10 ms·

Y Combinator to recruit more black entrepreneurs

100 points by edw519 12y ago

Stefanrio 12y ago
Passive aggressive racism
edw519 12y ago
One of the things I love so much about being in the high tech world is its natural tendency for a (more) level playing field. It shouldn't (and often doesn't) matter what you look like, where you came from, or who you are. What really matters is the value produced for others by what you do. This sounds like a great step in promoting that property to those who may not have experienced it before. I have a feeling it may work out real well for lots of people.
- Stefanrio 12y ago
  > It shouldn't (and often doesn't) matter what you look like So why exactly do they need to recruit more black people? Instead of like, everyone?
  - lsiclait 12y ago
    Part of it may be social networks. Recruiting "everyone" usually ends up being recruit "everyone you know". And social circles are often not terribly diverse: http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2014/08/25/three-quarters-of-whites-dont-have-any-non-white-friends http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2014/08/25/t...
  - dethstar 12y ago
    Because "like, everyone" (aka people in the demographic they have supported as of now) often have had more chances/advantages in their lives. Listening to some ideas from people with different backgrounds couldn't hurt.
    - deleted 12y ago
      [deleted]
    - Cakez0r 12y ago
      Black is not a background, though.
  - chc 12y ago
    Because the world is not an infinite plane of uniform density. Being a successful entrepreneur is achievable regardless of race, but the same opportunities are not presented with equal availability to everyone.
  - thedaveoflife 12y ago
    Your question is answered in the article: YC is interested in making money and they seem to believe that having more diverse founders will help them do that.
    - owenmarshall 12y ago
      From a "cold hard cash" standpoint, it's a really good idea. For example: Africa is currently going through a mobile phone revolution. Want to see staggering growth numbers? Look at mobile banking in Nigeria and Kenya. Look at what Sproxil is doing to combat counterfeit prescriptions. Hell, in lots of places mobile phone air time is becoming as important as local currencies. Think a lily-white Stanford graduate would see a market in top up cards? I bet you they wouldn't!
      - Jun8 12y ago
        "Think a lily-white Stanford graduate would see a market in top up cards? I bet you they wouldn't!" Maybe you don't realize but your comment is quite racist. So, you think by virtue of being black, every African-American somehow has an inherent understanding of African nations. Here's a excerpt from Jumpa Lahiri's book The Namesake about similar sentiments for a second generation Indian-American man talking to friends of his white girlfriend about getting sick while visiting India: "But you must be lucky that way" "What do you mean?" "I mean, you must never get sick." "Actually that's not true," he says, slightly annoyed... "We get sick all the time. We have to get shots before we go. My parents devote the better part of a suitcase to medicine." "But you're Indian," Pamela says frowning, "I'd think the climate wouldn't affect yo, given your heritage." "Pamela, Nick's American," Lydia says ... "He was born here."
        owenmarshall 12y ago
        > So, you think by virtue of being black, every African-American somehow has an inherent understanding of African nations. I never mentioned African Americans in my comment. It seems that you're taking "black" to mean "African American", but that's not what my comment said. Nor the article, for that matter.
- lulzwat1111 12y ago
  >>It shouldn't (and often doesn't) matter what you look like, where you came from, or who you are. Then why are they giving black people preferential treatment? Mind blowing.
  - ErikRogneby 12y ago
    Because white people get preferential treatment every god damn day. Either you acknowledge race and gender or you go through great pains to take it out of the equation. A good friend of mine is a female french horn player. Orchestras sometimes do auditions behind a screen with the applicants names anonymous to the jury. This is to counteract the sexism that exists in classical music, particularly in the brass sections. My understanding is that YCombinator is very hands on and demo days are done in person? The person is judged, not just the product.
    - wutbrodo 12y ago
      While I'm more in agreement with your line of thinking than lulzwat's, you're not really addressing the part he's disagreeing with. His proposition was that you counteract preferential treatment by trying to remove it, not by trying to balance it out with other preferential treatment. Even the example you gave supports that (_everyone_ is behind a screen). Like I said, I do agree with your general sentiment because the situation is way more complicated and a given entity (YC in this case) doesn't have control of all upstream sources of preferential treatment to try and remove preferential treatment. It just seems like the way you phrased it didn't address the actual problem lulzwat perceived. As much as people like to pretend it isn't so they can sit on their high horse, this stuff can be complicated to get your head around (at first glance, it's 110% reasonable to say giving preferential treatment to black people seems just as racist as doing so for white people). It serves no-one to ignore someone's complaint and respond with genericism when they don't understand (or agree with) the nuances of this kinda stuff.
  - canadaj 12y ago
    Where are you getting the idea that preferential treatment is being given? Y Combinator is opening it's umbrella to include more diverse walks of life, not giving any group preferential treatment.
bellerocky 12y ago
This is awesome. A diversity of people will bring a diversity of ideas. You can find highly intelligent, driven people from all walks of life, it's a shame that there's a process broken in self-selection for software engineering and bay area startups. Although it's probably not just diverse self-selection that needs work, I imagine there's probably forms of discrimination and roadblocks that privileged classes of the majority don't even recognize.
- gordjw 12y ago
  So, as someone who is a privileged class of the majority (white, male, 25-49), what are the roadblocks? If there's discrimination, isn't that purely the fault of the Y Combinator organisers (in this instance), and is this article then an admission that they've discriminated in the past?
  - viiralvx 12y ago
    Black male here, aged 18-25, Computer Science and Design student in my final semester of University. The roadblocks from a racial perspective is lack of resources and education, there is a fair amount of poverty within black America. Did you have access to a computer growing up? Maybe you had one or two in your house? Then you may have been able to learn more about programming from a younger age, or maybe you had a computer lab in your school...On the other hand, maybe you are also assumed to be inadequate by society because of your skintone, you are automatically stereotyped to be unintelligent or a subpar developer. Those are the roadblocks we have to face, whether it stems from society or socioeconomic status, we have to work twice as hard to prove ourselves in America.
    - Chronic29 12y ago
      America is the best place you can go. Yes you have to work twice as hard, but if you don't like it, perhaps think about moving to another country.
    - coffeemug 12y ago
