4 ms·

If your intent was to bring attention to yourself in the 11th hour, you may have succeeded. That attention, however, may not be what you wanted. As a male, I

by edw519 17y ago

If your intent was to bring attention to yourself in the 11th hour, you may have succeeded. That attention, however, may not be what you wanted. As a male, I will not pretend to imagine what you go through because of our differences. I can only speak from my experience as a wimpy appearing introvert who has had earn everything I've ever had because hardly anyone has ever given me anything. I do not mean to offend and apologize ahead of time in case I do... To me, this entire thread comes off as whining and can only hurt you. Entrepreneurs must treat obstacles as speed bumps to conquer, not roadblocks to complain about. I suggest you redirect any energy you put into this thread into making your start-up better and put your trust into that effort. You'll probably have to make it so good that they can't ignore it. That's what everyone should do anyway. I wish you great success doing that.

deleted 17y ago
[deleted]
boredguy8 17y ago
I work with a few smart women and find that I constantly have to redirect attention and praise back to them when the two of us are working on a project together. If I had a dollar every time I said, "Thanks, but Sarah really championed that approach," or "Yeah, Sarah really pushed the vendors to meet our price point: we wouldn't have been under budget without her," I'd be a far richer person. "Wimpy male introvert" is hardly an exceptionally rare stereotype within IT, and 'not being given anything' is hardly the same as 'having things taken away', which I constantly see happening. And it's not like a few posts on news.yc is a massive time-sink that's 'energy' that needs to be redirected internally. Honestly, I'm so glad I'm not a woman in IT. Not only do you get crapped on, you get told not to complain when it happens.
tianaco 17y ago
No, this thread was a reaction to the announcement that was just revealed. I feel entitled to state my opinion after I spent so much time tailoring my application to a specific rubric. I'm sure you understand. The fact that my concern is controversial, but perhaps resonates with people, is why it got so much attention. HN exists as a forum for discussion and I raised a discussion that is germane to this announcement. A lot of other entrepreneurs have raised similar concerns in different ways... which is why this thread is so popular. I got under people's skin. But for you to call it "whiney" is really out of line. My concerns about this announcement as just as valid as other's people's as evidenced by the amount of upvotes.
webwright 17y ago
Agreed and +1. I hope/trust the OP consulted her co-founders before posting this, because I don't think it helps their chances. It's insulting to Jessica to think that she'd give her "points" for being female. And it's insulting to YC founders to say that we'd somehow dock her for being a woman. That being said-- both are possible. Spend a few months doing A/B testing, read about priming studies, and you realize just how much of our motivation is powered by our subconscious. But just because it's possible doesn't mean that it isn't insulting. I'm a white male, but I like to think that if I was a minority, I'd deal with it be being so fucking good that people couldn't ignore the fact rather than spending one IOTA of energy publicly accusing people of being likely to judge me unfairly...
- maxklein 17y ago
  Good at what?
- bravura 17y ago
  But just because it's possible doesn't mean that it isn't insulting. I can understand how people found this discussion insulting, especially when it got blown out of proportion. It wasn't tianaco's intention. I saw the application she submitted which she is leading. She focuses on differentiating herself from typical entrepreneurs, and a lot of that has to do with her unique experiences. She was confident this would play well with the YC team. She was fearful that it would work against her with YC alum. That's why she started this thread. tianaco is a vocal person who says what she thinks. In some circumstances, this has hurt her. More often than not, it has opened the door to opportunities that don't exist for other people. Regardless, she has made a conscious choice to live her life speaking up. Whether this thread helped her or hurt her is unknown.
  - webwright 17y ago
    "tianaco is a vocal person who says what she thinks." As a team member, she oughta reign this in a bit. As a company founder, saying what you think can sometimes hurt your company. I think you have a duty to put a buffer between your brain and your mouth, especially around touchy subjects. If you always say what you think around investors and customers, you'll probably have fewer of both. :-) I think a lot of people (PG included) have remarked that founders are ALWAYS selling (to customers, investors, new hires, reporters, etc). Part of selling is the ability to anticipate a reaction before you say something and to say the things that will elicit the reaction that you want. Or, at very least, speak the truth in such a way that it maximizes the effect that you want and minimizes the damage that it might cause. Example: last night I ate a juicy organic steak vs. last night I ate a muscle tissue sample of a castrated bull (hat tip to Robert Heinlein). We all make mistakes-- I HOPE she realizes that there's a reasonable chance that she (and her company) might have been better off if she hadn't said what she did or said it in a different way.

