wiki P, "The exclamation mark is sometimes used in conjunction with the question mark. This can be in protest or astonishment ("Out of all places, the squatter-camp?!"); a few writers replace this with a single, nonstandard punctuation mark, the interrobang, which is the combination of a question mark and an exclamation point." ps: when Wiki P says 'a few' here please read 'hardly any'.
- namenotrequired 13y agoThanks a lot for explaining! The same is true in Dutch, perhaps I should have phrased my question as "what surprises you?".
- igravious 13y agoHey, no problem. Your initial statement struck me as a little odd too. I wouldn't have used quite so terse (?!) a response to you because HN etiquette frowns upon it - even though some cases (like perhaps this one) may warrant it. >For those who wouldn't click cause it's "Female Founders" - so far it's been just as inspiring as Startup School (even for me as a man). I'm not going to put words into your mouth. Can you explain what you meant by this using a different set of words?
- Jun8 13y agoWho do you think wouldn't click? This sort of condescending underestimation of the HN crowd just amazes me! As expected, it's currently #1 on HN.
- Ambrosia 13y agoI guess you haven't seen the normal shit that comes up whenever people try to encourage women to do stuff.
- Jun8 13y agoNope, this is in fact one of the topics that I feel strongly (and try to work on with high school prog teams). Yet, I feel there's a bit of hysteresis effect on that discussion, with HN flooded with such posts. Most of the "normal shit" on HN you refer to stems from the above. This one is quite different though, it's actually about female founders, not just targeting girls for coding.
- jonalmeida 13y agoNot true, I didn't click the link because I feared it was about getting more female founders in development. After reading namenotrequired's comment I clicked.
- Crake 13y agoYeah, same. :/ Funny, isn't? All the Adria Richards of the world claiming to want to increase the exposure of women in tech are actively discouraging exactly that.
- jonalmeida 13y agoIt's an interesting point. I think it's discouraging young male entrepreneurs. Hacker School has special funding for women wanting to apply and while I consciously ignore this, sub-consciously, I feel that I have a less likely chance of getting in so why bother applying.
- Crake 13y agoI usually don't bother with links to things that are phrased in such a way as to suggest support of segregationist policies. I don't care about women in tech. I care about people in tech.
- nilved 13y agoAwesome! That's why you support women in tech and the female founder thought, right? Because that's how _people_ get in to tech?
- Dewie 13y agoHave you stopped beating your wife?
- JensenDied 13y agoMu.
- dandrews 13y agoProblem is, Crake, we're doing something wrong. Three years I went to Conj, and the first year there were -zero- women attendees out of 300. Second year it was -three- attendees out of 300. Third year it was eight or nine. I don't know what Lynn and company managed to attract last year. The people attending Conj are bright, well-spoken, polite. I didn't meet a jerk in three years, a crowd I was proud to be seen with. But WHERE WERE THE WOMEN? What is going on here? We must do something. I don't know what. I'll agree with you that exclusionary events are counterproductive, but I can't see the harm in recognizing successful women who can show us how it's done.
- baddox 13y ago> Problem is, Crake, we're doing something wrong. And perhaps the support of segregationist policies is the thing we're doing wrong.
- 13y ago
- neilk 13y agoAgreed. I saw someone post the link on Twitter, and it was very interesting. Skipped back to the beginning and Adora Cheung's story (HomeJoy) just blew me away.
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- Osaka 13y agoQ the electric club music for the break! Really good talk though.
- drdeadringer 13y agoGranted I haven't met very many male SWE members... in fact none... ... but I'm amazed and saddened that this headline has gotten this far due to popular demand. "Please dear lord see how I and my company aren't sexist by watching this live-stream of our going over specifically-female founders".
- ispivey 13y agoThis is probably a new HN record in mistakenly ascribing bad intentions, which is pretty impressive. Perhaps people are interested in watching some awesome founders speak.
- drdeadringer 13y ago> people are interested in watching some awesome founders speak Agreed.
- jlukanta 13y agoI wonder if anyone kept a note of the speeches?
- deleted 13y ago[deleted]
- namenotrequired 13y ago"Female Founders" is the title of the conference.
- jbeja 13y agoI should have noticed since the title is all capitlize.
- beambot 13y agoTo all the people kvetching in the comments... this is the live stream for "YC's Female Founders Conference" [1]. That's why "female" is in the post title. I'm an ardent supporter of the effort, and I hope (much like startup school) that YC is able to make it into an annual event! Very inspiring! Also, my wife is in attendance. I look forward to hearing her reactions later tonight. If the live stream is any indicator, it looks like a really great event. [1] http://blog.ycombinator.com/announcing-the-female-founders-conference http://blog.ycombinator.com/announcing-the-female-founders-c...