      I'm a white startup founder in SV. Systematic discrimination due to unequal access to infrastructure really, really sucks for the black community as a whole, but if you managed to overcome it as an individual there are multiple interrelated reasons why you have a massive advantage in startups/tech that you probably aren't aware of yet. Firstly, the market is ruthless. You can't lie to yourself or others in a startup -- the thing you're doing really has to work, so the decisions you're making have to be right. You're white, had a great education, and a well-padded resume? If you don't make precisely the right choices, the market couldn't care less, your company will die. Now, white well educated people with well-padded resumes will probably have easier access to venture capital, but that brings me to my next point. In my (totally unscientific) experience, skin color, education, and experience has no correlation whatsoever with fluid intelligence (essentially, how well you make decisions without knowledge). In a big company, fluid intelligence doesn't really matter all that much -- the culture is well established, you aren't that important, and if you can just play ball the way everyone else does, you'll do ok. Not so in a startup. In a startup you're dealing with completely new territory, so you have to figure things out from scratch, all the time. You might as well take your knowledge, and your experience, and your education, and throw it all away because it will make a zilch of difference. Fluid intelligence is everything because you have to figure everything out from scratch. All the white, well-educated, experienced young men who have relatively easy access to VC capital? Without fluid intelligence and wits about them, they'll just burn through it and be left with nothing at the end. The market is ruthless -- it doesn't care. So you're on equal footing. Finally, the space is hyper-competitive and even in a recession there is too much capital chasing too few good ideas. All those white, traditional, middle aged male VC partnerships really need a win. And I mean really, because if they don't get one they won't raise the next fund, and if they don't raise the next fund they won't be able to pay property taxes and their kids's private school tuitions, and they really, really don't want to end up there. Don't like black people? Have unacknowledged bias? Too bad -- your kids are going to public school next year. So if you come in with a killer idea and the seeds of a working business, you bet they'll invest. The pressure's too high not to. They might care what you look like, but the market doesn't care about them. The market is ruthless and indifferent, and forces them to act ruthless and indifferent, because if they act on their prejudices their fund will die. This is getting a bit long, so here's my TL;DR: if you've been discriminated against your whole life and want to start a company, don't get discouraged. The market is ruthless and indifferent -- it doesn't care about you, or me, or anyone. For you, that's an advantage. Build something people want and you will be rewarded.
newaccountfool 12y ago
Surely Y Combinator should just recruit people that do the job the best, whether they are white,black..etc
- rewind 12y ago
  I'm pretty sure that "recruit", in this context, means "expose to Y Combinator and encourage to apply if they have a good idea", not "give them a higher chance of being accepted because they are black".
  - Jun8 12y ago
    The distinction you describe is exactly the case, I think, yet the word "recruit" may lead to confusion.
- viiralvx 12y ago
  . . . More diversity within YCombinator means more diversity of thought. If you have everybody who is physically and culturally similar within a company, or in this case accelerator, then creativity suffers. Also, it's a step in improving this racial gap within the tech industry.
- canadaj 12y ago
  Yes, they should and they are now. I think that Y Combinator understands that by not taking these steps, they are possible excluding people who may be the best candidate for the job. Y Combinator is simply extending it's reach with the intention of including more diverse groups of people, not giving preferential treatment to those groups. They are simply opening up a bigger umbrella.
  - refurb 12y ago
    The title is misleading then. It should read "Y Combinator will expand outreach to minorities", not "Y Combinator to recruit more black engineers". If you go with the original title it suggests one of two things: 1. Y Combinator has avoided hiring black engineers up to this point and will now stop (which I know is untrue) 2. Y Combinator will specifically hiring black engineers over other races (which sounds like a bad idea)
sama 12y ago
to be very clear, we do just try to recruit the best people regardless of race, gender, etc. you have to cast a wide net to do that.
- deleted 12y ago
  [deleted]
  - Maascamp 12y ago
    Is it? It quotes Altman as saying, "Going way out of our way to invite people to apply who don't fit the stereotypical start-up mold has worked really well for us." Sounds exactly like they're just attempting to cast a wider net. Any other implications you took from that weren't from the article.
  - pyb 12y ago
    How so?
  - meowface 12y ago
    I'm not in favor of affirmative action-type initiatives, but nothing in this article suggested anything like that. I kind of expected it would, but it didn't.
- thaumaturgy 12y ago
  The article doesn't say what you're doing to recruit more minorities. Are you making a PR effort, or developing different business contacts, or starting a new program, or...? Just curious. (And glad you're making the effort.)
  - cdmoyer 12y ago
    The 3rd or 4th paragraph discusses the strategy. (No hard details.) > It's adding black colleges to its recruiting swing this > fall, as well as reaching out to groups with strong ties > to the black community to increase the pool of applicants, > Altman said.
- deleted 12y ago
sssilver 12y ago
Something about this headline feels wrong.
- ramigb 12y ago
  I agree, but them down voters don't agree.
J_adjip 12y ago
As a young black entrepreneur that has known about YC for years now and have followed them and their large portfolio, I think they are making a smart move toward reaching out to a community where people aren't aware of programs like YC and the opportunities they provide.
- Chronic29 12y ago
  If people are unaware of YC, perhaps they are not of the caliber we want creating next-generation startups.
- robg 12y ago
  Can you explain how this happens?
  - J_adjip 12y ago
    I cant explain how this happens, but I know YC is sparking conversation involving trends they have seen in SV. With conversation brings non-traditional SV media.
  - smtddr 12y ago
