
Ask HN: Fat founder, does it hurt getting funding? - johnrgrace
Do venture capitalists or angels fund fat people?  When I look about I see most founders are a bit fitter and thinner than the average population.  Perhaps there is some bias in terms of who goes to conferences or gets into magazines.
HN, Is being Fat a problem in terms of getting investors?
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tptacek
Thinking in the way you'd have to think to ask this question is a huge problem
in terms of getting investors. Hustlers don't step on a scale in the morning,
look at the number, and then tell themselves "huh, I'd better cut out carbs
and spend 6 months at the gym before closing my next sale". They just get the
fuck out there and close the sale.

If you want to use entrepreneurship as a forcing function to make progress
with weight loss, good on you; your health is almost certainly more important
than your short-term business success.

But don't kid yourself about how the market works. If you can generate value
and communicate it to clients, customers, and investors, the market will find
a number to attach to that value. If you can't, even if you can run a 3.5 hour
marathon, you aren't going to get a number to work with. The world is full of
fit "business cofounders" who can't sell a fucking thing.

This question is just a way of talking yourself out of taking an honest shot.

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tlb
Yes. It hurts you when recruiting employees and winning customers too. It's
not insurmountable, obviously, but it's a significant handicap. Hit the gym
and pay attention to how you look overall: zits, bad hair, body odor, bad
clothes, bad table manners also hurt you.

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clicks
> ... zits, bad hair, body odor, bad clothes, bad table manners also hurt you.

I wasn't born in America (I'm Indian -- I'm used to eating rice with my bare
hands) -- never ate American food, thus I have no table manners.

Where/how do I learn them? I've tried to read some internet articles and such
but that didn't help me -- I'm still quite messy with my handling of fork and
knife (and not very knowledgeable about what to say when and how ("pass me
that that dish over there please?")

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calbear81
I would say the best way is through careful social observation. Put yourself
in many different types of situations and observe the unspoken "rules" around
mannerisms. Try and eat at different restaurants, attend a ball game, go to
the opera, join a meetup -- each one of these different scenarios will help
you learn and grow.

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jaylevitt
Well, we don't have any A/B tests, and we don't have any statistics, so all we
have are anecdotes.

That said, my last job was at an angel-funded company, though these were
atypical angels - all billionaires, some well-known names. The CEO was not
only fat (330 pounds), but old (46), brash, loud, opinionated, and the kind of
guy who would say "You know what we need on the landing page? Smokin' hot
_broads!_ " In the movie version, he will be played by a taller Danny DeVito.

But he was a good guy and a great salesman, and had no trouble raising
multiple multi-million dollar rounds, even while pivoting completely - several
times. His investors trusted him to treat their money with respect, and
knowing his history, I would too.

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001sky
Actually, you could run facial recognition on a scrape of images tied to
professional profiles, and get some pretty strong inferences on BMI, race and
gender. And then re-formulate the question: Are you more likely to see a
height/weight disproportionate person vs another minority? like meso-indian,
black or female?

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Unregistered
Reid Hoffman is neither slim nor athletic looking. Focus on your product,
market, and go to market strategy and you should be fine.

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CyberFonic
Depends on the investors. People tend to "like" people who are similar to
them. Successful people tend to be type-A personalities, which in turn
indicates that they are more likely to make the effort to be fit. Successful
people are more likely to have money to invest and so the cycle goes on.

I know several fat, happy, friendly, successful people. I think their success
comes from their good attitude, warm personality and the value they bring to
the negotiating table.

Obesity is also a health issue and investors will see that as a risk to their
investment.

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icey
What does it matter? If the answer is "yes" what would you do differently? Why
not do those things anyways?

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UnoriginalGuy
This is actually a highly valid point.

If the answer is "yes" so what? If overweight individuals could be less
overweight then don't you think they would be already?

Kind of like asking a heroin addict "will using heroin hurt your career?" Yes?
Oh well let me quit right this second then...

