
Has YC ever funded a company with a Black founder? - prime0196
I ask this question of out sheer curiosity.  Some people may ask "Why does it matter?" Well, it's a well known fact that there are a disproportionate amount of blacks in technology and it gets even worse when it comes to programming. I can imagine the numbers get even more grim when it comes to black programmers in startups.  I live in Metro Atlanta and have attended programming meetups, Big Nerd Ranch, attended meetings for companies wanting to join the ATDC (an incubator of sorts) and I'm often the ONLY black guy in the room.  Even with PYCON in town, there still aren't a whole lot of people that look like ME.  I applied to YC in 2007, WAAAAY before I was ready and was just wondering if anyone that looks like ME has EVER made it.
======
EMRo
I'm black as well. Went to Harvard and when I graduated I worked at the
Kauffman Foundation. During that summer I pitched the idea to lawyers for
deferred payment on corp formation and found a technical cofounder in August.

We wound up building a pretty miz alpha because I had no clue what I actually
wanted to create to solve the problem I had in mind. Got very minimal
traction, worked at a quant hedge fund to bootstrap. Learned to program (LAMP
+ JS) during the nights and weekends, launched a beta, got basic ("this could
be interesting") level traction. Pitched angels, got funded, now working on an
html5 based mobile website to capture the function our users find most
interesting.

In general, I haven't experienced any discrimination or racial issues as yet.
To be quite frank, the most helpful people have not been my color. This
surprised me quite a bit because in the finance world where I interned all
throughout school there's a strong "cultural networking" focus where you are
connected with multiple career mentors, some of whom were "diversity" mentors.

With regard to my venture, I took the "open" approach and told everyone my
idea in hopes of bouncing it around and making it better. In so doing, I met a
lot of really interesting people of all colors who have served as
advisors/friends/partners to this day. The startup community seems to be very
much merit based and quantitative. If you have skills, traction, etc. you'll
get looks but you wont get a handout for any reason unless you hustle for it.

(You should check out black web 2.0, <http://blackweb20.com> they have an
interesting community of people in tech.)

~~~
Aloisius
Gah why doesn't that site let you post job openings?

I got some great advice from a Berkeley professor about increasing diversity
in the workplace. I had issues giving preferential treatment to resumes that
came in just because I thought diversity was important and he suggested I post
job openings in places that are already heavily black/latino/etc.

I thought it was a great idea, but they aren't easy to find.

~~~
AngelaBenton
Hi Aloisius, we have a job board it's called Vocay.com, posting come up on the
sidebar on Black Web 2.0 and we also try to post them as posts so that it gets
distributed through our social graph. :)

-Angela Benton Founder, Black Web 2.0

------
frankdenbow
I know how you feel. I was one of 2 black students in my graduating CS class
at CMU. It has never been a source of pressure/anxiety for me, but I do
understand how it may affect other black students to feel like you are on your
own.

As far as investors go, I doubt that they have any aversion to supporting
entrepreneurs of any background. This is one industry that I would presume is
more of a meritocracy than society at large. As I said on my tumblr a while
back (<http://bit.ly/g7jCAF>) investors can see the green inside all of us :-)

There are many discussions going on about women in technology startups. The
greater question is not why there aren't more founders, but why there arent
more minority/female students in academia. Most of your founders are going to
be a subset of those in academia anyway, so why not look at the problem closer
to the source?

~~~
haploid
"The greater question is not why there aren't more founders, but why there
arent more minority/female students in academia"

[http://www.prb.org/Articles/2007/CrossoverinFemaleMaleColleg...](http://www.prb.org/Articles/2007/CrossoverinFemaleMaleCollegeEnrollmentRates.aspx)

[http://nces.ed.gov/programs/coe/2009/section1/indicator11.as...](http://nces.ed.gov/programs/coe/2009/section1/indicator11.asp)

To wit: Females have dominated academia for a couple decades now.

Also, it should be pointed out that many founders are college dropouts or even
high school dropouts, so I'd be interested in some sort of citation of
evidence that one can assume most founders will be a subset of academia.

~~~
krschultz
None of your data is broken out by major. That doesn't really help us, and you
probably should refrain from going ad hominen immediately (troll, misinformed,
are you serious etc) when your "facts" are far from conclusive.