    First, let me say that I love how HN has matured to a point where an article like this can make it to the front-page and not get overrun with insanely long threads of people debating the definition of "racism" and if it exists or not in tech. Believe it or not, the story below is actually the very-shortened version.: I as a male with Nigerian-born-and-raised parents can tell my story about how I didn't know a single thing about start-ups or SV/bayarea scene or anything until 2007. So I went to school in CSU Hayward and got my BSCS __only__ because I wanted to make videogames. All my college friends talked about becoming videogame betatesters and I wanted to make games. A classmate of mine got me my first job in AT&T as an analyst. Before this job the only computers I've been exposed to was my home Win95 computer on dial-up and the unix terminal on school campus; oh and writing programs in BASIC on AppleII's in junior highschool and that wasn't even a class. It just happened that there was a teacher who was a geek and brought his computers to school for kids like me to play with. I probably owe that teacher a lot. My dad being in a job involving fortran & punch-cards helped to. When I first saw a bunch of computers networked together, I had no idea what that meant. Windows SAMBA mounts and copying files between 2 machines blew my freakin' mind in 2002. Computers talk to each other?! I had AOL and no idea how the internet worked until a few weeks after starting at AT&T; then I got AT&T DSL and it was horrible so I hardly used the internet. AT&T was always putting enterprise software books in the lobbies so that's all I knew existed; expensive proprietary tools. It was only one day, after like 5 yrs, I got fed up with AT&T and tried to leave but couldn't. I used computerjobs.com to attempt finding another job. Found out that all my skills in writing ABAP programs for SAP, JCL on OS/2, tools like QuickTest & LoadRunner didn't actually mean anything when only a few major corps have the money to pay for the licenses of said softwares. Also, the VB macros I wrote for MSExcel and got me so much praise at AT&T turned out to not be a high-demand skill. I was floored; I had no idea. I really thought I was highly skilled and could find a job anytime I wanted. At one point I thought my email just didn't work, but a few tests proved that not to be the case. Then one day I got even more frustrated and tried to get into Pixar. I learned how to use Alias(purchased by Autodesk) Maya and sent a resume. They called me back, but I didn't get the job because I didn't know enough of a programming language called "python".(Maya has python bindings for automation 'n stuff) Python? What's that? I went to go find all the info I could on this strange programming language. Tried to apply to Pixar again after learning some but they never replied me again. Then I searched online to look at resumes of people who have Pixar on them to see where they worked before ending up at Pixar. I saw a bunch of companies I have never heard of. Remember, AT&T was my first job out of school and my internet was unusable. Almost all my coworkers were old enough to be my parents and 99% of them had no interest in computers beyond just using them as they were trained 5+ years ago. The only companies that came up in conversation were corps like Oracle & HP. Looking up all the companies I saw on these resumes, I eventually stumbled upon the term "start up". What's a start-up? Oh, a company that just started! That makes sense, I guess a company has to start from something. So where do I find these start-ups? OH! They're all around me!!! San Francisco is less than an hour away! Whoa there's a whole bunch!!!!! Look at these salaries! AT&T was just paying me $46k! Okay, so what kind of tools do they use? What? Linux? What's that? Oh, I remember Redhat in school for one of my classes. What's mysql? Why not Oracle? Nobody likes Windows? What's a Macbook? Why are all these people so young and happy-looking? They don't have to wear a suit & tie to work? My internet was so bad and AT&T couldn't fix it after multiple calls, so I switched to Comcast because I needed to start downloading all kinds of stuff. I bought a laptop at this time as well. This way I now had 2 computers in my house(yes, a house. I got it in 2003 when they were just giving houses to anyone who walked in off the street) and I could learn more about what an IP address is and how 2 computers talk to each other. This was in 2006, so by 2007 I fully discovered the world of Linux and open-source in general. Found out that Windows the OS isn't not the same thing as the computer. That I could delete & reformat the Harddrive with Linux without physically destroying the computer. Fully comprehended what open-source meant to my career. Free software meant that my skills followed me to any company I went to. Knowing how to use JMeter instead of LoadRunner, Selenium instead of Quicktest, mysql instead of Oracle - I've increased my skillset and I didn't have to rely on anyone to buy some $80k license before my skills became usable. Learned some more skills that were hot at the time and started applying. This is when I learned that start-ups liked Craigslist so that was the only place I used for my job-search. One memorable phone-interview was with babycenter.com. The lady interviewing me used all kinds of profanity on the phone. While I personally don't use profanity, I found it amazing that start-ups were so care-free that they can just F-bomb people during an interview like it's nothing. Eventually I ended up in a start-up with about 8 people. My family was freaking out that I was about to leave a huge company like AT&T to work with 8 people in San Francisco.... but I did it anyway and from there it's all roses, rainbows and puppies. My career goals have changed though so I don't seek Pixar like I use to. The overall idea here is that it's totally possible to grow up right in this bay area, even get a BSCS, and not know about any of the tech scene going on right under your nose if you're not around those kinds of people. My family wasn't rich but way better off than the inner-city, low income kids. If I didn't know about the BayArea tech-scene until 2007, it's easy for me to imagine them not having a clue even today. NOTE: That house I got in 2003? I totally should have been one of the people that got foreclosed on; but the extreme jump in my salary after leaving AT&T saved me.
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graeme 12y ago
A couple comments: First, Altruism aside, this will likely be a win for ycombinator. There are always opportunities to be had in targeting subgroups which others neglect. And the problem with bias is that much of it is subconscious. Unless an organisation makes a conscious effort, it will likely discriminate. This means there's an opportunity for YC to get easier access to the cream of the crop, merely by specifically recruiting. And articles like this are helpful too, as they'll signal to would be black entrepreneurs that they should not shy away from YC. Second, this could be very important for future african-american entrepreneurs. Reference examples are so, so important. I (white male) did not become a programmer, despite a love for math and computers. I literally didn't have a single programmer in my extended family or circle of close friends. I played around with computers, but I had no idea what a programming language was until age 25. (If this sounds incurious, think about what massive blind spots you yourself had until recently) If YC can fund an african-american entrepreneur who succeeds massively, then this will inspire thousands of others. The same arguments apply to recruiting women, and inspiring women. I applaud this move, and YC's earlier initiative to recruit women.
- meowface 12y ago
  >And the problem with bias is that much of it is subconscious. Unless an organisation makes a conscious effort, it will likely discriminate. Could you elaborate? Here, the article states that 1% of all applicants are black. How can the demographics of those who apply at all be attributed to bias on Y Combinator's part, intentional or otherwise?
  - graeme 12y ago
    I didn't say YC was biased, specifically. I meant we all our, inasmuch as our culture produces bias against black people. Growing up in a biased culture, it would be very, very, very difficult not to acquire any. This idea has received some empirical validation from the implicit biases test. Some details here: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/06/090617142120.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/06/090617142120.ht... Other studies have compared the performance of white vs. black names. http://www.nber.org/digest/sep03/w9873.html http://www.nber.org/digest/sep03/w9873.html The evidence suggests that most people are biased, yet think they are not. Removing this unconscious bias from our society will take time. So I meant that almost EVERYBODY is likely to discriminate, at least if current evidence pointing that way is correct. Therefore, unless an organization takes conscious effort, it will discriminate. But on the bright side, merely by taking such conscious effort, an organization can both help itself AND help a disadvantaged group. And leading the way forward is one mechanism to reduce unconscious bias. I am sure, for instance, that Obama's presidency has made today's children far less likely to be biased.
