My beef with the discourse of “diversity” in a nutshell: it screams “give us more women” and whispers “give us more women like us”. We want more women to be early stage startup employees working for equity and battling code until 2 AM in the morning. We want more women making products to pump VC cash into so that they can be flipped to Google in two years despite having less paying customers than your local Girl Scout troop’s worst cookie salesman. We want more women mentors and women VCs and women industry group organizers so that we can pat ourselves on the back for embracing change while making sure that the Valley stays the way it is.
…I can rattle off all the hypotheses for you: there’s a biological basis, no it’s a cultural issue, no it’s a pipeline issue, no it’s a lack of role models, no it’s a … and it is probably a witches brew of all of the above and more. But my gut instinct has always been that people avoid joining startups because joining startups sucks. The question isn’t what are we doing that’s keeping ladies out of the Valley, gentlemen. The question should be why in God’s name are we still here.
…I can rattle off all the hypotheses for you: there’s a biological basis, no it’s a cultural issue, no it’s a pipeline issue, no it’s a lack of role models, no it’s a … and it is probably a witches brew of all of the above and more. But my gut instinct has always been that people avoid joining startups because joining startups sucks. The question isn’t what are we doing that’s keeping ladies out of the Valley, gentlemen. The question should be why in God’s name are we still here.
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