
Stripe for female founders has invited you to join Stripe Atlas - zhangela
https://atlas.stripe.com/invite/atlasfemalefounders
======
DoreenMichele
Since the offer is actually open to "anyone", I will suggest the title of the
piece is more intended to say something like "Yes, even you women! The word
_anyone_ is not code for _any white male with SV connections_. Honest!"

A lot of underrepresented people know that generic invitations don't really
mean they are also invited. It's really only open to the existing in-crowd. As
a woman who gets a lot of reactions that suggest to me that women are not
supposed to so much as initiate conversations with men, I can kind of
understand the logic here.

Having been burned by an extremely toxic classist group where, no, the rules
absolutely are not the same for "the wrong kind of people" \-- by which we
mean poor people (in this case, though they also do really shitty things to
anyone who can't somehow establish in-group standing) -- I can understand why
a lot of members of underprivileged groups err on the side of "They don't
really mean _me_ when they say _anyone_ / _everyone._ "

My mind doesn't work that way. I generally take folks at their word, even when
I know they may not really mean it -- and recently got banned from a forum for
doing so because they were full of shit and didn't mean any of the high minded
BS that came out of their lying mouths. I'm willing to live with that.

But I'm also very well aware that if you get that result often enough,
shunning can mean you de facto have no income at all, there is no place for
you to go, etc. It can be essentially a death sentence, and I don't mean
metaphorically. I mean literally.

I don't know what the fix is. I'm not really all that crazy about the framing
of this promo. But my suspicion is that is the real impetus here -- to make
sure women don't feel that the subtext is "Not really _you_ , though we say
_anyone_."

And, honestly, I don't have a better answer, so I'm not going to dog them for
it.

~~~
panic
Thank you for sharing your perspective. It's sad (but somewhat unsurprising at
this point) that in a discussion about gender, the only post recognizably
written by a woman is at the bottom of the page.

------
chejazi
Looks like this post is angering some people so I will mention it looks like
the promo is regardless of gender? Aside from the header "Stripe for female
founders has invited you to join Stripe Atlas." there is no suggestion that
gender is a limiting factor for the discount.

~~~
colordrops
What makes it "for female founders"?

------
dc_gregory
If you read the page carefully, they will waive the fee for anyone that uses
the link. Assumption is they will be generally pushing this out via marketing
channels that target women. Regardless, its a very nice thing for them to do!

------
headsoup
I get the intent here and applaud encouraging female participation and
equality, but this is pretty much just discrimination based on sex.

~~~
onion2k
People who immediately shout about something being unfair when they're the
ones who aren't benefitting but don't say anything at all when they do really
bugs me. It's just plain selfishness.

Fortunately I'm sure the people commenting here stand up to all discrimination
and not just the things affect them.

~~~
repolfx
When do men unfairly benefit from things in the tech industry? Can you show
something _specific_ , that _isn 't_ a strong assumption of invisible
discrimination on the basis of statistically differing outcomes?

Cuz I don't recall encountering any "men in tech" events, or investment funds
that invest only in men, or efforts to encourage white boys to study
computers.

~~~
yifanl
I'm going to reframe those questions.

Why are there no "men in tech" events? Why are no efforts made to encourage
white guys to study compsci?

After all, if there's a genuine need for them, I would strongly expect them to
exist.

~~~
repolfx
Because men in software don't agitate for them in the same way (some) women
do.

But in other fields sometimes such events are organised, to encourage men into
female-dominated jobs. Guess who comes out of the woodwork to attack them:

[https://www.theguardian.com/australia-
news/2017/feb/08/sydne...](https://www.theguardian.com/australia-
news/2017/feb/08/sydney-university-under-fire-for-vet-scholarship-giving-
preference-to-males?CMP=share_btn_fb)

 _The University of Sydney is under fire for a new scholarship of nearly
$30,000 that gives preference to male applicants, with the head of the
scholarships office likening it to grants that “discriminate” against students
who are not Aboriginal._

...

 _“The way I think about it, affirmative action should only apply to people
who have structural barriers to receiving an education – that’s what the
exemption in discrimination law is about, so you can procure particular
benefits for women in Stem [science, technology, engineering and mathematics],
Aboriginal students and so on,” Grant said. “It’s not for further advantaging
men. It’s really quite bizarre.”_

------
nmstoker
Interested to know how this can be legal (much as I support greater balance)

~~~
nmstoker
Although the text does seem to say "anyone" so maybe it's just promoted as for
women but actually open to all (avoiding discrimination rules?)

------
tfolbrecht
Amazed nobody read the offer before commenting. I guess women are a subset of
anyone lol

------
jblandino
To end these discussions I will mention the following.

I contacted the Stripe Atlas team about this offer and as they say, if they
read the website, it refers to the offer is only for women (but it is not the
case), the offer is open to any person / gender that wants take advantage of
it, they only put "For women" to continue promoting in which more founders are
united to the emprendimiento of this decade.

For example, I just got the offer as a man, they did not charge me the $ 500
fee, so I understand that everything is correct.

Do not take everything as literal, one thing is what the web says and another
is what they really offer, anyone can be wrong.

------
laurex
It strikes me that it's rare that you hear an outcry about things being
"marketed specifically to women" unless those things are ones that have
traditionally been the domain of men. If an offer about makeup or diapers or
Zumba class was clearly targeted at women, or even jobs that orient around
similar themes, my guess is that it wouldn't merit much of an outcry on HN.