kyro 12y ago
Does being Egyptian qualify me for this? I am technically an African American. I'm half-serious.
antonioevans 12y ago
bullshit. we got a YC interview for summer 2014. We had almost 200k in revenue and outpaced it (2 months later) almost 400k. I am black spanish guy and cofounder female latin. Only people in our interview who look like us (or in the whole place). Not being angry at all just saying this is a publicity in my opinion. Our model didn't fit into what they were investing on at the time. We didn't need money but wanted to be part of YC. But i will tell you no one looked like us.
- livelybc 12y ago
  It used to be that looking like Mark Zuckerberg would increase your chances of getting in. I think that speaks a lot to the kinds of bias that may exist.
  - antonioevans 12y ago
    I didn't feel bias at all. The bias is towards companies that fit a model they like and if they can find entrepreneurs who can execute on that model. Has nothing to do with race. But one thing yes the "startup" system isn't really built to accelerate certain communities. the biggest thing is access. It's same in lots of industries and YC/startups aren't the only ones that deal with it.
- radoslawc 12y ago
  Why are you being racist? What's the difference whether someone looked like you or not?
  - antonioevans 12y ago
    not talking about interviewers but people who applied. 3 people of color. 5 Asian people. and maybe 80 Caucasians the whole day I was there. Also maybe 3-10 women. It was an observation and far from a racist comment.
pg_is_a_butt 12y ago
Y Combinator = Racist
aikah 12y ago
I'm black ,what is this ? affirmative action pt2 ? you dont need to "recruit more black entrepreneurs" , you need to recruit entrepreneurs wether they are black,yellow,brown,man,woman,trans without prejudice,based only on their skills. Or if "Y Combinator to recruit more black entrepreneurs" means they were discriminated against before, we want a few good negros to look good, just like a few women here and there ,and build "girls who code" clubs for PR,so the tech world is not labelled as racist or sexist ? The tech world is racist,and sexist. The VC world is way beyond racist or sexist ,it's a culture of nepotism.You cant change that.It's like electing a black president,you may look good abroad but at home noone is dumb enough to think anything has changed. It's even worse to consider minorities as "people that need help".We dont need help we need equality at first place,there is none.
- jmathai 12y ago
  I'm Indian. I don't believe I face the same difficulties that blacks do. It also feels weird to respond but I'll give it a go. > We dont need help we need equality at first place,there is none. I don't disagree. Don't you believe that making special efforts to get minority groups into something can do more good than harm? Perhaps it depends on the details of how it's done but if done correctly I think it can help. There isn't equality and there won't be equality anytime soon. That's why I believe deliberate effort has its place. It doesn't have to imply an imbalance of equality. Instead it can acknowledge the imbalance of perceived equality and aim to eradicate the false assumptions. I don't for an instance claim that one race or sex is intrinsically more intelligent. But I'll admit that I do believe entire groups of people are marginalized and it creates an unleveled playing field. One which should be level. It applies to many groups. People who are poor, black, hispanic, gay, women, obese, unattractive, etc. If you fall into these groups you'll have felt some level of discrimination. Some more than others (i.e. someone who's poor, black and gay will have felt it more acutely than someone who's just gay). I don't know. I think it this can be done in a respectful manner with good intent and without being derogative. Would you disagree? If so what's the more realistic solution?
- arjie 12y ago
  Suppose people of all races are equally capable founders. Suppose that it so happens that VC firms are only well known in certain demographics. We all know that often it is hard to recognize a problem if it doesn't affect you. If different demographics have at least some different problems, and if it is one demographic that's primarily being funded, then you gain a market advantage going after the less well known problems. So don't take it personally. It isn't about you. It's about looking for the next big thing in a place that isn't as crowded with other treasure hunters.
jedanbik 12y ago
I'd rather Y Combinator make an effort to recruit more black entrepreneurs than make an effort to not recruit more black entrepreneurs.
infoseckid 12y ago
I hate it when someone says we'd like to fund more from a "minority" such as women or black people or XXX like YC has done in the past. What does this do? 1. For the minority this makes them feel like they "need help" and they are "not good enough" unless they are given an unfair advantage 2. For the majority, it makes them feel sidelined and at an unfair disadvantage when applying YC needs to just promote entrepreneurship and not colour. For the record, I am a coloured man, unfortunately not black to be able to take advantage of this latest "minority giveaway"
known 12y ago
Google "Map Shows Most Racist People On Earth". http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/worldviews/wp/2013/05/15/a-fascinating-map-of-the-worlds-most-and-least-racially-tolerant-countries/ http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/worldviews/wp/2013/05/15...
Quizz 12y ago
YC is tech specific; it's self selecting, so any tech entrepreneur regardless of color will apply to YC. Are there other tech accelerators with higher black applicants? Maybe the pipe starts in elementary school and not age 22. YC's efforts would be more effective inspiring inner city black children in nearby communities to take an interest in tech.
awaythrow123 12y ago
Will they reduce the over representation of Jewish and Asian Americans?
fwn 12y ago
Such a statement will probably result in good press. It may be racist to regard skin color in recruiting decisions but I think this will not end up being used against YC since most people don't care as long as whites are not favoured. I guess it's regular csr marketing.
whudz 12y ago
Just figured I should take this opportunity to say, I'm black (and female!) and an entrepreneur. Right now my cofounder (also black) and I are building 20 software products in 20 weeks. You can read about it at http://www.munocreative.com/blog http://www.munocreative.com/blog. #shamelessplug We previously wouldn't have applied to Y combinator because of remarks like these: "I can be tricked by anyone who looks like Mark Zuckerberg. There was a guy once who we funded who was terrible. I said: ‘How could he be bad? He looks like Zuckerberg!’” --Paul Graham, New York Times (http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/05/magazine/y-combinator-silicon-valleys-start-up-machine.html?pagewanted=all http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/05/magazine/y-combinator-sili...) Seeing as not even a Stanford degree and overpriced American Apparel hoodie can make us look like Mark Zuckerberg. ...but hey---this move by Sam actually seems like a good sign!