I know in my college, in my two majors (mechanical engineer & computer
science, 2007-2010) it was about 80/20 male/female in ME and 70/30 male/female
in CS. The girls average was likely higher than the guys. I don't see how they
are "dominating". You're numbers show there are more guys than girls in
college - which was also true of my college which overall was 60/40
female/male. That doesn't mean there are more girls in majors related to
startups like the ones we are talking about here (which I would highly doubt
you can find numbers to say that).

~~~
mtogo
There are more types of startups than just web applications.

------
gregschlom
Courtland Allen, co-founder of Taskforce (YC W11)

And he is the technical guy of the pair.

~~~
sgentle
Strange. This is an actual and useful answer to the question but for some
reason it's placed halfway down the page.

------
Lukeas14
As a black programmer with about 5 years of professional experience, I've
always asked myself the same question. Throughout all the job interviews,
conferences and meetups I've been to I've met no more than 3 other black
programmers. One is my dad while the other is a friend and his dad. I still
haven't come up with an answer but I do have two theories:

Role Models: There is no black Bill Gates. Not everyone is a trailblazer and
for the rest of us role models play a huge "role" when choosing a career path.
This is especially true for the black community. It becomes much easier to
convince yourself, and your parents, that your passion is a valid career
choice if you can point to an existing success story.

Access to technology: When I was a kid growing up I was the only one of my
friends whose family owned a computer thanks to my dad being a programmer.
Kinda hard to develop a passion for programming without one of those. Before
tech skills became a requirement for any decent job computers were seen as
expensive and unnecessary so everyone else was told "we'll get you one when
you get to high school / college."

However, as I apply these these theories to today, Obama is president and just
about every kid, rich or poor, has daily access to a computer. I'm guessing in
5 years time, when the next generation begins their careers, the number of
black programmers will increase drastically all on its own.

That said I do know a good number of black network engineers and sys admins so
I'm completely lost as to why programming is the only IT profession with such
a huge discrepancy. Any theories?

~~~
dasil003
What about peer pressure? I'm not black, but I went to a public high school,
fairly diverse, let's say 15%/20%/10%/55% black/asian/latino/white. My
experience with black classmates was that in individual classes they were
pretty typical in the mix of other students, reasonably friendly and
participatory in class, etc. But then out in the hallways it was a whole
different story. It just was not cool to be studious in any way. I saw black
kids get made fun of by their peers just for carrying books. Kids who I was
very friendly with in class would not even look at me in the commons, I'm
presuming because associating with a white nerd would be social suicide.

~~~
Lukeas14
Good point. For high school I switched to a private school with around the
same demographics and since it was "college prep" all the black students
understood that we were there to make something of ourselves. So I never
experienced the anti-intellectual peer pressure in a school setting.

My friends from outside of school, however, STILL refer to me as "that
corporate nigga". But since I know them from places like my neighborhood or
sports teams where clics and social standings didn't exist there were no
detrimental effects to being a nerd.

Anybody at any high school who is known as a programmer is going to be teased
to some extent. What kept you from giving into the peer pressure?

~~~
dasil003
Well I hung out with the stoners and freaks, which incidentally was one of the
largest groups. I pretty much _did_ give in to the peer pressure, but I was
fortunate that A) I had a computer at home and B) I came up right as the web
was taking off, so I learned as I went, thereby neatly bypassing the need for
academic credentials. I did eventually finish a CS degree, but it was
irrelevant to my career path.

My story is more one of taking advantage of opportunities, rather than
overcoming obstacles.

------
Udo
> _I'm often the ONLY black guy in the room_

It's probably my European naiveté talking here, but I seriously wonder if and
why that matters to you. Most of us belong to some kind of "minority" in some
fashion, sometimes it's visible from the outside, sometimes not. Are things in
the USA really so bad that it matters what color your skin is? Isn't tech a
business of ideas anyway?

~~~
_delirium
It definitely matters in Europe, possibly moreso than in the USA, at least in
the circles I've been in (I'm white myself, so this is mostly from observation
and friends). In Denmark at least, there is a _lot_ of awkwardness around
race, and it certainly isn't the case that non-white people generally feel
comfortable in groups where they're the only non-white person (even worse if
everyone else is not only white, but specifically of Scandinavian ethnic
heritage, which emphasizes the not-like-me-ness even more). I'm not sure of
the exact reasons, or how much is actual racism, but there is definitely a
vague sense of weirdness/discomfort.

~~~
Udo
That's interesting. I'm from Germany myself, and I'm convinced it's the most
unfriendly "western" country ever. There is certainly a lot of racism here,
but it generally happens in socially and economically compromised regions with
low unemployment, and then it's usually directed toward the Turks (because
"they took our jooooooobs"). Not that there are many black people in Germany
to begin with, but I worked with a lot of people from different ethnicities
over the years and I always got the impression that we're all being treated
equally (shitty).

