[anon102010]

She asks why her husband gets more of a response (a sign of the racism she is facing).

- Her linkedin doesn't show what her major was as an undergrad.

- After 4 years of working she was a powerlifting coach.

- Then boom, in 2017/2018 she is an owner of two gyms and in 2019 she is trying to get benchmark to invest in her app.

Her Husband:

Google Engineer

Masters in CS from Berkeley / Undergrad in CS

Started companies and managed employees.

15 years experience - 40 apps developed. Top 10 apps

Multiple successful exists (to zynga then another one to google).

Talking about being successful as a gym owner etc she says folks can assume its because black folks were helped out.

"They assume it’s because they’re somehow lucky or exceptional or that they gained success because of help from white people. This—of course—isn’t true, but it’s an idea that continues to spread, sending the message that Black professionals require help from white people to build their careers."

"We need to put an end to the lie that Black people are still in need of white folks’ help,” she continues. “What we need is the freedom to live, work, and act without white people and white institutions disproportionately targeting us and stopping us from building the success we are already capable of building on our own."

So it's a bit of a confusing set of messages.

[sahaskatta]

Just to add a counterpoint.

I raised a $2M seed for Smartcar. I had no college degree as I had dropped out. I had no prior work experience. I had no team. The product was still an early prototype.

MANY of the founders I know who've also raised similar sized rounds from top VCs have stories quite like mine.

[anon102010]

Her point is that her husband got more responses. My guess - her husband would get more responses than you as well.

As someone who also took time off (and built apps) from college, the fact that I'd built some apps (that got write-ups) was a big positive for my early career, even if just prototypes. But I was at a top education org before taking time off so I'd already proven I could get into a reasonable place.

No need to disclose, but your and my story tends to work if you (and or others on team) got into a place like an Ivy or a UC or top liberal arts, majoring in CS or engineering, then dropped out (aka were into the entrepreneurial space)

I think it works a lot less well with an undisclosed and possibly non-tech background.

If you had a path like hers then I am very impressed, your deck or prototype must have been compelling. But very often there are some other proof points (top school acceptance / cs majors etc). That is almost silicon valley cliche at this point.

An awesome scenario would be if someone focused on black led businesses in terms of VC and made a killing.

[Apocryphon]

> An awesome scenario would be if someone focused on black led businesses in terms of VC and made a killing.

This is what Tim O'Reilly was talking about funding:

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23657403

[anotherfounder]

THIS, thank you for acknowledging that! It often feels like there are two lanes, there is all this talk of the steps to get on the fast lane, and then you realize there are some people who just got put in the fast lane, and you are still supposed to be 'working' towards getting in the fast lane.

It is frustrating that happens all over the place. Even YC - if I had a penny for every male founder that got into YC without an idea or just a new idea and then if that penny was taken away for every female founder who had a product that was doing well, well, I would be in real debt!

[digitaltrees]

1. You think people are actually looking at her LinkedIn before the racial email filtering kicks in? You could easily test that, I suspect the implicit bias kick in right at the name and email stage. About 20 years ago, before LinkedIn, my dad sent resumes with his Brazilian name and an anglicized version. It was like 10:1 greater response to the Anglo version, and he changed our family name shortly after.

2. If the dynamic she describes existed her whole life wouldn’t it make sense that she has had a harder time building the LinkedIn profile and credentials her husband did? Not to take away from his accomplishment, he clearly worked hard and is talented, but one can’t take advantage of opportunities if they are not available by systematic design whether implicit or intentional.

[bagacrap]

How would they know she's black from an email? Does her name sound African American to you?

[digitaltrees]

Fair. But the fact that we can tell, generally, does kind of give credibility to her point.

[treis]

>Her Husband:

Would like to give this guy some truth serum and see what his honest opinion of the app was and if it should have been funded.

[Apocryphon]

There's currently a minor boom in fitness class and remote coaching apps, and the current environment will only increase more interest in them.

[jiveturkey]

> So it's a bit of a confusing set of messages.

Yup. She isn't wrong, but her argument is poorly framed.

[huffmsa]

Ah, so they meant they're only going to invest in and help black founders who've already had some other VC take a chance on and are safe investments.

Got it. Someone else needs to actually "venture" and take a risk. You'll just sit back and tweet about how you'd love to help, but your LPs say it's too risky.

[anon102010]

Many vc's do like past success (even white on white candidates, if you have had multiple successful exists you are much more likely to be funded).

VCs arguably are taking less risk. Now sometimes it stuff like capital domination (I think super stupid)

They like seeing what you've done yourself. You've built x / y / z - delivered this and that - great. This can be big if you don't have an exit yet.

Or proof in pudding - good traction already, good pitch deck etc.

etc.

It's not clear what she's done herself. Even her gym ownership success is complicated by potential involvement of her husband even though she goes to some lengths to say it's racist to assume the ownership was result of some help.

And her philosophy is that she doesn't want help from white folks, just for them to get out of the way. Then she's applying to benchmark vs Harlem capital? Its confusing.