
Launch HN: The Juggernaut (YC W19) – A Publication for the South Asian Diaspora - snigdha
Hi HN! I’m Snigdha, founder of The Juggernaut (<a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.thejuggernaut.com" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.thejuggernaut.com</a>), a subscription publication for the South Asian diaspora. We charge &lt;$5&#x2F;month for original stories on South Asia and its people. I’d love your feedback — new subscribers get a free week trial :)<p>I’m Indian-American and grew up in New York. Being Indian wasn&#x27;t cool growing up. Western media mostly focused on South Asia&#x27;s poverty (Slumdog Millionaire) or stereotypes (Apu, taxi drivers). That started to change as I grew older. I saw more South Asians in the news — from those in spelling bees, which I used to participate in, to presidential candidate Kamala Harris, to tech CEOs like Sundar Pichai and Satya Nadella. I realized I didn’t know what was going on in the region or with South Asians nationally, let alone in my own city. My mom would forward me news on WhatsApp and I couldn’t talk to her about it meaningfully. I also found that journalism was becoming targeted: The Athletic for Sports, The Infatuation for food, Blavity for black millennials. And I noticed that as China grew, publications started China sections and readers loved Bill Bishop’s Sinocism, a newsletter with sharp China analysis. But there was no national, inclusive, well-reported publication for South Asians, the fastest growing demographic in the US and the largest diaspora in the world.<p>So, every weekend, I’d write a email newsletter (<a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.inkmango.com" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.inkmango.com</a>) linking to the best articles on South Asia(ns) with my thoughts on a pressing issue, from the Harvard affirmative action lawsuit to South Asian representation in Crazy Rich Asians. The newsletter grew to the thousands. After doing this for a few months, I realized linking to other publications wasn&#x27;t enough. I was craving coverage I wasn&#x27;t seeing. That’s why I decided to figure out what it would take to start a new publication with our own reported stories. We called it The Juggernaut.<p>We are starting with one new story a weekday. Our stories have included profiles on South Asian founders, an interview with comedian Hari Kondabolu, an essay on the erasure of Freddie Mercury&#x27;s brownness, and an exploration of the rise of the Subtle Curry Traits Facebook group.<p>Media is difficult. People like free content. We launched behind a paywall because it allows us to pay journalists well and quickly, and invest in better journalism. And paid doesn’t mean exorbitant. I’d love to know — what publications do you read and why? What makes you want to pay for something? What pitfalls should we watch out for? Happy to answer any questions&#x2F;comments; you can also email me at snigdha@thejuggernaut.com.
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doctorcroc
Hi Snigdha,

Congrats on the launch. As a member of the South Asian diaspora, I too enjoy
seeing folks from my specific ethnic background succeeding in business,
politics, and life. This is because I generally love seeing ambitious and
conscious people from all walks succeed.

However, I am increasingly wary of balkanization of populations into disparate
groups based on their ethnicity, culture, gender or sexuality. Identity
politics is at an all time high, and it seems like these days, people identify
themselves first as Black or Indian before they call themselves American or
Australian (or going further, as a human or even as a conscious being). My gut
feeling is that this is a negative trend and actually fractures our species
into sub groups competing for scarce resources and attention.

My question to you is - how do we heal the divisions we have as humans, and
solve complex world scale problems if we're too busy further dividing
ourselves up via trivial lines in the sand, such as our skin color?
Representation is great, but why does it matter if someone in a position of
power has the same religion as you or has the same skin color? I personally
believe quality of character and internal content matters more to kinship than
a shared culture or physical qualities.

~~~
snigdha
That’s a great question, and something we grapple with often at The Juggernaut
— we want to heal divisions. But one of the things we’ve observed is that
healing those divisions also comes with beginning to understand one’s own
heritage and feeling human again. (Some of our readers have mentioned how
powerful it is for themselves to finally feel seen, which makes them feel more
human.)

I would argue that more and more of us actually don’t see ourselves as just
Indian or American. More of us see ourselves as multidimensional and want to
go deep on some of parts of our identity so that we can understand our place
in the world as a global citizen.

Instead, we as humans need to challenge and celebrate our cultures and it's
hard to undo or clear the slate of culture, too. Being South Asian does come
with its own traumas — and every culture and group has this. By discussing
this group’s nuances, we hope to open it up to the world. We also have found
several of our readers are not South Asian, and by reading The Juggernaut,
they realize how alike we are, not how different. In that way, it’s the
opposite of balkanization.

I'd love to continue the conversation and figure out what stories you think we
can cover that will help ensure we don't balkanize.