~~~
wheels
That's a fairly typical German viewpoint. It's something that caught me a bit
off guard when I moved to Germany 9 years ago.

Germans have a real aversion to noticing their own racism, no doubt that's a
product of cultural baggage, but racism is pretty rampant in Germany and
permeates all levels of society.

A few of questions to suss things out a bit: What would you or your friends
parents think if you announced your engagement to a Turkish girl / guy? If in
most of society racism isn't problematic, what do you think the chances of an
ethnically Turkish chancellor being elected are? Why are people whose
_grandparents_ immigrated to Germany still commonly referred to as foreigners?

~~~
Udo
> _What would you or your friends parents think if you announced your
> engagement to a Turkish girl / guy?_

I have been in a relationship with a Turkish girl for eight years, dude.
Everyone was OK with it. Not once did anyone say anything about it. You know
what? It was just fine.

> _That's a fairly typical German viewpoint_

Did you just assert that I'm a "fairly typical" German racist? If you knew me
at all you wouldn't accuse me of painting Germany in an overly positive light.
I hate it here.

~~~
wheels
Sorry, no, my intent was not at all to paint you as being racist. What I meant
as "typically German" is that most Germans, even those who are not
particularly racist themselves, have something of a blind-spot for noticing
the depth of racism within German society.

And sure, there are families where race is a non-issue. I could list examples
as well of where I've seen things go the other way, but that's side-stepping
my point: surely you'd agree that in many, many families it would be an issue?

~~~
Udo
> _even those who are not particularly racist themselves, have something of a
> blind-spot for noticing the depth of racism within German society._

In this context it's worth pointing out that my grandpa was a Nazi, and even
worse, as is one of my cousins to this day - in an otherwise lefty-liberal
family. So if I want to see racism, I don't have to look very hard. But even
the Nazi cousin behaved normally toward my girl friend at the time, I guess
his hatred is geared more toward anonymous concepts and not actual people.
When I asked him flat-out, he spouted some nonsense about how my girl friend
is somehow not part of "The Turkish Problem" at all.

> _surely you'd agree that in many, many families it would be an issue?_

I'm not even remotely qualified to answer this in a meaningful way, especially
after the feedback I got here today. All I can say is that, being from
Germany, I know a lot of people who elevated being mean and destructive into
an artform. Some of them are fascists, some of them are bad in other ways.
What I can attest to is the general social climate here, it's just as bad as
the actual climate.

~~~
Gizzle
Well, I was born in Russia and moved to Germany 20 years ago with my family, I
was 11 then. Today I consider myself as German, so far the background. What is
really true, even if you speak native German and identify yourself with the
people and the country, for most Germans, you are not German. I do not mean it
in the negative way, I think it is just the way it is, if you have not a
German name or look "Russian". But I do not have/ had any problems with it.
Moreover I realized, that although people know you are originally not from
Germany, you are valued on your skills (at school, job, sport, etc) and not by
you ethnical background. And those people from Russia/Turkey or whatever who
claim they are discriminated e.g while looking for a job I just can repeat,
no, you just did not tried hard enough. In Russia there is a saying: You are
greeted by your look, but bid goodbyed for your skills. I think in Germany
this is a very reality.

------
wcchandler
Black people only make up 13% of the population. [1] Most people forget this
fact when judging race in a population.

1)
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_the_United_Stat...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_the_United_States)

~~~
_delirium
I don't think that particular statistic by itself explains much of it; YC has
funded over 200 founders, so if indeed the relevant population were 13% Black,
that would imply an expectation of around 25 Black founders. I don't think
anyone's asking why there aren't 50% Black founders, by why there aren't
closer to 13%. (There may well be good explanations, but they have to be
something other than the 13% total population number.)

~~~
petercooper
Yeah, demographics and statistics are tough and mostly useless in this
situation. For example, the DOE found that roughly 40% of people have merely a
basic or "below basic" level of literacy, yet I doubt that's true of the YC
alumni..

------
revorad
It would help to know how many black founders apply in the first place.

~~~
BoppreH
I think the question is not about racism during the funding process, but how
much of a minority black people are in this situations.

