
Would you get a money from a VC/angel who tweets bad things about your religion? - brokenhope
Did you saw people get funded just because of their ethnicity? How you can find VC&#x2F;angels who are respectful to their selfs? How YC handles this?
Any alternatives that you are beware of?
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newdaynewuser
Who cares if they are just mocking or making a light fun of religion/s. All
religions have caused a lot of pain around the world; now it is time for
religions to be mocked. Unless they are hateful, take the money.

And no smart VC will ever fund founders just because of ethnicity. If they do,
you probably don't want to deal with them anyways.

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giis
IMHO, no, I won't take the money, not because I'm religious person or
something. I expect the person, whom I work with, at-least respect others.

As far as I'm concerned, funding is not just one way evaluation - where
VC/Angel decide/determines whether to fund a startup or not based on founder's
characters and technical/business abilities.The startup founder also needs to
decide whether they think this money is legal or what's the background of this
VC/angel who wants to invest.

Also note, taking stand like this might impact your business too! For example,
what will do if you came to know customer is saying bad thing about religion ?
Do you still want to take money from them?

~~~
brokenhope
You have my respect too. Good point for customer side of things.I will
research more about that, all I can say is if somebody dont want to buy
something from me or want to return because of my religion then i would let
them to do so after trying to convince them why they are wrong about my
religion if they listen for sure.

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a3n
If you have a potential investor that did that, I would politely let him know
your religion, and ask him if that's going to be a problem. Better than having
support withdrawn later.

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rajacombinator
If you refuse to take money from people who have said stupid things or things
you disagree with, you'd better be planning on bootstrapping. ;)

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edoceo
No. Its a simple matter of respect.

You can clearly see this individual disrespect a group you identify with.

Regardless of the type of group. You can't have that around.

I've not witnessed ethnic bias in my investor dealings. I'd like to think its
all about the Benjamin's.

The alternative is to own your product, build what your customers will pay
for. Good, respectful investors will find you & you can pick from them.

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nitwit005
It depends on the context. If someone is openly hostile in a public setting,
then no. They're probably an asshole.

If they mock religion in private, or on Facebook or some other stupid thing,
whatever. A lot of people have negative feelings about some religions or
political groups, but most of us manage to be polite and professional when we
go outside.

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skissane
I have my religious beliefs, but even if a VC/investor was harshly critical of
them, I wouldn't refuse their money on that basis alone. Assuming they are
professional and capable of keeping business and personal matters distinct, it
should not matter even if they think my religious beliefs are totally crazy
and say so publicly. The only things that should matter would be - how much
money are they bringing to the table, and how much influence/control over the
venture do they expect in exchange, and how will they exercise that
influence/control in practice.

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thrway2busy
You switch from "religion" in your title to "ethnicity" in the body. Other
than a few spelling errors (no big problem) we have basically nothing to judge
your character by, though many people around here know a lot about
VC's/angels. We simply can't tell you how you will do.

If I were a VC and you wrote me the above email I would probably respond "I
love disruption in everything, it's basically my job; it's hard to disrupt the
status quo while holding utmost respect for traditions that go back millennia.
as such if this bothers you I may not be a fit. On the other hand, you can
believe whatever you want! I would question whether you would be as open-
minded as my other founders, if you are dogmatic about your core beliefs - but
this will not influence in any way my decision to invest - just prove that you
are innovative in business." Then I would look at the email for a few seconds,
and delete it rather than send it. Because I can't risk getting into some huge
argument over this - being accused of being bigoted, being sued, etc. Plus,
who introduced you? If you were introduced to me it would be a different
matter.

so, that is how filtering works in the VC world, I think. Please note that I'm
not a VC and this is speculation.

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eivarv
It depends on what "bad things" are.

I'm not religious myself, but I think there's a clear cut difference between
criticizing or scrutinizing an idea (the religion to which you subscribe – or
political ideology, for that matter), and "otherizing" its subscribers by way
of negative generalizations.

That being said, I agree with others in this thread: People that are
unabashedly rude in public might not be the kind of person you'd want to have
to deal with on a regular basis.

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Mz
This is not at all an easy question to answer. For me, it would depend on
whether I felt the degree to which they were being disrespectful of something
core to my identity made things simply not viable. If it doesn't go that far,
then working with them may be a means to improve the image your faith has in
the eyes of others.

I leave you with the story of Hattie McDaniels, a black american actress who
played the maid in a lot of movies at a time when playing the maid was the
only role she was likely to get. She was widely criticized by black americans
for taking that role. She rebutted those criticisms with a statement to the
effect of "I can _play_ a maid for $700 per week or I can _be_ a maid for $7
per week."

[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hattie_McDaniel](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hattie_McDaniel)

In short: If you think the money is something you can get and their attitude
is not so problematic as to guarantee that it will help destroy your business,
I would take the money. If it is such that they will give bad advice, sabotage
your business, etc, then walk away.

It's a judgement call.

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pavornyoh
Religion/believes although important should not be mixed with business
otherwise it creates tension and breeds hatred. An example is what happened in
KY with that woman clerk.

So if a VC/Angel tweets bad things about your religion then you should seek
alternative funding for whatever you are doing. Because it will never work
even if you pretend those bad tweets didn't matter.

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MalcolmDiggs
I would feel comfortable giving one warning (in person). I'd explain what I
saw/heard, I'd explain how I felt about it, and I'd leave it in their court to
change their behavior.

If they took it as a learning experience and showed a genuine interest in
changing, I'd still be comfortable working with them. If they continued being
disrespectful, I'd have to part ways with them.

I always like to give people a chance to redeem themselves; I'm sure I've said
stupid things that offended others in the past, and I'm grateful for the
opportunities I've had to learn and grow. Nobody's perfect, we're all human.

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chrisBob
I don't want to see the details, but this is a case where I think the details
matter. Attacking the _beliefs_ of a religion is not productive and indicates
a problem for me. Attacking a religion based on human rights issues or
political positions is completely different.

For example someone could tweet bad things about the gay rights position of my
own religion, and I would consider that to be a good thing.

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matttheatheist
YES! I would ABSOLUTELY take the money!!!

And why should YOU do the same? Two reasons:

(1) In 20 years, EVERYBODY will make fun of your religion. (And for good
reason.) And finally, (2) In 20 years, you'll be rich, and you won't care
about what anyone thinks.

So if I were you, I'd take that money.