~~~
doctorcroc
Thanks for the thoughtful response. I agree wholeheartedly with the thought
the healing begins with self-understanding. There's a fantastic book about
trauma called "The Body Keeps The Score" which explains how past traumas can
be unconsciously embedded within the body in ways that talk therapy or
pharmaceuticals cannot resolve alone. I bring this up because to your point,
being without culture is similar to being disembodied and being traumatized -
one needs to reclaim a sense of belonging our background so that one can feel
at peace and resolved. For example, I strongly believe that years of slavery
has left an indelible mark in African American culture, and we may not
understand the scientific explanation until we further study epigenetics, etc.

My fear though is that this very real need to be seen, and heard is being
coopted by factions trying to use that very real human need as fodder for
power (hence the right's claims of "cultural Marxism").

The balance here lies in celebrating one's heritage, without using it as a
token for victimization. Because we get nowhere by further victimizing others
- eg. calling someone a colonizer or oppressor. Everyone has trauma, and
healing begins with radical inclusion - of everyone. I think you have a huge
potential for using The Juggernaut to take the greatest parts of South Asian
heritage and sharing that with non South Asians. I think a great success
example is western adoption of yoga and pranayama - these are tools that
emerged from South Asian culture ages ago, that have a very real place and
utility for anyone living in the modern era.

I'll send you a dm with my contact info so we can continue the conversation.
Appreciate your openness!

~~~
nurspouse
>I bring this up because to your point, being without culture is similar to
being disembodied and being traumatized - one needs to reclaim a sense of
belonging our background so that one can feel at peace and resolved. For
example, I strongly believe that years of slavery has left an indelible mark
in African American culture, and we may not understand the scientific
explanation until we further study epigenetics, etc.

I would be careful with this.

For context, I'm a third culture kid. I was born and raised in the Middle
East, but my ethnicity is not Arab, and I don't have any claim to that area
(not a citizen, need a visa to visit, etc). I came to and settled in the US.
One of the nice things about the Middle East is that being a third culture kid
is not unusual - it's full of them, from all over the world.

Now growing up and going to a school full of students from all over was one of
the best things that ever happened to me. Any attempts at indoctrinating a
superiority of one culture over others just couldn't stick. It was not a
hypothetical discussion for me. I was interacting daily with people from all
over, and I could see the flaws in the indoctrination. Even though I was part
of an oppressed race with respect to the dominant one (Arab), there was no
sense of inferiority. And much, much more importantly, being oppressed did
_not_ push me to be close to the culture of my parent's origin, and that was a
giant blessing. As such, many people throughout my life have accused me of
being "without culture", because I don't identify with any of the "recognized"
cultures. Some aspects I borrow from one culture, others from another, and so
on - and quite a few do not come from any "recognized" culture.

Getting to your comment, when you say "being without culture", I suspect you
have a fairly narrow concept of culture, akin to all those who accuse me (and
my "kind") of being without culture. For too many people in the world, culture
is almost always tied to either geography, race, or nationality. In reality,
culture is a much broader concept. For many/most people, culture is inherently
associated with race or geography. But ultimately, culture is about your set
of values, rituals, how you view the world, etc. And increasingly in today's
world, these are not coming from race. Being in a profession will likely
affect your culture. Scientists, programmers, business people all have their
own cultures that often set them apart from their fellow countrymen/race. And
profession is but one example.

Like it or not, you set your own culture. Some of it just comes naturally from
being in a particular society/race, but at the end of the day, it is your
choice what aspects you make a part of your identity and what you do not. And
the more you do this, the more likely it is that someone is going to label you
as "without culture".

It took me many years before I understood the problems associated with being
"denied a culture" (e.g. slavery as you mentioned). For a long time I was not
very sympathetic to this aspect. Eventually, after much reading on it, I have
reversed my position. The evidence is out there, and there is a lot of damage
done at a societal level. Nevertheless, an African American who adopts the
notion that he is incomplete from a cultural standpoint because of the history
of slavery is contributing to his own suffering.

I have nothing against this publication, and if it helps people out, more
power to it. I do wish more people would realize that creating an identity
based on your race/parents' nationality is not a prerequisite for anything,
and you can still be whole if you don't. The corollary is that if you feel
something is missing, and you decide to pursue an identity based on
race/ethnicity you may still end up less than whole. Don't assume this path is
a solution to your needs.

No matter what anyone tells you, you do get to pick your identity. Don't let
anyone convince you that you are incomplete if you are not in touch with your
ancestral heritage.

Along these lines, I once attended a lecture by a researcher at a local
university. I think his research was more on the biological side of the brain,
but he frequently collaborated on the "softer" side (psychology, etc). He
described one study that I wish I had the reference for. The participants were
provided with this prompt: I am _____. They were free to fill in the blank in
anyway that felt true for them. The upshot: People who felt part of an
oppressed minority focused mostly on their race/gender/sexuality. People who
did not feel oppressed wrote ordinary statements like "I am an honest person."
Or "I am a loving father". The unfortunate side effect of this is that those
in the former camp are much more likely to perceive a negative interaction as
tied to race/gender, etc. I personally have experienced this: A friend of mine
of the same race as me was "performance managed" and eventually fired. He
swore, without any evidence, that the whole thing was racially motivated by
his former manager, who came from a race that historically has had issues with
his. Now this friend had a history of demonstrating an identity tied to his
race, so his reaction did not surprise me at all. Two years later, the exact
same thing happened to me: Performance managed for BS reasons, and eventually
fired. And my manager was of the same race as his. But the notion that it was
racially motivated was just ludicrous to me. If I listed attributes of bad
managers, he satisfied most of them. It was trivial for me to explain it away
as "crappy manager".