~~~
revorad
Yes, and that's what the answer to my question will illustrate.

------
nostromo
Michael Seibel CEO of Justin.tv comes to mind.

~~~
aaronsw
Pretty sure Seibel joined after it got funding.

------
gabrielleydon
A Co Founder of Addmired Inc. (YC W08) is black. So at least one.

------
Gaussian
It's all about access. YC can only fund the best applications it gets. Those
often come from, I'm guessing, people whose creative sides have been nurtured
while _also_ getting some kind of constructive exposure to programming. Just
like anything else, the socio-economically disadvantaged often don't get the
access or education they need to wield or understand the power of programming.
I do think that is changing, as evinced by the programs and organizations that
have sprouted up to address the issue. But it's a slog.

------
naithemilkman
I really don't think YC cares about ethnicity. I also don't quite get the
point of this post.

~~~
raganwald
I don't see the question or the discussion so far as meeting the standard for
"An interesting new phenomena." It looks like something that would be better
served over on Quora than on HN. It's a reasonable question, but just as many
subjects--explicitly including politics--are of interest to HN's readerships
but still not HN-worthy, it doesn't appear to meet the standards in the FAQ
for the front page.

Discussions of minority participation in technology and entrepreneurship goes
on ad nauseaum elsewhere. If it is to come up here out of the blue, we ought
to have some interesting angle to YCombinator funding. For example, if we know
that YCombinator funds double the proportion of the rest of the industry, that
would be interesting and new.

If we have no evidence of anything interesting or new, the question hardly
seems like Hacker _News_. If it's a simple question, an email to Paul Graham
would probably obtain a simple answer.

~~~
jedsmith
"An interesting new phenomenon" is used an exception to the rule that politics
(and so forth) shouldn't be posted. In the paragraph right before that quote,
we find:

 _Anything that good hackers would find interesting. [...] anything that
gratifies one's intellectual curiosity._

I was at PyCon as well, and observed the exact same anecdote that the OP
describes. At my company's booth, the only minorities I can think of who
talked to us were more than likely visiting from Europe, Asia, or South
America. Therefore, I'm curious, and I'm interested to see the response; not
from accusing Y Combinator of racism, as some seem to suggest, but merely to
get some data on minority penetration into our field.

There is no "standard" for the front page. We're all smart people, and we can
be trusted to make judgments.

~~~
allenbrunson
I was all set to vote this up until I got to the last paragraph.

It seems that a lot of people have the idea that HN is a democracy, run by the
will of the people. Nothing could be further from the truth. pg and the
editors have the last word on everything. It's not immediately obvious,
because pg doesn't go around saying "I banned this guy because he was a jerk."
That's polite of him, but the truth is, quite a few people get banned for
being jerks, every day. And quite a few submissions get killed for being off-
topic.

Having said that, I agree with you that this is a good submission, and I'm a
little dismayed that raganwald is arguing against it. When I saw the subject
line, and that it had over 100 comments, I figured it was going to be ugly. I
was delightfully surprised to find myself honestly learning something from
almost every comment I've read here. I haven't upvoted this much stuff in
months. Pretty well restored my faith in humanity, it did.

------
nocko
Good Question. It would be interesting to hear about the experiences minority
programmers have had in the startup scene (in our out of YC).

~~~
ig1
As a British Asian (that means Indian-subcontinent Asian for you Americans :)
- I'd say race is a total non-issue in the startup community in the UK.

(Off the top of my head of the YC companies I believe Heyzap, Auctomatic,
SnapTalent, and Rapportive all had British-Asian co-founders)

~~~
krakensden
American society has a very different relationship with Indian-subcontinent-
Asians and African-Americans.

~~~
ig1
oh definitely, but I think nocko was broadening the question to ask about
other ethnic groups as well.

~~~
krakensden
That's a fair point, but people of Asian (subcontinent included) descent are
pretty damn ubiquitous in the industry, and I don't think anybody worries that
they're being discriminated against.