by edw519 17y ago

deleted 17y ago

[deleted]

boredguy8 17y ago

I work with a few smart women and find that I constantly have to redirect attention and praise back to them when the two of us are working on a project together. If I had a dollar every time I said, "Thanks, but Sarah really championed that approach," or "Yeah, Sarah really pushed the vendors to meet our price point: we wouldn't have been under budget without her," I'd be a far richer person. "Wimpy male introvert" is hardly an exceptionally rare stereotype within IT, and 'not being given anything' is hardly the same as 'having things taken away', which I constantly see happening. And it's not like a few posts on news.yc is a massive time-sink that's 'energy' that needs to be redirected internally. Honestly, I'm so glad I'm not a woman in IT. Not only do you get crapped on, you get told not to complain when it happens.

tianaco 17y ago

No, this thread was a reaction to the announcement that was just revealed. I feel entitled to state my opinion after I spent so much time tailoring my application to a specific rubric. I'm sure you understand. The fact that my concern is controversial, but perhaps resonates with people, is why it got so much attention. HN exists as a forum for discussion and I raised a discussion that is germane to this announcement. A lot of other entrepreneurs have raised similar concerns in different ways... which is why this thread is so popular. I got under people's skin. But for you to call it "whiney" is really out of line. My concerns about this announcement as just as valid as other's people's as evidenced by the amount of upvotes.

webwright 17y ago

Agreed and +1. I hope/trust the OP consulted her co-founders before posting this, because I don't think it helps their chances. It's insulting to Jessica to think that she'd give her "points" for being female. And it's insulting to YC founders to say that we'd somehow dock her for being a woman. That being said-- both are possible. Spend a few months doing A/B testing, read about priming studies, and you realize just how much of our motivation is powered by our subconscious. But just because it's possible doesn't mean that it isn't insulting. I'm a white male, but I like to think that if I was a minority, I'd deal with it be being so fucking good that people couldn't ignore the fact rather than spending one IOTA of energy publicly accusing people of being likely to judge me unfairly...

maxklein 17y ago
Good at what?
bravura 17y ago
But just because it's possible doesn't mean that it isn't insulting. I can understand how people found this discussion insulting, especially when it got blown out of proportion. It wasn't tianaco's intention. I saw the application she submitted which she is leading. She focuses on differentiating herself from typical entrepreneurs, and a lot of that has to do with her unique experiences. She was confident this would play well with the YC team. She was fearful that it would work against her with YC alum. That's why she started this thread. tianaco is a vocal person who says what she thinks. In some circumstances, this has hurt her. More often than not, it has opened the door to opportunities that don't exist for other people. Regardless, she has made a conscious choice to live her life speaking up. Whether this thread helped her or hurt her is unknown.
- webwright 17y ago
  "tianaco is a vocal person who says what she thinks." As a team member, she oughta reign this in a bit. As a company founder, saying what you think can sometimes hurt your company. I think you have a duty to put a buffer between your brain and your mouth, especially around touchy subjects. If you always say what you think around investors and customers, you'll probably have fewer of both. :-) I think a lot of people (PG included) have remarked that founders are ALWAYS selling (to customers, investors, new hires, reporters, etc). Part of selling is the ability to anticipate a reaction before you say something and to say the things that will elicit the reaction that you want. Or, at very least, speak the truth in such a way that it maximizes the effect that you want and minimizes the damage that it might cause. Example: last night I ate a juicy organic steak vs. last night I ate a muscle tissue sample of a castrated bull (hat tip to Robert Heinlein). We all make mistakes-- I HOPE she realizes that there's a reasonable chance that she (and her company) might have been better off if she hadn't said what she did or said it in a different way.