- cheez 13y agoWhat if only 10% of women are interested in working in tech but 20% of men are interested? (Random numbers not based in reality). Does a 50/50 split make sense? My personal experience is that there are fewer Black and Hispanic high tech workers than pretty much any other demographic, including women, if you get out of the big cities. I wish the answers were clearer, but all I can say is that if women are actually discriminated against, then giving them their own space is OK. For those who hire, do you pay women developers less than male developers of the same skill level? I'd wager the answer is "no".
- magicalist 13y agoWhat in the world does this have to do with the event or the parent comment? Do people really have no level of self-introspection to the fact that you're the one making the conversation about this? That your immediate response is to this instead of the actual content, and yet you feel compelled to share it with the world? Nobody owes you a conference without the word "female" in the name, or one not featuring female founders speaking about their successes and failures. Get over it.
- cheez 13y agoWait, what? The parent was the one who emphasized "female" and associated it with "kvetching". I was more thinking out loud in the first bit, and then agreed with his point. Unbunch your panties, Internet person. I suspect they will give you a heart attack.
- staticelf 13y agoI dislike the fact that females get a lot more attention because of their gender. If you want true equality you've to start treating everybody as equals and giving extra space for some just doesn't cut it. I see this all the time in my country (I don't know if this is the case here) but females get a lot more attention in basically all areas of society and I don't think much good can come from that. Well, I guess I'm just trying to write as a man in the extremely feministic country of Sweden I kind of feel left out and viewed as "not as important" as the counter gender. Since I am quite young and the feministic views here just has grown stronger with the years, this feeling has grown on me since I started elementary school. Now in my twenties, I don't think it's that weird I think feminism is possibly one of the worst phenomenas in my country and the world in general.
- onmydesk 13y agoFundamentally its irrational. And I note comments like this are voted down without any rational response to the perfectly valid points made. I dislike sexism and am alarmed at its acceptance.
- deleted 13y ago[deleted]
- dandrews 13y agostaticelf, most of us here want that "true equality" that you refer to. But the unassailable fact of the matter is that we don't have it today. Look around you: assuming you're in IT, unless you work in a truly remarkable place men considerably outnumber women. We (and I mean the egalitarian "we") have to do something about that. I'd welcome your suggestion. But "start treating everybody as equals" is a goal, and not very prescriptive. How do we get from point A to point B? (I upvoted you because your discourse is reasoned and polite.)
- onmydesk 13y ago"men considerably outnumber women. We (and I mean the egalitarian "we") have to do something about that." Why? What is that evidence of? You assume sexism presumably. Men and women are different and have predispositions to excel in different areas. You know what would be really weird? A 50/50 split. Why is that the definition of correct? Why are so few people rational about this?
- female_founder 13y agoLooks like a great event. Somewhat ironically, I'm a female founder and had an invite to do go, but couldn't go due to childcare.
- sunir 13y agoI don't think that's a gendered issue. It's hard to be a founder and raise kids at the same time. Kids are a startup--a human startup. Good luck!
- frankdenbow 13y agoHas been a great set of speakers so far. I connect most with Elli's experiences fighting through all the "No"'s founders receive to get to the point of fully believing what you are doing is going to work if executed as you understand it.
- deleted 13y ago[deleted]
- onmydesk 13y agoWhen is the blue eyed founders conference? The left handed? Its an interesting watch for sure but what the hell. Pandering to a fashionable discrimination. When we all get over this as a society we'll be shaking our heads at it.
- danielha 13y agoReplace "female" with "European founders." Would it still make sense? Is it ok to hold a conference for a demographic with common challenges and opportunities -- rooted in the fact they're from Europe? You're sad.
- facepalm 13y agoI suppose it would make sense to educate founders from Europe about legal issues, cultural differences that make trip up in the US and stuff like that. The female founders conference doesn't seem to be about "how to better get along with men", though.
- arbutus 13y agoI didn't know left handed people faced regular discrimination and sexual harassment.
- Rajiv_N 13y agoDiane Greene is amazing! I think I can listen to her speak all day long
- enlightenedfool 13y agoWhen is the next Male Founders Conference? or is it already done?
- melindajb 13y agothat's the one they have every year that's nearly 100% male.
- carbocation 13y agoIs this over already? I'm in the US and just getting "Please stand by."
- namenotrequired 13y agoIt's not over yet, have you tried the livestream link? http://www.livestream.com/femalefounders http://www.livestream.com/femalefounders EDIT Now it is over.
- thesimpsons1022 13y agoDoes anyone have any proof that there are less women founders proportionally than men? How do we know it just doesn't boil down to the fact there are less females in the industry as a whole? And are women actively being discriminated against or do they just have other priorities than founding startups?
- lukasm 13y agoMaybe just women are smarter and they know that median outcome of startup is a failure?
- thesimpsons1022 13y agoor they are more risk averse because they want to save to start families.
- ForHackernews 13y agoFewer. http://www.elearnenglishlanguage.com/blog/english-mistakes/fewer-vs-less/ http://www.elearnenglishlanguage.com/blog/english-mistakes/f...