I feel like something more relevant to the OP would be including Latinos, or
talking about how rich the parents of programmers are.

~~~
ig1
I don't think anyone's saying blacks are being discriminated against either,
rather asking the question what are the factors driving the change.

British Asians on a whole tend to come from lesser educated poorer backgrounds
than average, do less well in school, etc. That they're well represented in
the developer and startup community despite that makes an interesting data
point.

------
tom_b
Can't speak to YC's experience, but I attended a historically black
college/university (referred to as HBCUs) and knew a number of top-notch
African-American CS students/hackers while I was there.

At one point, out of 7 or 8 undergrads in a research group I was with, more
than half had completed PhDs and I think the rest of us (I was the lone white
student in the group) had picked up MS degrees.

A number of the higher-quality students from this institution were heavily
recruited by big corps with eyes on increasing minority hires and diversity
rates.

What I mostly know is that successful CS students from this institution had
their choice of top-notch careers or academic research opportunities. As a
school (and my general region), not much emphasis was placed on
entrepreneurship. Maybe both facts come into play with startup culture today.

------
citricsquid
As a black person why do you think this is?

~~~
prime0196
Not many black programming role models. Sad to say but many black youth still
see sports and entertainment and the only way to achieve a high level of
success in America. My primary goal in life is to try to change that
perception by becoming a successful programmer.

~~~
true_religion
I'm not sure about this... do you really believe that programmers need role
models for success?

We have people that we idolize but its not because of _common-place
programming ability_ or merely their job but because of what they've achieved
----Bill Gates with Microsoft, Linus Torvalds with Linux, etc.

Programmers seem to usually be self-described 'geeks' and thus like
programming for its own sake.

~~~
EMRo
Don't need specifically black role models but it would help. Just proof
positive that being a programmer can be interesting and lucrative. Coming from
a social anthropology background and having experienced it in grade school
myself, there is an issue of "talking and acting white." Programming falls
directly under that umbrella unfortunately.

Is it complete BS, absolutely. But at the core of it, we're talking about
people delineating groups based on sameness and otherness which is a practice
as old as there have been social structures.

It helps kids to identify with a mentor whose shoes they can envision being in
directly. More important than "looking like" though is feeling a sense of
kinship that comes from similar background. I'm a firm believer that we should
focus on the level of privilege not color. There are all types of people
coming from a disadvantaged background that need help, how do we make
programming/startups attainable and "sexy?" Silicon Valley's got that down but
NYC is still a "banking city"

~~~
true_religion
> Don't need specifically black role models but it would help.

That is exactly what the OP is asking for.

To tell about my experience, I did not grow up with "black programming"
models. Even to date, I can't think of a single black man over 50 who is a
programmer that I know personally or professionally.

I got into programming for the same reasons I assume many other HNers did:
computer were readily available for my use, and I enjoyed the logic exercise.
Once I found something I was good it, it was irrelevant if other people
thought it was 'cool'.

Luckily though, I grew up black in a black nation so accusations of being
'white' was the furthest thing from most peoples minds. You weren't 'white',
you were just 'uncool'. I think that's a significant difference because one is
an attack on your identity, and the other merely on your social credentials.

------
chegra
If you watch the slide show: <http://ycombinator.com/> long enough, a black
guy will show(< 3 mins in).

------
jcromartie
I'm 27 and I've only met one black programmer. That is rather strange.

------
tiabasnk
It's possible that very few black people seem to care enough to give it a
shot. Being black has never stopped me from trying anything. So long as I know
that I can pull it off. At the very least there may be a slight prejudice
simple because of the scarcity of motivated black individuals. In the end, if
one can show what one's got, I do not see why that person should get a fair
chance. That's my 2 cents on the matter.

------
ido
Not really on topic, but I'm in Atlanta too at the moment and when I went to
the game developers meetup about 5 of the 20 people who showed up were black &
other game development events I've been to in Georgia Tech had a few black
people in them too (less than their proportion of the population, but still a
good 1/4-1/5 the attendants).

Don't know what that might say about the games industry, if at all, just
putting it out there.

------
Qykno
Kalimah Priforce (Qykno | Career Matchmaking 4 Kids)

There have been several discussions about this topic, including my own:
"Startup America Should Look Like America" <http://bit.ly/fuqcBB>.

There are groups that are forming to address the need for diversity in the
tech world.

The "Black Founders" Kickoff Launch Event is on Thursday, March 24th, 2011 at
www.meetup.com/BlackFounders/events/16882191/ The Plancast event details are
here: <http://plancast.com/p/4cq2>

We've recently launched four "Building While Brown" groups on facebook: Bay
Area: <http://on.fb.me/hyJJhM>, NYC <http://on.fb.me/fF2lXW>, DC|VA
<http://on.fb.me/gf4beu> and the RTP <http://on.fb.me/dZCrnj>

------
AngelaBenton
I think this is a good question, I'd like to piggyback on it and ask of the
people who have applied did they apply as a team or as a single co-founders?
Were they technical? etc.

I only ask these questions because I think they are important. I applied to YC
and just had a conversation w/ someone who applied also however at the time of
application we were both single founders.

I consider myself technical but I'm sure not as technical as many of you since
I've only dealt in front-end web development. YC does have super specific
criteria for applying, they are looking for a certain type of founder (or team
of co-founders) so it would be helpful to this discussion to know.

I think it also depends on the idea/start-up submitted. Part of the review
process does seem like they are looking at the entrepreneur but it also seems
like they are looking at the entrepreneur (or team) and their ability to
execute on the idea.

Just my thoughts...

------
OoTheNigerian
<http://oonwoye.com/2010/04/05/black-founders/>

------
qas1981
I'm in Atlanta, black, a programmer and and I casually take notice and see
that most of the faces that surround me aren't those that look like me. I tend
to wonder the same questions at times. It's a question of is the game we play
skewed towards a certain outcome. If it is how do we play?

------
joshbaptiste
It really doesn't bother me at all because it makes sense why the low numbers
exists in the first place. Basically the black community doesn't lend itself
to hacking in general. When I hang with my friends I switch from geeky to a
more hip hop style, they are simply not interested in what i am into and talk
more about sport/entertainment topics. The few black friends I have that are
in tech only do it for work. To have a Hacker/YC mind you usually have to
fully immerse yourself into hacking, eg.. hacking at home,IRC etc.. So I
believe the disproportion just reflects the type of people who simply
interested. Believe me if you have the next million dollar idea in your hands
then your set. The only color that really matters in this tech entrepreneurial
space is green.

------
rabble
It'd be interesting to see. African Americans and Latinos* make up about %28
of the US population, but are very under represented in startups. East Asians,
South Asians, Arabs and Jews are over represented in tech based on over all
population. What's more, most of the black programmers i've worked with at
startups were born in Africa or the Caribbean.

I suspect that YC would be wise to try and recruit diversity, having different
perspectives, backgrounds and world views among founders at the the dinners
and other places, would probably make all the startups stronger.

Latinos or Hispanics are an ethnic group, not racial, there are white, black,
native american, and asian latinos.