~~~
brokenhope
I do repect what you think. If you are right with item 1 then I will not lose
anything. If we drop a blank Iphone under the soil the propability of it's
coming out with ios9 is same as propability of item 1 for me, just to
influence you; think about the same thing for a human DNA. For me I am rich
when I do live according to what I do beleive.

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merrua
No. It's not really a good sign if the VC doesn't have respect for other
peoples religions. Even if the region in question is a bit out there for
whatever country, its nice to be nice. Jerks aren't good business partners.

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auganov
YC won't force you to take any money. You could definitely decline any VC you
want. But if their tweets are not above a certain threshold of hatefulness
then do expect others to be wary of investing in you too.

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brokenhope
Because of the character limit I wrote religion to end of question. Please
interprete it as religion/beliefs or anything which describes what makes you
you. Did anybody had a similar experience?

------
orionblastar
You have to get over the fact that not everyone is going to agree with your
religion or beliefs. You have to get over the facts that laws are passed and
Supreme Court decisions are made that conflict with your religious beliefs.

In fact you might have found yourself doing the same to someone of different
beliefs or religion or even atheists.

But because of diversity you have to work with people with different religion,
beliefs, atheism, whatever and you can't force your religion and beliefs on
them.

Christianity has been spoken out against because of the beliefs on marriage,
abortion, etc. You see all kinds of activists attack Christianity because it
doesn't believe in abortions, same sex marriage, etc in general, and while
there are some versions of Christianity that do believe in those things,
social media and news media attacks Christians based on the views of the
Fundamentalists.

If we learned from Brandon Eich and Mozilla, his Christian beliefs to fight
gay marriage by donating to a charity for Proposition 8 is what had caused him
to resign due to bad PR when his name was released as donating money to it.
Laws can quickly change, society can quickly change, you have to think ahead
and think how what you do and say will be viewed in the future when things
change. You can't always have your way and you have to work with people who
don't like your religion but like your product and work ethic.

In IT I learned that having a thin skin and letting things get to you is not
the right way to handle things professionally. You will have others attack you
because of your religion or beliefs, and you have to work with them. A simple
question like are you putting up a Christmas tree will tell them that you are
a Christian, and then that is where the rants against Christianity come in,
and you have to take it without fighting back and develop a thick skin because
you need to get along with people who hold different views and beliefs than
you do, and work as a team. You will find that many people are abusive to IT
staff when their computer develops a problem and will use swear words and
verbally abuse you until it is fixed. In IT one has to develop a thick skin
and not let this abuse get to them.

I couldn't handle the abuse and got stressed out because I couldn't manage
stress and got sick. I was often attacked because of my religion, even people
taking the Lord's name in vain to try and trigger me, making all kinds of
degrading comments about Jesus, and all I did was turn the other cheek, and
not fight back. If I fought back, I'd be sure to be fired and written up. If I
reported them, well management was on their side anyway, and I'd be in
trouble.