~~~
greglindahl
There's totally an outcry over "shrink it and pink it" as a marketing
strategy. But, that's not what you were getting at, and indeed, you won't see
much fuss about "shrink it and pink it" on HN.

------
julionav
This is great. I was just talking yesterday with my fiance about us needing to
use stripe atlas yo open a company for our new side business!

------
haaen
I do not understand why Stripe choose a headline that does partially cover the
content of the article. In a sexist, but politically correct way. I also don't
understand why comments about this being sexist get flagged. Finally, I wonder
why the moderators changed the original HN headline to the same headline that
Stripe uses. Isn't it HN policy that headlines that seems clickbaity or wrong
get changed by the moderators, so that they become more factual and
understated?

Anyway, great move from Stripe. Seems that they want remove barriers for
starting and running a company, which is good for the creation of wealth and
jobs. Be it Stripe Atlas, the card business, Indiehackers or the publishing
company. Al those newly founded companies are also target customers for
Stripe. Which is completely ok and speaks of good common business sense!

------
pmx
How is this not sexism? Are women somehow less capable than men and need
services handed to them in order to be successful? I don't think that's the
case and I'm surprised Stripe appears to!

~~~
pas
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17773057](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17773057)

------
no1youknowz
You know what would have been a much better move?

Stripe Atlas waives the one-time $500 company formation fee for everyone.

Stripe could then generate back the $500 in credit card processing fees by
bolstering those startups, which wouldn't have otherwise existed.

Edit: I see where the confusion is.

The title is: "Stripe for female founders has invited you to join Stripe
Atlas."

That's the reason for the reaction.

However, at the bottom.

"Stripe Atlas will waive the one-time $500 company formation fee for anyone
that uses the link below by October 15th."

I applaud this. The copy should have been read a bit more carefully!

Although this article has been flagged. I would welcome clarification by
Stripe!

~~~
Lewton
that seems to be exactly what they're doing

------
alanfranzoni
Incorrect title.

------
nik736
So that’s how equality looks like?

~~~
ddorian43
Yes, that's how equality of outcome works. While equality of opportunity ..

~~~
Zealotux
Why is it based on gender and not financial ressources though? I'm fairly sure
there are women who can afford to pay $500 for this service and men who can't,
sounds like yet another unnecessary divisive PR move that no one needs right
now.

~~~
ddorian43
You should see Medical Doctor acceptance criteria based on race (white vs
black vs asian).

------
ddorian43
Is there any field AT ALL where males are underprivileged and they are somehow
helped compared to females ?

~~~
icelancer
Yes, nursing.

~~~
ddorian43
How are males helped with easier stuff on nursing compared to females ??

~~~
matthewmacleod
"Men offered a £3,000 sweetener to induce them to train as nurses" \-
[https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/08/18/men-
offered-3000...](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/08/18/men-
offered-3000-sweetener-induce-train-nurses/)

~~~
geomark
Ah, there's an offer. And it sounds pretty sweet. Then I went to the article
and it says that it is a £30,000 fund. So that's enough for 10 male nurses :/

~~~
jacobush
Good for them.

------
csomar
Are female less represented than, say, gay people? Are they less represented
than, say, trans-black-woman or a non-binary-gender person.

Shouldn't we rise above and instead of helping minorities, just help/accept
"everyone" already. A side benefit is to remind them that there is no such
thing as "minority" and they are regular persons. And that no particular
person no matter what his gender/color/religion is still a person and welcome.

And is it actually legal to give woman an unfair advantage? Or advertise
capitalizing on it (I'm aware the offer is open to anyone).

------
grosjona
This is sexist. They should also allow Introverted Males WithOut Rich Parents
to form a company for free. It is very difficult for an IMWORPs to start a
company and raise funding these days. How many IMWORP CEOs are there these
days? Probably close to 0. The worst part is that people make no distinction
between IMWORP and EMWRPs even though we're the opposite.

------
danieltillett
Does this apply to those that self-identify as female if there is a dollar in
it?

------
psycombi
Inequality against man! Stripe wants to earn brownie points via hacker news.
Not Good.

------
nomercy400
"Form your new company as either an LLC or C Corporation in Delaware." \-
Isn't Delaware the new patent troll capital. Why would I want to start a
company there?

"Stripe Atlas will waive the one-time $500 company formation fee for anyone
that uses the link below by October 15th." \- Not just females? Otherwise it
could be considered discrimination.

~~~
cbcoutinho
Delaware has been advantageous for corporations for years for various legal
and tax purposes, this isn't new.