100 points by edw519 12y ago

Passive aggressive racism

One of the things I love so much about being in the high tech world is its natural tendency for a (more) level playing field. It shouldn't (and often doesn't) matter what you look like, where you came from, or who you are. What really matters is the value produced for others by what you do. This sounds like a great step in promoting that property to those who may not have experienced it before. I have a feeling it may work out real well for lots of people.

Stefanrio 12y ago
> It shouldn't (and often doesn't) matter what you look like So why exactly do they need to recruit more black people? Instead of like, everyone?
- lsiclait 12y ago
  Part of it may be social networks. Recruiting "everyone" usually ends up being recruit "everyone you know". And social circles are often not terribly diverse: http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2014/08/25/three-quarters-of-whites-dont-have-any-non-white-friends http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2014/08/25/t...
- dethstar 12y ago
  Because "like, everyone" (aka people in the demographic they have supported as of now) often have had more chances/advantages in their lives. Listening to some ideas from people with different backgrounds couldn't hurt.
  - deleted 12y ago
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  - Cakez0r 12y ago
    Black is not a background, though.
- chc 12y ago
  Because the world is not an infinite plane of uniform density. Being a successful entrepreneur is achievable regardless of race, but the same opportunities are not presented with equal availability to everyone.
- thedaveoflife 12y ago
  Your question is answered in the article: YC is interested in making money and they seem to believe that having more diverse founders will help them do that.
  - owenmarshall 12y ago
    From a "cold hard cash" standpoint, it's a really good idea. For example: Africa is currently going through a mobile phone revolution. Want to see staggering growth numbers? Look at mobile banking in Nigeria and Kenya. Look at what Sproxil is doing to combat counterfeit prescriptions. Hell, in lots of places mobile phone air time is becoming as important as local currencies. Think a lily-white Stanford graduate would see a market in top up cards? I bet you they wouldn't!
    - Jun8 12y ago
      "Think a lily-white Stanford graduate would see a market in top up cards? I bet you they wouldn't!" Maybe you don't realize but your comment is quite racist. So, you think by virtue of being black, every African-American somehow has an inherent understanding of African nations. Here's a excerpt from Jumpa Lahiri's book The Namesake about similar sentiments for a second generation Indian-American man talking to friends of his white girlfriend about getting sick while visiting India: "But you must be lucky that way" "What do you mean?" "I mean, you must never get sick." "Actually that's not true," he says, slightly annoyed... "We get sick all the time. We have to get shots before we go. My parents devote the better part of a suitcase to medicine." "But you're Indian," Pamela says frowning, "I'd think the climate wouldn't affect yo, given your heritage." "Pamela, Nick's American," Lydia says ... "He was born here."
      - owenmarshall 12y ago
        > So, you think by virtue of being black, every African-American somehow has an inherent understanding of African nations. I never mentioned African Americans in my comment. It seems that you're taking "black" to mean "African American", but that's not what my comment said. Nor the article, for that matter.
lulzwat1111 12y ago
>>It shouldn't (and often doesn't) matter what you look like, where you came from, or who you are. Then why are they giving black people preferential treatment? Mind blowing.
- ErikRogneby 12y ago
  Because white people get preferential treatment every god damn day. Either you acknowledge race and gender or you go through great pains to take it out of the equation. A good friend of mine is a female french horn player. Orchestras sometimes do auditions behind a screen with the applicants names anonymous to the jury. This is to counteract the sexism that exists in classical music, particularly in the brass sections. My understanding is that YCombinator is very hands on and demo days are done in person? The person is judged, not just the product.
  - wutbrodo 12y ago
    While I'm more in agreement with your line of thinking than lulzwat's, you're not really addressing the part he's disagreeing with. His proposition was that you counteract preferential treatment by trying to remove it, not by trying to balance it out with other preferential treatment. Even the example you gave supports that (_everyone_ is behind a screen). Like I said, I do agree with your general sentiment because the situation is way more complicated and a given entity (YC in this case) doesn't have control of all upstream sources of preferential treatment to try and remove preferential treatment. It just seems like the way you phrased it didn't address the actual problem lulzwat perceived. As much as people like to pretend it isn't so they can sit on their high horse, this stuff can be complicated to get your head around (at first glance, it's 110% reasonable to say giving preferential treatment to black people seems just as racist as doing so for white people). It serves no-one to ignore someone's complaint and respond with genericism when they don't understand (or agree with) the nuances of this kinda stuff.
- canadaj 12y ago
  Where are you getting the idea that preferential treatment is being given? Y Combinator is opening it's umbrella to include more diverse walks of life, not giving any group preferential treatment.

bellerocky 12y ago

This is awesome. A diversity of people will bring a diversity of ideas. You can find highly intelligent, driven people from all walks of life, it's a shame that there's a process broken in self-selection for software engineering and bay area startups. Although it's probably not just diverse self-selection that needs work, I imagine there's probably forms of discrimination and roadblocks that privileged classes of the majority don't even recognize.