- thesimpsons1022 13y agohow have I never heard this?
- brandonhsiao 13y agoNever mind that this is called "Female Founders." I'm male and found this helpful.
- msoad 13y ago*White Female Founders
- deleted 13y ago[deleted]
- brandnewlow 13y agoPretty sure the founder of Homejoy spoke and is not white.
- danielha 13y agoThis is even not close to true nor is it witty. You should stop making jokes on the internet.
- pg 13y agoThe event starts at about 37:20.
- DanielRibeiro 13y agoDirect link to that point in time: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QDaqt9NzDUc&feature=share&t=37m20s http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QDaqt9NzDUc&feature=share&t=3...
- wglb 13y agoThese are seriously awesome talks with lots of pointers. Very well worth watching.
- btcfn 13y agoCan you imagine a Male Founders Conference? That's some discriminatory divisive shit.
- spirefly 13y agoI was surprised it was only open to female attendees. Having the female role models is both important to females AND males since they need to support the inclusion of females. (And not spank the behinds of founders in VC meetings!!!)
- wpietri 13y agoBoth experiences are useful. I attended AdaCamp last year and it was fascinating. In previous AdaCamps they'd tried mixed-gender stuff. At mine, though, they did an "allies" track for guys (and any women who wanted to pop in). It felt a little weird being excluded from the main track, but honestly, it made sense to me from the moment I arrived. Suddenly, for the first time at a conference, I was part of a small, visible minority. It was uncomfortable. Everybody was perfectly nice, but I was acutely aware that I did not look like everybody else. That made it easy for me to imagine how empowering an experience it could be to for the women at AdaCamp to experience a women-only environment at the conference. It reminded me of the time I rode in Critical Mass: suddenly, because bikes vastly outnumbered cars, I felt free and safe in a way I had never experienced biking in the city. So now I'm entirely in favor of things like this. To me, it's all part of tidying up the legacy of millennia of oppression of women. In 50 years, I hope it's not necessary. But for now, I say it's great.
- erichocean 13y agoMy wife applied and I was surprised by the unseriousness of the application process. If you've gone through the online YC application process, imagine you dumbed that down for a 10 year old who only had 10 minutes to complete it and only had to answer one question, along the lines of "Why is America the best country on Earth?"[0] Here's the rejection email my wife got for those that are curious: Thank you for applying to the Female Founders Conference. Unfortunately we couldn't accept you this year. There was such a large number of applications that we had to turn away hundreds of people we would otherwise have accepted. We will be streaming the event live on our website, and are looking into options for even larger venues in the future. We really hope you will apply again. Best, Y Combinator Team http://femalefoundersconference.org http://femalefoundersconference.org [0] Bonus points for anyone who gets that reference. :)
- argumentum 13y agoOccam's razor suggests they simply got a lot more applications than they anticipated.
- natasham25 13y agoIt was a very similar application to the Startup School application.
- erichocean 13y agoOkay, good to know. In all seriousness, if that's the application, both the Startup School and the Female Founders Conference should just do a randomized allocation.
- tbfrench 13y ago[0] excellent quote from an excellent movie.
- br78 13y agoI thought it was from Newsroom but someone else said "film"
- mbesto 13y agopg, please thank Jessica for putting this event on. My girlfriend is on her way to starting her first company after years successfully being one of the few women in the private equity sector as well as her graduate program at Stanford. I've only just watched the keynote from Jessica and this is exactly the message that not only she, but I, need to hear about starting a company (tech and/or financial for that matter). Hearing these stories builds confidence and it's what both of us need.
- jblow 13y agoNote the extreme lack of women commenting in this thread, as well as the lack of discussion of any of the substance of the livestream. This thread is 100% nerdy dudes feeling offended by this event, plus other dudes attempting to counter this. Is not this thread itself indicative of a giant problem?
- berrypicker 13y agoHere's the problem summarized by an old-time female hacker: http://www.linuxjournal.com/content/girls-and-software http://www.linuxjournal.com/content/girls-and-software Whenever gender and software appears in a discussion, the same bs comes out every time. It's so predictable now you can just skip these sort of thread.
- nhangen 13y agoad hominem + sweeping generality FTW Seriously though, I am not a proponent of gender restricted events, but I have not commented on this particular thread because I wanted to watch the content first, and it's not really the place for such discussions. That said, others may feel differently, having not participated in prior conversations on this topic, and thus, the label you've applied to opponents is unnecessary and unfair.
- Crake 13y agoI like how being a man is considered an insult these days. Woman who disagrees with feminism? Damn men!
- Crake 13y ago>This thread is 100% nerdy dudes feeling offended "anyone who disagrees with me is a man! " There are plenty of women here. You're just choosing to ignore and erase their existence because it invalidates your religion.
- facepalm 13y agoMen are not entitled to have an opinion?