
An Untold Startup Story - gruntmaster9000
http://modelviewculture.com/pieces/an-untold-startup-story
======
angersock
This is a pretty awful story--I'm very saddened that the author went through
it. An interesting observation she makes:

 _" I know companies are recognised as separate entities, but they are
established by people and shaped by people’s decisions and those decisions
have an impact on people; therefore business is never just business. (And, if
you reverse engineer that equation, ultimately what’s best for the people will
be what’s best for the company)."_

~

Startups, because they blur so heavily the line between personal and business,
present a place that can be very exciting and very strange. Combine this with
the somewhat young folks that seem to be trying to get in on things, and
things can get really rough really quickly.

I was at coffee the other day with a friend and we kicked around the idea of
"startups and startup ecosystems as liminal spaces"\--places where normal
cultural mores and standards do not apply. I think there's something to that.

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lnanek2
I don't really understand why she didn't take the guy up on his offer to
resign. She did seem incapable of working with him or at his incubator after
that. It was a good offer on his part, especially considering they didn't even
have sex, just sleeping together on the same couch and him touching her
breasts.

I don't think that result was even strange. They were both very drunk, staying
the same place, she didn't go back to her room at the end, and she told the
similarly drunk guy she was cold - a standard hookup line to initiate hugging,
which is all that happened.

I've gotten clothed hugs from friends regularly who would never sleep with me.
I've gotten hands under clothes both other people's under mine touching
genitals and mine under theirs in bars and at pools and beaches and the like
with people I had only met that one time. I think it is wrong that it happened
in this case where she didn't want it, but it just doesn't seem the world
ending thing to me like she treated it.

~~~
coffeecodecouch
> she told the similarly drunk guy she was cold - a standard hookup line to
> initiate hugging, which is all that happened

"I woke up with my pants undone and down (but not completely removed). My top
and bra around my neck, and to my horror, Matt behind me. Holding me."

Sure doesn't sound like just hugging. Also her post doesn't say she simply
told the guy she was cold, it says she directly asked him to turn on the
heater. Either way, what's said to have happened next would be a very clear
indication that she didn't mean anything romantic of it:

"I got stronger and stronger – ending in forcibly pushing him away"

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slantedview
It's terrible that shame is used as a mechanism to prevent victims from
bringing justice (in whatever form) to their victimizer. The power you have is
in the truth, all of it - names included. I'm glad you spoke up.

~~~
zorpner
As you can see from the comments on the current HN thread about Github's
second statement (which I think is a significant improvement on their first
one), making specific statements typically only makes this worse for women in
tech:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7662190](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7662190)

~~~
slantedview
I don't know that the two situations make for a good comparison.

------
infoseckid
Which accelerator was this?

~~~
throwaway04-29
Unfortunately the article is really short on identifying details. I'm assuming
the names in the article are fake.

However, the fact that she gave up control of the company to the accelerator
is unusual.

Lightbank Start, which doesn't have a website anymore (defunct?) took 50%
equity. And it was founded by two men. Could that be it?