~~~
anamax
> I suspect that YC would be wise to try and recruit diversity

Why?

Are you assuming that different races might have different strengths (on
average)? If so, that assumption implies that, again on average, a purely
merit based system will result in less diversity than the general population.

To the extent that race correlates with culture and culture has an effect on
strengths, the same applies.

So, remind me why diversity is important?

~~~
anamax
Note that said "less diversity" is in each role, because different roles
require different strengths. Whether or not a given organization ends up less
diverse depends on the roles in said organization.

However, I'm still looking for an answer to my question - why should YC care
about diversity?

------
JoeAltmaier
How many apply? The population norm is irrelevant.

That said, how to correct this? E.g. Stanford University has no quota and
doesn't yield on admission standards, but does a good job actively recruiting
qualified minority students. Does YC recruit at all?

------
tungwaiyip
It doesn't address your question directly. But I find it a good opportunity to
show you a visualization I've made for San Francisco Elementary school
assignment by ethnicity. Clearly the city is not distributed evenly.

<http://tungwaiyip.info/2011/2011_SFUSD_ethnicity.html>

------
nraynaud
Here in France, we have many African people from our former colonies studying
here, and many staying too, so I guess we are used to it. Speaking about skin
color, there are more "brown" people than "black" people, because Magreb is
more represented than sub-saharian countries.

------
centdev
The population percentages of race have absolutely no correlation to the
percentages of startup founders accepted by YC or that would potentially be
accepted by YC. With YC only funding 200 or so startups, that sample is too
low to quantify any conclusions.

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mncolinlee
Others have answered the question and there are a few. However, if Paul Graham
is looking to inflate the stats ala Campbell's Law... I'm actually a white
African-American. ;)

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vaksel
black male founder probably...black female founder probably not

~~~
tersiag
and why not?

~~~
vaksel
because there are very few women in tech, and that number goes down even
further if you just consider those that are black.