~~~
thekhatribharat
I agree with the views. Also, this dovetails into how people's nationality
becomes a core part of their identity and how this is used by governments to
ride the "patriotism" wave — often leading to cold wars and injustice against
outsiders. The present “nation-first” campaigns by govts. across the globe is
a prime example.

~~~
snigdha
Agree this is happening - really unfortunate when fear is twisted to harm
others. But there's another side of nationalism and pride that is less
dangerous and just one of many identities.

------
rememberlenny
Huge props to the founder and crazy story to share about Snigdha. For what its
worth, I'm coming across this post randomly and happy to see it in HN.

The internet is very small.

I sat next to Snigdha on a plane once, coming back from a conference in 2013.
At the time, she was working at one of the big four consulting firms and was
sharing her passion for the Indian cultural market and it's untapped potential
around the world. It's crazy to see her company five years later on the front
page of HN.

I subscribed to the Inkmango newsletter a while ago and have been pleasantly
surprised by the quality and richness as a non-South Asian reader.

The best way to describe this content is "the New Yorker for the South Asian
Diaspora". It's been very educational to be aware of worlds soon-to-be 1.5
billion finds valuable.

~~~
snigdha
Lenny - so great to see you here at HN.

Thanks a ton for sharing your words — interesting perspective re: The New
Yorker for South Asians. Especially since when I first met you six years ago,
you were a senior engineer there. If we can consistently pull off that
quality, I'm excited to reach an even bigger audience.

If you want to read the latest free newsletter Lenny mentioned, you can go
here: [https://mailchi.mp/inkmango/our-weekly-roundup-pulwama-
crisi...](https://mailchi.mp/inkmango/our-weekly-roundup-pulwama-crisis-
continues)

------
ajaymehta
I've been a subscriber to Snigdha's Inkmango newsletter
([https://www.inkmango.com](https://www.inkmango.com)) for many months — I
look forward to it every Sunday. Even though I generally try to stay up on
South Asian news, her newsletter always contains fascinating links/stories
that I really enjoy — and wouldn't have seen otherwise. She's a fantastic
curator and I'm excited to see she's launching original content.

I worked briefly in Indian media, at a magazine based in Delhi, and one
takeaway was that there's unfortunately a paucity of well-reported, hard-
hitting, speaking-truth-to-power journalism in India and South Asia more
broadly. The mainstream papers and TV channels just don't do it. It's easy for
Americans and Europeans to take the presence of publications like the New York
Times for granted, because that level of journalistic quality and resource
doesn't exist in much of South Asia. It's especially unfortunate because many
of the countries are on a march towards nationalism (India being the most
obvious example). Great journalism is so crucial in such a vibrant, important,
rapidly-changing region of the world. Hopefully The Juggernaut and projects
like it can help raise global awareness about the injustices happening in
South Asia — I wish them good luck and I'll be reading!

~~~
selimthegrim
For reference, this is the sort of thing Ajay is talking about:

[https://thewire.in/media/cobrapost-sting-dainik-bartoman-
dai...](https://thewire.in/media/cobrapost-sting-dainik-bartoman-dainik-
sambad)

[https://scroll.in/article/880384/cobrapost-expose-shows-
indi...](https://scroll.in/article/880384/cobrapost-expose-shows-indian-media-
is-sinking-now-we-can-fight-back-or-be-drowned-for-good)

------
AareyBaba
TIL. " _The English loanword juggernaut in the sense of "a huge wagon bearing
an image of a Hindu god" is from the 17th century, inspired by the Jagannatha
Temple in Puri, Odisha_"

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

