[avilay]

And given that a majority of "Ex-Google" engineers are males, where does that leave a woman (or any under-represented group) founder?

She is not asking for money "just because" she is a woman. She is asking for a fair chance. And we need to give folks from under-represented communities a more than fair chance to combat inherent selection bias.

[thereisnospork]

> And given that a majority of "Ex-Google" engineers are males, where does that leave a woman (or any under-represented group) founder?

It leaves them as a statistical someone with an objectively poor resume.

If you want more women founded companies, you need more women engineers. If you want more women engineers, you need more women cs majors. If you want more women cs majors, you need more women interested in and excelling at math in high school.

It may not be 'fair' that the statistical woman has a 'worse' resume, nor is it 'fair' that the statistical rich kid has a 'better' one, but its asinine to address fairness at the narrow end of the funnel.

[rob2312]

So, just leaving the issue unsolved for probably around 20 years or so and letting under-represented groups play catch-up.

There are a lot more meaningful and effective actions that can be implemented now, which would correct things in a shorter length of time. I do think that the 'pipeline' is the fundamental way to fix the issue -- but I think that the best way of creating that interest is to present those under-represented groups in our society now, rather than later.

[pluto9]

> She is asking for a fair chance.

Where is the evidence that she didn't get one? A fair chance is not a guarantee of funding.

[PascLeRasc]

Reading her email and responding, or downloading the app, would be some fair chances. There’s plenty of evidence in the article linked at the top of this page that that did not happen. Take a look.

[pluto9]

> Take a look.

It baffles me that people constantly make this low-effort "read the article" remark as if (A) it's not explicitly against the rules here, and (B) it's impossible for two people to read the same article and draw different conclusions from it.

But I digress. I can put myself in the shoes of a VC for a second and know that based on a quick glance at the app's website and app store page, I wouldn't invest in it either. It's unoriginal, unlikely to be profitable, and the reviews are suspicious at best. No need to download it to see that.

Not reading or responding isn't unfair. VCs get inundated with proposals like hers. I'm a white guy who used to do freelance work. I've sent out hundreds of personalized cold emails to businesses looking for work, and got responses to maybe 5 of them, all of which were negative or "we'll keep your information on file". Maybe my sales pitch sucks. Maybe my portfolio sucks. Or maybe they just weren't interested in what I was offering. Maybe that's the case for her, too. Where's the evidence that either of us were treated unfairly? I am not entitled to anyone's time or money and neither is she.

Have we reached the point where not responding to a cold email is an act of bigotry? I myself get inundated with messages from recruiters. I respond only to the tiny fraction that are actually interesting and relevant to my skillset. It never even occurred to me to respond or not based on the gender or race of the recruiter. Does that make me a bigot?

[PascLeRasc]

When you (the VC) say you want to help Black founders, and then do not respond to a Black founder while responding to a non-Black founder for the same product, then yeah, that is bigotry.

[anotherfounder]

thank you!

[m0zg]

> She is not asking for money "just because" she is a woman.

That's why I asked to see the track record. You won't get anywhere in this business without a track record. Moreover, if you do have a track record being a woman is an advantage these days, not a disadvantage. There are a lot of VCs chomping at the bit to invest into women- and minority-led startups. But they won't give you money if they don't have some degree of certainty that you can do what you're promising to do.

[triceratops]

https://www.portablepress.com/blog/2014/04/chomping-vs-champ...

[jjeaff]

If they were champing at the bit, you'd think they would at the very least respond to all pitches from female founders.