Ditto smokers, alcoholics, other eating disorders, depression, mental illness,
drug users, sex-addicts, internet-addicts, et al.

I'm no expert on curing this stuff but I do know that shaming them or putting
tons of pressure on them (quit or X Y Z will happen) is the opposite of
progress.

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gadders
I don't know - sometimes external motivation can help. i.e I lost two stone
(28lbs) because a) I was approaching my 40th birthday, and didn't want to be
fat _and_ 40, and b) I wanted to stay healthy for little girl.

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UnoriginalGuy
No. It is important to "look the part" but a fat person is well fitting cloths
can look better than a thin person in a suit which is two sizes too big.

When people picture this question they're picturing some guy in a small
t-shirt with a massive beer-belly. Which we can all agree looks horrible.

Now draw that picture again with a well fitting suit...

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itry
Fat is probably a good predictor for lack of ambition. So I would say it
lowers chances to get funded.

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SkyMarshal
This is a fucked up world view. The underlying assumption seems to be that
every human has the exact same metabolism, hence if you're lean and fit you
have willpower, self-discipline, and self-control, and if you're fat you don't
because you've 'let yourself go'.

But by that measure everyone who isn't an Olympic athlete lacks a certain
level of willpower, self-discipline, and self-control as well, since that's
the only differential between Olympians and non-olympians.

Bodies are different, metabolisms are different, and each person has a natural
equilibrium state. For some people that equilibrium state is lean and skinny,
and it takes relatively little willpower or 'ambition' to maintain it. In
fact, some can't even get overweight if they _try_.

For others, their equilibrium state is to be overweight, and it takes a
relatively herculean, constant, unending effort to reach and maintain the
former's same level of leanness.

Food also affects different people in different ways. It's no secret Americans
have gotten fatter in recent decades, and one of the main culprits is our
increasingly poor diet. But even there, some people are more resistant to
gaining weight from poor quality food and/or overeating while others have to
stick to a strict diet, count every calorie, and work their ass off in the gym
just to look like the former does without even trying.

We seem to be getting better at hacking our metabolism lately, judging by what
I've read of Paleo/Primal, stuff on Lifehacker, etc. I wonder if anyone has
ever applied to YC by answering the application question "what was your best
hack?" by saying they were naturally obese and hacked their body/metabolism to
overcome it. It's not easy.

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CyberFonic
You are right! But consider that many thin people make a huge effort to be
that way and with that comes resentment that they are foregoing all the nice
things (chocolate, beer, snacks, etc) I hate group dining where one person is
a diet & exercise Nazi - really spoils the atmosphere. Pass the chocolate
mousse and cognac!

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gadders
Should it matter? No.

Does it matter? Possibly. If you have an excellent idea, then being larger
than average shouldn't stop you.

Hovever, it may count _slightly_ against you. To take an extremely negative
view, being fat (not just carrying a few extra pounds) could be seen to be
evidence of lack of self-discipline. No-one makes you fat, it is something
that people do to themselves, and either by being too "weak" to resist
unhealthy food, or by not being able to stick to an exercise regime.

Also, I think in a lot of western societies now, being fat is something that
seems to be more common with poorer people. Which might influence people
slightly, although it shouldn't.

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grandalf
I don't think most rational people care too much what other people look like.
It would seem to only be an issue if a founder were so obese that it appeared
his/her life was quite out of control.

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humbledrone
Unfortunately, there's no such thing as a totally rational person when it
comes to making nuanced decisions for which there is no objective right or
wrong answer. It's simply impossible to set aside one's unconscious biases
entirely. To an extent, one can work around unconscious biases by being as
data-driven as possible, but for something like deciding whether to fund a
startup, the decision is (at least in early rounds) largely based on a
subjective read of the founders, rather than any metrics.

Note that I'm not defending any kind of biased treatment of overweight people
-- I'm just commenting on the present reality of the matter.

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codegeek
Is this a serious question ?

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johnrgrace
Yes it is a serious question.