gordjw 12y ago
So, as someone who is a privileged class of the majority (white, male, 25-49), what are the roadblocks? If there's discrimination, isn't that purely the fault of the Y Combinator organisers (in this instance), and is this article then an admission that they've discriminated in the past?
- viiralvx 12y ago
  Black male here, aged 18-25, Computer Science and Design student in my final semester of University. The roadblocks from a racial perspective is lack of resources and education, there is a fair amount of poverty within black America. Did you have access to a computer growing up? Maybe you had one or two in your house? Then you may have been able to learn more about programming from a younger age, or maybe you had a computer lab in your school...On the other hand, maybe you are also assumed to be inadequate by society because of your skintone, you are automatically stereotyped to be unintelligent or a subpar developer. Those are the roadblocks we have to face, whether it stems from society or socioeconomic status, we have to work twice as hard to prove ourselves in America.
  - Chronic29 12y ago
    America is the best place you can go. Yes you have to work twice as hard, but if you don't like it, perhaps think about moving to another country.
  - coffeemug 12y ago
    I'm a white startup founder in SV. Systematic discrimination due to unequal access to infrastructure really, really sucks for the black community as a whole, but if you managed to overcome it as an individual there are multiple interrelated reasons why you have a massive advantage in startups/tech that you probably aren't aware of yet. Firstly, the market is ruthless. You can't lie to yourself or others in a startup -- the thing you're doing really has to work, so the decisions you're making have to be right. You're white, had a great education, and a well-padded resume? If you don't make precisely the right choices, the market couldn't care less, your company will die. Now, white well educated people with well-padded resumes will probably have easier access to venture capital, but that brings me to my next point. In my (totally unscientific) experience, skin color, education, and experience has no correlation whatsoever with fluid intelligence (essentially, how well you make decisions without knowledge). In a big company, fluid intelligence doesn't really matter all that much -- the culture is well established, you aren't that important, and if you can just play ball the way everyone else does, you'll do ok. Not so in a startup. In a startup you're dealing with completely new territory, so you have to figure things out from scratch, all the time. You might as well take your knowledge, and your experience, and your education, and throw it all away because it will make a zilch of difference. Fluid intelligence is everything because you have to figure everything out from scratch. All the white, well-educated, experienced young men who have relatively easy access to VC capital? Without fluid intelligence and wits about them, they'll just burn through it and be left with nothing at the end. The market is ruthless -- it doesn't care. So you're on equal footing. Finally, the space is hyper-competitive and even in a recession there is too much capital chasing too few good ideas. All those white, traditional, middle aged male VC partnerships really need a win. And I mean really, because if they don't get one they won't raise the next fund, and if they don't raise the next fund they won't be able to pay property taxes and their kids's private school tuitions, and they really, really don't want to end up there. Don't like black people? Have unacknowledged bias? Too bad -- your kids are going to public school next year. So if you come in with a killer idea and the seeds of a working business, you bet they'll invest. The pressure's too high not to. They might care what you look like, but the market doesn't care about them. The market is ruthless and indifferent, and forces them to act ruthless and indifferent, because if they act on their prejudices their fund will die. This is getting a bit long, so here's my TL;DR: if you've been discriminated against your whole life and want to start a company, don't get discouraged. The market is ruthless and indifferent -- it doesn't care about you, or me, or anyone. For you, that's an advantage. Build something people want and you will be rewarded.

newaccountfool 12y ago

Surely Y Combinator should just recruit people that do the job the best, whether they are white,black..etc

rewind 12y ago
I'm pretty sure that "recruit", in this context, means "expose to Y Combinator and encourage to apply if they have a good idea", not "give them a higher chance of being accepted because they are black".
- Jun8 12y ago
  The distinction you describe is exactly the case, I think, yet the word "recruit" may lead to confusion.
viiralvx 12y ago
. . . More diversity within YCombinator means more diversity of thought. If you have everybody who is physically and culturally similar within a company, or in this case accelerator, then creativity suffers. Also, it's a step in improving this racial gap within the tech industry.
canadaj 12y ago
Yes, they should and they are now. I think that Y Combinator understands that by not taking these steps, they are possible excluding people who may be the best candidate for the job. Y Combinator is simply extending it's reach with the intention of including more diverse groups of people, not giving preferential treatment to those groups. They are simply opening up a bigger umbrella.
- refurb 12y ago
  The title is misleading then. It should read "Y Combinator will expand outreach to minorities", not "Y Combinator to recruit more black engineers". If you go with the original title it suggests one of two things: 1. Y Combinator has avoided hiring black engineers up to this point and will now stop (which I know is untrue) 2. Y Combinator will specifically hiring black engineers over other races (which sounds like a bad idea)

sama 12y ago

to be very clear, we do just try to recruit the best people regardless of race, gender, etc. you have to cast a wide net to do that.

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- Maascamp 12y ago
  Is it? It quotes Altman as saying, "Going way out of our way to invite people to apply who don't fit the stereotypical start-up mold has worked really well for us." Sounds exactly like they're just attempting to cast a wider net. Any other implications you took from that weren't from the article.
- pyb 12y ago
  How so?
- meowface 12y ago
  I'm not in favor of affirmative action-type initiatives, but nothing in this article suggested anything like that. I kind of expected it would, but it didn't.
thaumaturgy 12y ago
The article doesn't say what you're doing to recruit more minorities. Are you making a PR effort, or developing different business contacts, or starting a new program, or...? Just curious. (And glad you're making the effort.)
- cdmoyer 12y ago
  The 3rd or 4th paragraph discusses the strategy. (No hard details.) > It's adding black colleges to its recruiting swing this > fall, as well as reaching out to groups with strong ties > to the black community to increase the pool of applicants, > Altman said.
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sssilver 12y ago

Something about this headline feels wrong.

ramigb 12y ago
I agree, but them down voters don't agree.

J_adjip 12y ago

As a young black entrepreneur that has known about YC for years now and have followed them and their large portfolio, I think they are making a smart move toward reaching out to a community where people aren't aware of programs like YC and the opportunities they provide.