I don't push my religion or beliefs on others, and I try not to do the same to
them that they do to me, I follow the law and keep my mouth shut unless it is
about business or IT. I believe in turning the other cheek on issues like this
as Jesus taught.

~~~
brokenhope
I do respect other people, I am HUMAN first of all and pray for all people to
find the right path. But can not respect people who do not respect their
selfs. Although I do respect people who thinks they came from monkeys, it
becomes very funny when they claim other people ANIMAL and their self HUMANs.

~~~
drugsAreBad0001
First off, it's incredibly arrogant to say you pray for people to "find the
right path", and incredibly disrespectful. That's completely disrespectful.
Not to mention the insult to atheists, it's completely ridiculous.

Please tell the VC that you don't want their money, since obviously you're too
proud to to business.

~~~
orionblastar
Keep in mind that this is a person in a foreign nation that has a different
culture, law, society, and way of life that has lead to a religion that prays
for others to find their own path. They do not mean to insult atheists, but
they have to learn about western culture, western society, and the fact that
not everyone here is religious.

I studied global management and international business, and it is hard to fit
into a new nation with different people who believe or don't believe different
stuff. It would be just as hard for an atheist to fit into his nation, as he
has trying to fit into our nation. Remember that this is happening globally as
other nations get into tech startups and they aren't aware that they are
offending people. It takes some getting used to and you have to forgive him
because he is new to our culture and way of life. He has to make some changes
to adapt and fit in.

He seems to have a difficult time understanding Evolution, said something like
humans evolved from monkeys, some people think other humans are animals. It
seems to be some sort of misunderstanding. Maybe in his country they don't
teach evolution but something else? He seems to lack understanding of western
culture and science, and I think we should help him out.

But I agree his words do insult atheists, but he doesn't mean to insult
anyone, he doesn't know any better because he might never have met an atheist
before. He hasn't learned how to phrase his words to be more accepting of
others who don't share his belief system. He is still learning English and I
think we should help him understand that praying for an atheist is an insult
to an atheist, and might lead to a series of conflicts.

Our culture and nation is a bit alien to him, and he's still trying to learn
it. Got some myths about Evolution he needs to work out. Needs to learn how to
get along with others who don't share his religious beliefs. Needs to learn
how to phrase his words better to avoid offending people.

Who knows, he could be the Steve Jobs of his nation and not be ready for it
yet. I recall Steve Jobs followed Buddhism that believed people should find
their own path, I recall Steve Jobs struggling in 1985 and leaving Apple to
start over again. Steve Jobs had to learn from his failures to get back with
Apple in order to save it. So too must this person learn form their failures
and mistakes to fit into western culture and get along with atheists, etc.

~~~
mieses
I've heard taxi drivers at the gas station engaged in intense debate on this
issue. Atheism, as you stated, is a belief system. The existence of God can't
be disproven. There have been mathematical proofs to that effect. The entire
atheist position is based on faith in something that cannot be proven. So what
is the underlying motivation of atheism? It might simply be pleasure derived
from offending stupid religious people. So offending atheists in return seems
to be fair. Anyways, that's the gist of the taxi driver conversation I
overheard.

~~~
eivarv
Nitpick: Atheism is not a belief system.

The term denotes the lack of belief in deities, and exactly this and nothing
else. This also means that it is not based on "faith" at all, as it does not
posit any assumptions.

Humanism, on the other hand, can be described as a belief system.

Not to start the ball rolling in a religious debate or anything.

~~~
mieses
The goal of not positing assumptions is impossible and completely discarded by
New Atheists and most taxi drivers.

~~~
eivarv
I'm not saying that atheists don't personally make assumptions, but that
atheism does not.

I'm saying that the claim that atheism is a "belief system" that makes the
same kinds of assumptions as religions is intellectually dishonest at best.

This is my point:

There is a difference between a belief that something does not exist (what
you're talking about, and a false equivalence), and a lack of belief in that
same something (what the term actually means).

Also, not all assumptions are equal: neither "New" Atheists nor taxi drivers
go around believing every assumption they hear that has not been disproven.

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hoinz
Well, you could take the money then behead him!

(no of course not, but what is he saying, it might have some validity.. "bad
things" is subjective you know? Ask him about it!)

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angersock
Pecunia non olet.

~~~
a3n
Except you get oversight and influence from your VC.

~~~
angersock
If they're telling you to skip church or they'll pull funding, that's one
thing...but I'm thinking (based on the disjointed hints about "being
repsectful to themselves") and whatnot, this is just run-of-the-mill "This VC
disagrees with my religious beliefs, maybe drinks more than I do, etc.".

People that put religion before business are not making profitable choices.

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brokenhope
What about YC?