~~~
snigdha
Ha - yes. Also have you seen this 1865 news article from the New York Times
about The Tenth Avenue Juggernaut?
[https://www.nytimes.com/1865/03/26/archives/the-
tenthavenue-...](https://www.nytimes.com/1865/03/26/archives/the-tenthavenue-
juggernaut.html)

------
m23khan
Good luck Snigdha - I sincerely hope you are successful with this.

However, I feel more and more now, as Pakistani, the term 'South Asia' is
coming to mean 'South Asia minus Pakistan'.

Till not too long ago, it was Indians trying their best to loop in Pakistan
into any mutual association but not, it seems India, Bangladesh and
Afghanistan are leaving no stone unturned trying to disassociate with Pakistan
(only exception is the entertainment industry where for some reason,
association with Pakistan is more than welcome).

All in all, why am I telling you this? Because you can help us Pakistanis by
bringing to highlight via your platform that Pakistan's 'positive' role in
South Asia is beyond just music, sufis and food -- we also have worthy
Pakistani-origin Business folks, scientists and academics.

Thank you.

~~~
snigdha
For us, South Asia definitely includes Pakistan. We have a beautiful story on
Pakistani car decals coming up — can't wait for you to read it. All of these
cultures, identities, stories have lots of complexity. We hope we can do
justice to them. Please do feel free to email me at snigdha@thejuggernaut.com
with more Pakistani stories and pitches, specifically on the individuals you
mention that you've admired.

------
mholkesvik
Congrats Snigdha!

PS - for anyone wondering why "Juggernaut", I'd guess it has something to do
with being a sanskrit derived word.
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juggernaut](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juggernaut)

~~~
snigdha
Thanks so much. Yes - great link out. We aren't just the Marvel character :)
We want to reclaim the word and use 'juggernaut' to describe "an unstoppable
force" (not necessarily one that crushes)

------
krrishd
Subscribed super fast! One piece of feedback: I'd love to learn about new
stories as they come in via a Twitter account (I'm less likely to open them
via email but if they're in my Twitter feed I'll almost always)

~~~
snigdha
That's a great idea — we currently send out a email notification, instagram
update, and twitter notification every afternoon after we've published a new
piece. Our twitter is @bethejuggernaut and our instagram is @_thejuggernaut.
Thanks so much for signing up - can't wait to hear what you think!

------
asnyc
Something on similar lines is
[https://www.thebetterindia.com/](https://www.thebetterindia.com/). It has
positive stories , though based out of India only.

------
billfruit
While it is an interesting endeavor, two things come to my mind:

Especially with respect to South Asia, there is a tendency to pusstfoot over
matters, which while being very important, are also very nuanced. For example:
caste, it is a complex phenomenon that still deeply affects people, yet many
treatments try to air brush it away.

Also it is an extremely diverse region, whereas it get often portrayed as a
largely homogeneous monoculture, when in fact it isn't.

~~~
k__
Probably one reason for the diaspora in the first place?

~~~
snigdha
Say more?

~~~
k__
Oh, I just had the thought that people who are discriminated by the caste
system would rather live somewhere else.

~~~
snigdha
Oh yes - definitely related. And I would also say, sometimes those benefiting
from it were able to leave, too

------
shekispeaks
I subscribed and am excited about it.

I have a little gripe about the name, the name Juggernaut. Juggernaut is
already an Indian company that sells books written by home authors to people
to read on their phones.

[https://www.juggernaut.in/](https://www.juggernaut.in/)

They are fairly successful. Naming two things Indian the juggernaut

------
yumraj
Personally I do feel that there is a huge and urgent need for something like
this to support and share the stories of the Indian subcontinent and its
diaspora in the US and elsewhere. So, in one respect I wish the founder all
the success.

However, a quick glance unfortunately leads me to believe that it is going to
tow the same blatantly anti-Indian bias that most, if not all, of the Western
media such as NYTimes, WaPo, Economist and others possess.

For example, while the little blurb in the inkmango newsletter on Pulwama and
subsequent events ([https://mailchi.mp/inkmango/our-weekly-roundup-pulwama-
crisi...](https://mailchi.mp/inkmango/our-weekly-roundup-pulwama-crisis-
continues)) seems perfectly neutral and acceptable, I was rather disheartened
when I saw that while CNBC and Economist were linked by their brands,
"Arundhati Roy", and her vitriolic anti-Indian article was referred to by name
in the link to HuffPo.

While the editor is free to take whatever approach they want to take, they
will need to decide who the target audience is and whose voice does the
Juggernaut wants to be.

