
An Open Letter to Founders and Investors - alexmanuel
https://medium.com/@crispr/an-open-letter-to-founders-and-investors-b6e955a9d21a#.5ako11y5s
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generic_user
It's hard for me to believe that an educated person over the age of say 13
wrote that ridiculous rant. If there was any chance CRISPER inc could be taken
as a serious business that essay put an end to it full stop.

Who ever wrote that should be fired immediately. Good luck trying to salvage
the bits and pieces from this self inflicted train wreck.

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entee
Looking over the application, the science claims are wildly overblown. Claims
of CRISPR making DNA sequencing free, having a 100% cure rate for cancer,
eliminating the need for antibiotics are just on their face flat wrong. It
seems they misunderstand what CRISPR is (a highly specific DNA nuclease), and
how it can be used in the context of a larger organism.

CRISPR is a huge, important advance, it's not the cure-all to all of biology's
real and imagined ills.

Not sure how the political thing is relevant in that context. This election
season has been extraordinarily acrimonious, and I'll go on the record that I
find Trump's views abhorrent. That said, at some point we're going to have to
figure out how to talk about politics in a civil manner, because otherwise the
whole situation is going to get even worse.

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alexmanuel
Someone else posted this here already, but we wanted to answer questions
ourselves. Thank you all for the amazing support and kind words.

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gragas
>Trump is not a science supporter but altogether a vision of hatred

Trump loves America. He wants to save America from corruption.

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chinese_dan
"In turn for voicing our concern and opinions about a partner who supports
Donald Trump, they got cold, stopped responding altogether afterwards, and
needless to say, we were discriminated against, we felt blacklisted "

You are begging for money. Investors have all of the power in this situation.
They don't really owe you anything.

"And as investors, you guys have a commitment to do right by founders like
us."

Sorry, no they don't.

"We have a strong team but also, a strong set of beliefs. And we for one, do
not support the bigotry and hatred that is spread by people like Trump, and
the fact that Y Combinator which is supposed to be on the side of the
entrepreneur and promote technology and science has taken this stance is
shocking and proves that change needs to happen. We ask investors to
reconsider where they place their trust."

Guilty by association is a logical fallacy. Should I then conclude that you
support rapists because you support Hillary (who fought against the women Bill
Clinton abused)?

"Trump is not a science supporter but altogether a vision of hatred against
humanity"

Complete hyperbole. You are an example of bigotry and bias that is destroying
our society. You can't stand the fact that someone supports something you
don't like and want to destroy them publicly.

"This was the first time we ever attempted to be part of a program like this,
and if you see our CSO and his resume, it speaks for itself"

Please. Ycombinator doesn't need you more than you need them.

"That we were subjected to discrimination"

So not responding to your ridiculous requests is now considered
'discrimination'.

"and we shouldn’t be punished for it"

You are hardly being punished for anything. Take a look at all of the college
professors and professionals that are fired from their jobs for merely
speaking their mind.

"The truth is we never have and never will support Trump."

I have money and I would never invest in your company.

This article has shown the world that you are unwilling to compromise. If
things don't go your way, you immediately go into hyperbole, name calling, and
there is absolutely no empathy for anyone on the other side. From personal
experience, you seem like a complete nightmare to work with.

Discrimination didn't cause your lack of response to Ycombinator, your poor
behavior did. I hope you learn something from this.

I also find it disheartening that a group that claims to understand what it's
like to suffer from discrimination, paints an entire part of the population
with the same brush and exhibits the same exact behavior that they claim to be
against.

More discrimination will not stop discrimination.

~~~
alexmanuel
I've never read a more ignorant post in my life.

~~~
chinese_dan
Well, I'm assuming you're young and naive, so I will give you some slack. You
will look back on the article you wrote in a couple of years and want it
buried due to embarrassment (just thinking about it now is pretty cringe
inducing for me as I'm typing this).

Mixing business with politics is a mistake and will severely limit your future
chances at getting a serious investor. Not to mention your intolerant and
abrasive attitude pushes most people away.

This may work in a forum like HN or Reddit where you can downvote someone and
make them disappear. But in the actual world, you need to work together with
people that you absolutely disagree with politically.

I think you are also mistaken about the power-dynamic. You need to give them a
good reason to invest in your company and they really don't owe you any
explanation...and accusing them of discrimination? It's the kind of libel that
goes on every day on social media and is the essence of what's wrong with our
society today.

