[lanceweatherby]

I don't know how in the heck an article answering the questions that PG posed turned into a string of comments about racism and calling people meatheads.

But since someone opened the door and let the big elephant in the room, I am going to go ahead and admit that it's standing there. The sub-culture of technology startups is dominated by white males. Minorities are not represented at the same proportion of their general population percentages anywhere in the country. I am not saying its right and we should all work to correct the issue. But it is. Look at the YC companies. Look at the TechCunch50. Look at Demo. Saying that it's just Atlanta is unfounded stereotyping.

It would be much more beneficial to discuss Atlanta and other cities on the criteria that PG laid out. In my article I pointed out that Atlanta could be more tolerant. The city is not alone.

[charlesju]

I am an Asian American, doing a startup in Silicon Valley, and I have not experienced discrimination because of the color of my skin. There are plenty of Asian American CEOs, Angels, and VCs everywhere. Perhaps, if anything, a little disproportionate to the true percentage of Asian Americans in California.

[jackowayed]

I think Asian is the one main exception to that rule, just as it's the exception when it comes to minorities in elite colleges.

Asian Americans don't have as much of a history of economic and political oppression (There was some, obviously, especially during WWII.), and the culture strongly encourages working hard to excel at school, helping them then get good educations and break out of the initial poverty cycles that formed when Asians first came over and were exploited by railroad companies and the like.

But if you look at startups for other minorities--Hispanics, African Americans--I think it is pretty true that they are not well-represented.

[nopassrecover]

I have no idea about the situation in the US but could this be due to other factors? For instance, you mention that these minorities are under represented in certain colleges to begin with - a place where a lot of startups begin. Perhaps there is less internet exposure too, or at least to the startup community blogs etc.. And maybe it just comes down to a perpetuating loop situation. In any case, and I don't really know US attitudes, but I would doubt in this day and age there is a conscious effort among hackers, who are generally more liberty and equality focused anyway, to exclude people based on anything other than merit.

[kokomokid]

According to the stats posted below disproportionate to the tune of 50%.

[lacker]

The sub-culture of technology startups is dominated by white males. Minorities are not represented at the same proportion of their general population percentages anywhere in the country.

I think this misses the point. In Silicon Valley, several minority populations are well-represented in the startup community. In particular, many startups are started by Asians and by people born outside the U.S. These groups are much less represented in Atlanta, and it's a catch-22 but this makes it tough for Atlanta to attract those startups.

[ajju]

In Atlanta in particular this is not true. Two of the most successful companies started in Atlanta: CipherTrust and Manhattan Associates (although you may not think of the latter as a startup now) were started by Indians. I personally know of several other "very likely" to be successful startups started by minorities.

If you read news about Startup Riot on the front page of HN in the past week, it is run by Sanjay Parekh, another successful Indian American entrepreneur out of Atlanta.

I am Indian American and I cofounded a startup in Atlanta last year. I have yet to experience any bias. I have worked in Silicon Valley at a startup and the startup community in Atlanta is at least as welcoming to minorities as in the valley. The valley attracts more minorities simply because there are more opportunities

Nearly 80% of the engineering team at CipherTrust consisted of Chinese, Indian and African American engineers.

California in general may be much more liberal than Geogia but Atlanta is a very very open minded place not just for ethnic or racial minorities, there is a thriving gay community in Atlanta. If you visit us, take a stroll in midtown some day so that Atlanta may disabuse you of false notions about the South.

[jacoblyles]

I believe that the Atlanta area contains two of the ten gayest counties in America. Atlanta is definitely hipper and more tolerant than the rest of Georgia. People shouldn't judge it until they give it a visit.

[rms]

Very off (or counter, perhaps)-topic, but you just reminded me of this clip from the great Sacha Baron Cohen.

"So that's why I've come to the gayest part of America: Alabama!"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SnB5vqObkLw

[jacoblyles]

Perhaps my comment contained too many prejudices, I apologize. I should have said that in my experience, I have not found any cities with large concentrations of gay people that match the close-minded deep south stereotype. There is a good reason for this - people generally don't enjoy living in areas where they aren't welcomed, and they move. Atlanta is a very metropolitan city, full of people of all different sorts of cultural groups. It is not the kind of place where people are persecuted for being different, or where the residents have a narrow-minded view of the human experience. You will find yoga parlors, sports teams, nerds, professionals, underground (literally!) indie dance clubs, clubs that only let you in if you know P Diddy, trendy restaurants in renovated warehouses, the best cuisine south of New York, weird religions, traditional religions, and, yes, two of the largest county-level gay populations in America (Dekalb and Fulton). On top of that, I paid $350/month in rent when I lived there. It's a good place to live.

I apologize for the previous flippant, un-nuanced comment that I snuck in while coding. It's a bad habit.

[rms]

Don't worry about it -- I really just found your particular phrasing funny because of its superficial resemblance to that Sacha Baron Cohen line. I was saying that I was off-topic.

[lanceweatherby]

They are in Atlanta as well. One of the strongest organizations in the city is TiE Atlanta.

I am formally attached to 3 early stage startups outside of my day job. In total these startups are comprised of 50% White and 50% Asian cofounders.

Another that I helping is founded by a young lady out of Ghana.

To say that minority populations are not well represented in the Atlanta startup community is not a statement based on first hand knowledge.

[cyu]

Being a member of Lance's 50% Asian cofounder club, I was going to reply earlier, but my internet gave out. And thank goodness. From reading some of the comments, I think I must be living in another Atlanta. I'll stick with mine, thanks.

[ckm]

You're very right. In fact, 30% of SV startups are by non-Americans. And there are huge networks in SV representing all kinds of minorities, from Indians to Chinese to Filipino to Afghan. There's even one around African entrepreneurs (note, not African American).