~~~
snigdha
Hi - we're not trying to be just anti-India or anti-Pakistan, nor just pro-
India or pro-Pakistan. We're trying to encompass a wide range of views. One of
the reasons we linked to that article is so that our readers could read
multiple viewpoints and form conclusions of their own, especially since it is
a sensitive topic. Our target audience is anyone who wishes to be informed and
inspired by South Asian stories — and the complexity with which they come.

~~~
yumraj
I understand and I do not want you to be pro-any-country. I will appreciate it
if you are indeed neutral. And, linking to HuffPo article is just fine.

I was calling out to the fact that the links are posted as: _(Economist, CNBC,
Arundhati Roy in HuffPo)_ instead of just _(Economist, CNBC, HuffPo)_ which
implies that you're giving special credence to Ms. Roy who is not a neutral
reporter in any meaning of the word. Which, in turn, leads me to be a little
cognizant of your biases.

~~~
snigdha
Great feedback - we will definitely be more neutral in linking out in the
future

------
snigdha
Also - if anyone does want to work with us on our design and codebase for the
month of March in SF (in person), happy to chat. Email me at
snigdha@thejuggernaut.com.

------
rushabh
All the best for your launch. The website has too little information to be
interesting. In 2019, your content has to be influential or free.

~~~
snigdha
Thanks Rushabh - do check out our articles tab, which has a lot more
information (www.thejuggernaut.com/articles). Say more about what you mean by
influential? And tell me more about why you think it should be free?

Recently, the likes of BuzzFeed and HuffPo have all been having layoffs
because the ad model has become broken in media. What other business models
have you seen that you find interesting?

~~~
rushabh
I work in open source, which is also kind of in a similar problem. A way to
think of open source is that its a utility, like the highway system. The
people who make money from highways are the car companies.

I think a similar challenge exists with journalism. Writing and publishing has
become so cheap and I can easily fill my time with reading reasonably good
content on free blogs or Medium that paying a tiny publication may not be a
good idea. (I already subscribe to newspapers and Economist)

If you have exclusive content, then you can charge for it. [https://the-
ken.com/](https://the-ken.com/) is a good example of a small publication that
has done well as it focuses on a niche, early adopter community.

------
koolhead17
Congrats for the launch Snigdha. Hoping to be a contributor to your magazine
some day. :)

Good Luck.

~~~
snigdha
Definitely! Pitch us at snigdha@thejuggernaut.com - we'd love to help refine
pitches!

------
snambi
This site has no focus. What is the point of yet another feel good site, that
ultimately wants to make money by selling their view of "south asia" ?

~~~
snigdha
Hi — can you tell me more — what would add more focus to this site for you?

Our mission is to tell untold South Asian stories, not just positive or feel-
good ones. Some of what we write actually challenge existing theories, for
example: is Netflix actually changing storytelling in India? Did Bohemian
Rhapsody tell Freddie Mercury's story well? What does Hari Kondabolu have to
say about a post-Apu world?

We're not selling our specific views of South Asia but rather soliciting
stories from our writers and audience and sharing multi-faceted views. We
welcome stories from all political views and walks of life. We started with a
paywall to be able to pay our journalists well.

~~~
snambi
India has a very vibrant media industry. I might say that Indian media is
perhaps the most liberal and open media, in the world. For example, there are
more than five, 24x7 TV news channels in Tamil language alone. Most of the
news that I see in English langauge outside of India, is mostly feel good or
negative. But both do not represent the reality.

Having said that, if you do anything for money, it is quite easy to become
corrupt. Take google for example, they used to say things such as "don't be
evil" etc. But, since they are a for profit business, it is just pure talk.

The point is, knowledge and health cannot be and should not be offered for the
exchange of money. if you truly believe in your mission, keep the good work
and request people to donate. If your work is really good, you will never have
trouble with your expenses.