Chronic29 12y ago
If people are unaware of YC, perhaps they are not of the caliber we want creating next-generation startups.
robg 12y ago
Can you explain how this happens?
- J_adjip 12y ago
  I cant explain how this happens, but I know YC is sparking conversation involving trends they have seen in SV. With conversation brings non-traditional SV media.
- smtddr 12y ago
  First, let me say that I love how HN has matured to a point where an article like this can make it to the front-page and not get overrun with insanely long threads of people debating the definition of "racism" and if it exists or not in tech. Believe it or not, the story below is actually the very-shortened version.: I as a male with Nigerian-born-and-raised parents can tell my story about how I didn't know a single thing about start-ups or SV/bayarea scene or anything until 2007. So I went to school in CSU Hayward and got my BSCS __only__ because I wanted to make videogames. All my college friends talked about becoming videogame betatesters and I wanted to make games. A classmate of mine got me my first job in AT&T as an analyst. Before this job the only computers I've been exposed to was my home Win95 computer on dial-up and the unix terminal on school campus; oh and writing programs in BASIC on AppleII's in junior highschool and that wasn't even a class. It just happened that there was a teacher who was a geek and brought his computers to school for kids like me to play with. I probably owe that teacher a lot. My dad being in a job involving fortran & punch-cards helped to. When I first saw a bunch of computers networked together, I had no idea what that meant. Windows SAMBA mounts and copying files between 2 machines blew my freakin' mind in 2002. Computers talk to each other?! I had AOL and no idea how the internet worked until a few weeks after starting at AT&T; then I got AT&T DSL and it was horrible so I hardly used the internet. AT&T was always putting enterprise software books in the lobbies so that's all I knew existed; expensive proprietary tools. It was only one day, after like 5 yrs, I got fed up with AT&T and tried to leave but couldn't. I used computerjobs.com to attempt finding another job. Found out that all my skills in writing ABAP programs for SAP, JCL on OS/2, tools like QuickTest & LoadRunner didn't actually mean anything when only a few major corps have the money to pay for the licenses of said softwares. Also, the VB macros I wrote for MSExcel and got me so much praise at AT&T turned out to not be a high-demand skill. I was floored; I had no idea. I really thought I was highly skilled and could find a job anytime I wanted. At one point I thought my email just didn't work, but a few tests proved that not to be the case. Then one day I got even more frustrated and tried to get into Pixar. I learned how to use Alias(purchased by Autodesk) Maya and sent a resume. They called me back, but I didn't get the job because I didn't know enough of a programming language called "python".(Maya has python bindings for automation 'n stuff) Python? What's that? I went to go find all the info I could on this strange programming language. Tried to apply to Pixar again after learning some but they never replied me again. Then I searched online to look at resumes of people who have Pixar on them to see where they worked before ending up at Pixar. I saw a bunch of companies I have never heard of. Remember, AT&T was my first job out of school and my internet was unusable. Almost all my coworkers were old enough to be my parents and 99% of them had no interest in computers beyond just using them as they were trained 5+ years ago. The only companies that came up in conversation were corps like Oracle & HP. Looking up all the companies I saw on these resumes, I eventually stumbled upon the term "start up". What's a start-up? Oh, a company that just started! That makes sense, I guess a company has to start from something. So where do I find these start-ups? OH! They're all around me!!! San Francisco is less than an hour away! Whoa there's a whole bunch!!!!! Look at these salaries! AT&T was just paying me $46k! Okay, so what kind of tools do they use? What? Linux? What's that? Oh, I remember Redhat in school for one of my classes. What's mysql? Why not Oracle? Nobody likes Windows? What's a Macbook? Why are all these people so young and happy-looking? They don't have to wear a suit & tie to work? My internet was so bad and AT&T couldn't fix it after multiple calls, so I switched to Comcast because I needed to start downloading all kinds of stuff. I bought a laptop at this time as well. This way I now had 2 computers in my house(yes, a house. I got it in 2003 when they were just giving houses to anyone who walked in off the street) and I could learn more about what an IP address is and how 2 computers talk to each other. This was in 2006, so by 2007 I fully discovered the world of Linux and open-source in general. Found out that Windows the OS isn't not the same thing as the computer. That I could delete & reformat the Harddrive with Linux without physically destroying the computer. Fully comprehended what open-source meant to my career. Free software meant that my skills followed me to any company I went to. Knowing how to use JMeter instead of LoadRunner, Selenium instead of Quicktest, mysql instead of Oracle - I've increased my skillset and I didn't have to rely on anyone to buy some $80k license before my skills became usable. Learned some more skills that were hot at the time and started applying. This is when I learned that start-ups liked Craigslist so that was the only place I used for my job-search. One memorable phone-interview was with babycenter.com. The lady interviewing me used all kinds of profanity on the phone. While I personally don't use profanity, I found it amazing that start-ups were so care-free that they can just F-bomb people during an interview like it's nothing. Eventually I ended up in a start-up with about 8 people. My family was freaking out that I was about to leave a huge company like AT&T to work with 8 people in San Francisco.... but I did it anyway and from there it's all roses, rainbows and puppies. My career goals have changed though so I don't seek Pixar like I use to. The overall idea here is that it's totally possible to grow up right in this bay area, even get a BSCS, and not know about any of the tech scene going on right under your nose if you're not around those kinds of people. My family wasn't rich but way better off than the inner-city, low income kids. If I didn't know about the BayArea tech-scene until 2007, it's easy for me to imagine them not having a clue even today. NOTE: That house I got in 2003? I totally should have been one of the people that got foreclosed on; but the extreme jump in my salary after leaving AT&T saved me.

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graeme 12y ago

A couple comments: First, Altruism aside, this will likely be a win for ycombinator. There are always opportunities to be had in targeting subgroups which others neglect. And the problem with bias is that much of it is subconscious. Unless an organisation makes a conscious effort, it will likely discriminate. This means there's an opportunity for YC to get easier access to the cream of the crop, merely by specifically recruiting. And articles like this are helpful too, as they'll signal to would be black entrepreneurs that they should not shy away from YC. Second, this could be very important for future african-american entrepreneurs. Reference examples are so, so important. I (white male) did not become a programmer, despite a love for math and computers. I literally didn't have a single programmer in my extended family or circle of close friends. I played around with computers, but I had no idea what a programming language was until age 25. (If this sounds incurious, think about what massive blind spots you yourself had until recently) If YC can fund an african-american entrepreneur who succeeds massively, then this will inspire thousands of others. The same arguments apply to recruiting women, and inspiring women. I applaud this move, and YC's earlier initiative to recruit women.

meowface 12y ago
>And the problem with bias is that much of it is subconscious. Unless an organisation makes a conscious effort, it will likely discriminate. Could you elaborate? Here, the article states that 1% of all applicants are black. How can the demographics of those who apply at all be attributed to bias on Y Combinator's part, intentional or otherwise?
- graeme 12y ago
  I didn't say YC was biased, specifically. I meant we all our, inasmuch as our culture produces bias against black people. Growing up in a biased culture, it would be very, very, very difficult not to acquire any. This idea has received some empirical validation from the implicit biases test. Some details here: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/06/090617142120.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/06/090617142120.ht... Other studies have compared the performance of white vs. black names. http://www.nber.org/digest/sep03/w9873.html http://www.nber.org/digest/sep03/w9873.html The evidence suggests that most people are biased, yet think they are not. Removing this unconscious bias from our society will take time. So I meant that almost EVERYBODY is likely to discriminate, at least if current evidence pointing that way is correct. Therefore, unless an organization takes conscious effort, it will discriminate. But on the bright side, merely by taking such conscious effort, an organization can both help itself AND help a disadvantaged group. And leading the way forward is one mechanism to reduce unconscious bias. I am sure, for instance, that Obama's presidency has made today's children far less likely to be biased.

