Did you saw people get funded just because of their ethnicity? How you can find VC/angels who are respectful to their selfs? How YC handles this?
Any alternatives that you are beware of?
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.
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?
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.
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 Better than having support withdrawn later.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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."
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.
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.
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.
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.
(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.
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.
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.
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.
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?
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.
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.
>But can not respect people who do not respect their selfs.
Based on the above comment, if you don't respect a VC/Angel, why would you be interested in taking their money? It seems to me that is the kind of relationship that is doomed from the get go.
Ok. If your goal is to get advice on alternative funding then you should change the title of the thread and be a bit more open about your goals to get good feedback. Reason being, people on here can make alternative suggestions and if those alternatives are also not respectful to your religion then you'd be in the same boat.
EDIT: I see you changed the title a bit and glad the feedback helped. If you don't mind, you should add where you are as there are people from different countries on the board. Also, you should give a bit of an insight to what you are doing but it is entirely up to you..
I used my experience to show how I was treated. I see I was downvoted. For example Christianity is criticized for not supporting Evolution, well at least Fundamentalism Christianity still believes in Creationism. Some forms of Christianity believe in Evolution.
When you say you respect people who think they came from monkeys, well monkeys and Human Beings are modern creations in evolution and had a 'missing link' that was common that branched one way and then branched another way. Both monkeys and Human Beings evolved from a common ancestor some millions of years ago etc. It isn't correct to say Human beings evolved from Monkeys, but it is correct to say Human Beings and Monkeys evolved from a common ancestor that was a mammal.
Understanding Evolution better would help you understand the people who believe in it. They don't for example claim other human beings are animals, but that human beings evolved from other forms of life on the planet.
I see now that you are from another nation, in the USA and in the west there has been a movement away from religion and into atheism or at least non-practicing religions in the youth. That means some of them criticize any religion including yours for example. Many give up religion in order to focus on their careers or just don't see any evidence of God, etc and lose faith.
You will find all sorts of VCs out there, if you think they won't respect you because of your religion, you don't have to take their money and can find a different VC.
All human beings are equal under the laws in the USA, and we have free speech here were someone can say something that offends you and they have freedom of speech to say it. It doesn't mean you have to agree with them or even like them. Social Media brings this out and people say stuff that they later regret.
A good VC should follow public relations and not speak ill of any group of people. Not be biased in any way. But people speak their opinions on the Internet and sometimes say things that offend others.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Utter nonsense. It is the lack of belief in something without evidence. You don't believe I have a full grown elephant in my pants pocket because it is a dubious claim with no evidence. That doesn't make it a belief - it's a lack of belief. It's a rational stand that you would revise instantly if I were to pull an elephant out of my pocket. That's entirely different from believing/asserting something to be true in the absence of evidence.
I wish you were not insulting me couple of times and being arrogant. Anyhow lets focus on more VC side of things and alternatives like who are the best known VCs/angels who belives in coexist?
I already said before that I am respectful to all Human beings so I hope there is no misunderstanding over there and apologize if i sounded the other way around. In terms of what i believe praying for other people is a result of respect and i do belive you will respect what i believe. Matter fact that you were true about being arragont in terms of what i belive, i should be saying only God can change things and we can only ask for it, once again those are in terms of what i do belive with all respect to others.
I understand that you are still learning. I want to help you out. Not everyone in the western society is religious, some are even atheists who don't believe in God or praying. They see your words as offensive to them, even if you don't understand why.
An atheist doesn't want you to pray for them as they find it offensive. Atheists think instead of pray. They hold people in their thoughts instead of praying for them.
I know that you are trying to adapt and be respectful. That you believe praying for people is respectful. I respect your religion, but you must be careful around people in how you use your words. In the West there are a lot of different types of people to deal with and you have to learn what offends them and try to avoid it.
Just as you hold beliefs, an atheist has different beliefs. They don't believe in God or prayer, they believe in nature and the universe. They are often materialists and skeptics, who don't believe in a super natural or spiritual world. They don't see any scientific evidence for God, for example, and believe in Evolution, the Big Bang Theory, that the universe created itself, etc. You have to respect those beliefs just as much as you respect your own.
Diversity is a good thing, because it means different people think and observe in different ways and can find problems when nobody else can and fix them before they happen.
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.
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.