~~~
snigdha
I think it’s hard to actually pay journalists well and run a business
predictably when we just hope people will donate though I do think the
membership puzzle project is doing good work and a few businesses have made
this work. This is definitely a model for us to consider!

The people who pay us now do believe we’re doing good work. I have been paying
for books and health since I have been little and I do think both allow me to
support great writers and health practitioners to be better at what they do.
That said I do believe everyone should have a right to access information and
health and one day we’ll be able to accommodate that business model. Right now
all our revenue goes directly to our journalists.

~~~
snambi
All media houses have great intention in the beginning. But the moment money
enters, corruption also enters. Today we can confidently say that none of the
media is neutral or fair. Everyone is working for someone else, indirectly
become propaganda machines.

There are two ways you can avoid that.

1) keep the media 100% free. Only get money from individual charities. And
publish who gives the money.

2) if you want run a for profit org, publish all finances such as who is
sponsoring what articles. At least the reader will know the motivation behind
it.

------
Apocryphon
Ah, so a successor to Sepia Mutiny?

~~~
snigdha
Yes! Apt reference. We also have Lakshmi Gandhi, former member/writer for
Sepia Mutiny, writing a few stories — coming soon!

------
maz1b
Congrats on the launch! :)

~~~
snigdha
Thanks so much! :)

------
csbartus
I’ve checked the site. I was expecting something highly interesting due to the
subject, and, the YC support. A magazine startup, ohyeah!!!

I couldn’t spend more than two seconds on it. I’m a designer and my eyes can’t
stand this type of design: cheap, unreadable, probably a quickly modified free
template.

I detest this trend. There are more and more startups with worse and worse
cheap web design. How do you think you compete to our attention?

Especially true in this case, when the product is the content itself. Put
together a few thousands, hire a proper designer.

~~~
snigdha
What would you change about the design? I'd love to hear the specifics! You
can email me at snigdha@thejuggernaut.com and if you do do design, happy to
figure out if we can work together.

To get a better sense of our stories, you can visit
thejuggernaut.com/articles, which I think is far better designed. We're
working on changing our landing page right now and our site is definitely a
work in progress.

As per YC tradition, we wanted to launch early rather than get it perfect.
We've also heard that if we're not embarrassed by what we've built, we've
launched too late.

Our product at the end of the day isn't just the site (though it is part of
it), it's the journalism. And we don't compromise on that. Do read a few of
our stories there — I'd love to know what you think.

~~~
Octoth0rpe
> What would you change about the design? I'd love to hear the specifics!

Just stopping by to say that I think you're replying in exactly the right way
to criticism, and I hope you / the company embeds this in your company
culture, which no doubt will face all kinds of criticism from many directions.

Good luck!

~~~
snigdha
Thanks for dropping by! And definitely: our goal is to keep improving and
company culture is very important to us. Some of our harshest critics will
give us the best feedback and we have to be prepared for that, too.

------
pl0x
It is concerning that is another cause of a culture vulture trying to make a
quick buck off of "South Asian" culture. You are no different than the western
imperialist who has done this to the sub continent in the past or those
exporting yoga to the west.

~~~
snigdha
Hi - so that we can improve our messaging, what about our mission or our voice
makes you feel like we're trying to make a quick buck? One of the reasons we
started behind a paywall is to actually not be quick in any way. We want to
provide nuanced, thoughtful analysis. We started with a paywall so we could
pay our journalists well and not be incentivized by clickbait. Charging a
subscription allows us to be a more sustainable business and not just be a
'quick buck' scheme. What other business models have you seen working?

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turtlecloud
Why do you call it the diaspora? Doesn’t that imply forced removal from
homeland? What about those that opted out of their old country and voluntarily
wanted to come to America.

Would you consider white Americans to be part of the European diaspora!?? This
just screams victim mentality and seems to be an over extension of the YC
organization to capture mindshare and influence people like Pichai and Nadella
who I have an issue with leading 2 prominent tech companies.

Don’t even get me started on how the Indian caste system is invading
traditional American values.

~~~
snigdha
Hi - so I don't think diaspora always means forced removal. The word has a
very strong history but it can also mean people living away from their
homeland, whether voluntary or involuntary. Check out this definition here
[https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/diaspora](https://www.merriam-
webster.com/dictionary/diaspora). Totally don't intend to mean victim
mentality here!