~~~
tersiag
As a black woman .... I have to agree

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GeoffreyHull
Hey tersiag I'm putting together a blog post on your experience thus far.
Would love to get your insight. Hit me <http://thegeoffreyhull.com>

~~~
tersiag
Sure I would love to. keep in mind that I'm a black woman from African and not
America, but I'm sure my insights are universal...

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peterwwillis
More interesting to me: how many have been rejected? If anyone were curious
about possible racism in funding (AND I'M NOT SAYING THERE IS AT ALL) that
would be the metric i'd begin with.

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boboblong
Confession: When I read something online that I know was written by a black
person, I am significantly more critical of grammar and usage. I sometimes
read sentences twice simply because I expect errors.

I consider myself to be a good person and I don't actively discriminate
against people based on things like race, but I simply can't help this reflex.
Sad, huh?

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shareme
I am curious as well.

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DanielBMarkham
_was just wondering if anyone that looks like ME has EVER made it_

Assuming that there might be something "unattractive" about being black -- a
big assumption but one I'm willing to play along with for purposes of this
thread -- how about fat people? Old people? People who don't live in cities?
People who didn't go to an ivory league college? Conservatives? People who
have physical defects?

On a few occasions, it's been stated that basically you need to look "cute",
"serious", or various other quasi-bullshit phrases. It's a logical follow-up
question to start asking about exactly which attributes people find
attractive.

But I'm not sure what difference it makes. If your startup depends on YC, they
probably don't want you. It's like the old thing about only asking for a loan
when you don't need the money.

While you can count up various attributes and report on them, that's a long
way from a causal relationship. Maybe no black people applied. Maybe there
were only 2 black people that applied, but they were both joke applications.
There's simply no useful information you can gather from a count. At least not
that I can see. Perhaps you can develop a suspicion that the odds are stacked
against you, but if you're looking for reasons to think the odds are stacked
against you, hell, just go look at the stats for startups in general. No need
to add anything else in there.

I guess I just don't understand your point. It doesn't seem very productive,
no matter what the answer is.

~~~
prime0196
Just looking for some inspiration. It's that simple. I don't think 'THE MAN'
is trying to hold me down. If I had that mentality I would have never made it
this far.

~~~
DanielBMarkham
I must be an idiot, because I still don't understand it.

So I'm an old fat ugly-looking guy. According to you, I should be looking for
other folks like me who made it? This will somehow be inspirational?

And what good, exactly, does finding another person who _looks_ like me going
to accomplish? What the hell difference does it make?

Have you ever visited or not visited a web site because of the way the person
who created it looks? Ever purchased or not purchased an app because of the
religion or heritage of the developer?

YC, if they have any sense in their heads, should care about traction,
scalability, and success potential. None of that is based on attributes like
this. If it is, I've never heard of it. (And it makes no sense)

Now perhaps you can make a case that things like this play a role with finding
investors, but AFAIK YC has made it clear -that not every entrant has to have
a beauty pageant investor track.

Here's a question I could get behind: Let's say I want to find funding. What
sorts of things that I can control -- looks, haircut, attitude, etc -- make
the biggest superficial difference to investors?

I'd like to hear a lot more about that. Wonder if anybody has any data?

~~~
AlexC04
I thought his question was perfectly legitimate and interesting. I look for
people like me who've succeeded for inspiration and ideas.

The black experience in the United States is likely quite different than the
white one. Ever watched a Tyler Perry movie? His films have grossed over $400
Million and go _largely_ unseen by whites. It's because the black experience
in the USA is so different. The people who live it, identify with it.

I'm sure it really was a fair question based on interest. Not any sort of
accusation.

~~~
DanielBMarkham
Yes, it's a fair question, as I tried to explain. Hell I upvoted your reply.

My point was that the answer to the question has no usefulness that I can
determine. You can either explain it or not, but please don't assign emotions
and attitudes to me that I am not having.

There are a lot of people with various experiences that share some
commonality. Ever attend a Jewish wedding? Spend some time in a mosque? Been
to Mardi Gras? Had perogies? Unless you are saying that the "black experience"
is somehow different from the "Puerto Rican experience" or the "Eastern
European experience" then all of these issues are on the table and should be
treated equally.

I don't think you're saying that, so please stop picking on me. I was simply
saying that the question had no value that I could determine. These things
might (unfairly) be success criteria for a cocktail party, but never a
startup. I'd love to be proven wrong. How many ways can I say "Stop looking to
people outside yourself and to attributes you can't control and instead go
make something happen?" before it sinks in? And what's so controversial about
saying that?