kyro 12y ago

Does being Egyptian qualify me for this? I am technically an African American. I'm half-serious.

antonioevans 12y ago

bullshit. we got a YC interview for summer 2014. We had almost 200k in revenue and outpaced it (2 months later) almost 400k. I am black spanish guy and cofounder female latin. Only people in our interview who look like us (or in the whole place). Not being angry at all just saying this is a publicity in my opinion. Our model didn't fit into what they were investing on at the time. We didn't need money but wanted to be part of YC. But i will tell you no one looked like us.

livelybc 12y ago
It used to be that looking like Mark Zuckerberg would increase your chances of getting in. I think that speaks a lot to the kinds of bias that may exist.
- antonioevans 12y ago
  I didn't feel bias at all. The bias is towards companies that fit a model they like and if they can find entrepreneurs who can execute on that model. Has nothing to do with race. But one thing yes the "startup" system isn't really built to accelerate certain communities. the biggest thing is access. It's same in lots of industries and YC/startups aren't the only ones that deal with it.
radoslawc 12y ago
Why are you being racist? What's the difference whether someone looked like you or not?
- antonioevans 12y ago
  not talking about interviewers but people who applied. 3 people of color. 5 Asian people. and maybe 80 Caucasians the whole day I was there. Also maybe 3-10 women. It was an observation and far from a racist comment.

pg_is_a_butt 12y ago

Y Combinator = Racist

aikah 12y ago

I'm black ,what is this ? affirmative action pt2 ? you dont need to "recruit more black entrepreneurs" , you need to recruit entrepreneurs wether they are black,yellow,brown,man,woman,trans without prejudice,based only on their skills. Or if "Y Combinator to recruit more black entrepreneurs" means they were discriminated against before, we want a few good negros to look good, just like a few women here and there ,and build "girls who code" clubs for PR,so the tech world is not labelled as racist or sexist ? The tech world is racist,and sexist. The VC world is way beyond racist or sexist ,it's a culture of nepotism.You cant change that.It's like electing a black president,you may look good abroad but at home noone is dumb enough to think anything has changed. It's even worse to consider minorities as "people that need help".We dont need help we need equality at first place,there is none.

jmathai 12y ago
I'm Indian. I don't believe I face the same difficulties that blacks do. It also feels weird to respond but I'll give it a go. > We dont need help we need equality at first place,there is none. I don't disagree. Don't you believe that making special efforts to get minority groups into something can do more good than harm? Perhaps it depends on the details of how it's done but if done correctly I think it can help. There isn't equality and there won't be equality anytime soon. That's why I believe deliberate effort has its place. It doesn't have to imply an imbalance of equality. Instead it can acknowledge the imbalance of perceived equality and aim to eradicate the false assumptions. I don't for an instance claim that one race or sex is intrinsically more intelligent. But I'll admit that I do believe entire groups of people are marginalized and it creates an unleveled playing field. One which should be level. It applies to many groups. People who are poor, black, hispanic, gay, women, obese, unattractive, etc. If you fall into these groups you'll have felt some level of discrimination. Some more than others (i.e. someone who's poor, black and gay will have felt it more acutely than someone who's just gay). I don't know. I think it this can be done in a respectful manner with good intent and without being derogative. Would you disagree? If so what's the more realistic solution?
arjie 12y ago
Suppose people of all races are equally capable founders. Suppose that it so happens that VC firms are only well known in certain demographics. We all know that often it is hard to recognize a problem if it doesn't affect you. If different demographics have at least some different problems, and if it is one demographic that's primarily being funded, then you gain a market advantage going after the less well known problems. So don't take it personally. It isn't about you. It's about looking for the next big thing in a place that isn't as crowded with other treasure hunters.

jedanbik 12y ago

I'd rather Y Combinator make an effort to recruit more black entrepreneurs than make an effort to not recruit more black entrepreneurs.

infoseckid 12y ago

I hate it when someone says we'd like to fund more from a "minority" such as women or black people or XXX like YC has done in the past. What does this do? 1. For the minority this makes them feel like they "need help" and they are "not good enough" unless they are given an unfair advantage 2. For the majority, it makes them feel sidelined and at an unfair disadvantage when applying YC needs to just promote entrepreneurship and not colour. For the record, I am a coloured man, unfortunately not black to be able to take advantage of this latest "minority giveaway"

known 12y ago

Google "Map Shows Most Racist People On Earth". http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/worldviews/wp/2013/05/15/a-fascinating-map-of-the-worlds-most-and-least-racially-tolerant-countries/ http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/worldviews/wp/2013/05/15...

Quizz 12y ago

YC is tech specific; it's self selecting, so any tech entrepreneur regardless of color will apply to YC. Are there other tech accelerators with higher black applicants? Maybe the pipe starts in elementary school and not age 22. YC's efforts would be more effective inspiring inner city black children in nearby communities to take an interest in tech.

awaythrow123 12y ago

Will they reduce the over representation of Jewish and Asian Americans?

fwn 12y ago

Such a statement will probably result in good press. It may be racist to regard skin color in recruiting decisions but I think this will not end up being used against YC since most people don't care as long as whites are not favoured. I guess it's regular csr marketing.

whudz 12y ago

Just figured I should take this opportunity to say, I'm black (and female!) and an entrepreneur. Right now my cofounder (also black) and I are building 20 software products in 20 weeks. You can read about it at http://www.munocreative.com/blog http://www.munocreative.com/blog. #shamelessplug We previously wouldn't have applied to Y combinator because of remarks like these: "I can be tricked by anyone who looks like Mark Zuckerberg. There was a guy once who we funded who was terrible. I said: ‘How could he be bad? He looks like Zuckerberg!’” --Paul Graham, New York Times (http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/05/magazine/y-combinator-silicon-valleys-start-up-machine.html?pagewanted=all http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/05/magazine/y-combinator-sili...) Seeing as not even a Stanford degree and overpriced American Apparel hoodie can make us look like Mark Zuckerberg. ...but hey---this move by Sam actually seems like a good sign!