7 ms·

Why I Am Creating TCombinator

22 points by alliem 14y ago

angersock 14y ago
I, erm, appreciate your attitude. That said, what is so special about you folks? Business-wise, I mean? I don't care if my website is hosted by queer folks. I don't care if my payments are processed by dwarves. I don't even care if my favorite news sites are generated by python scripts. I care that they work, I care that they help me do my thing, and I care that they're cheaper for the value they provide than competitors. Why do you believe that transpeople need to focus on anything other than being the best at what they do (and that is running a business, hacking code, design or engineering--not being transpeople)?
- figglesonrails 14y ago
  Yeah, going to have to agree here. Right now, you seem focused on accentuating the differences between "us" and "them" in an area where it doesn't matter at all. You should be pushing towards an ideal world where things like LGBT pride parades aren't necessary because the differences are inconsequential. EDIT: It isn't to say there is exists no discrimination, but if you're running an e-business, the question of sexuality or gender identity does not come into play whatsoever, nor should it ever. I'm not sure how someone would be able to find out either of these to even discriminate against you unless you took the time to specifically advertise them. How you choose to invest the money you make as a business person (e.g. help other transfolk) is purely a personal concern.
  - zem 14y ago
    think of it as affirmative action for transgendered people. this cartoon explains the need for affirmative action more tellingly than i could: http://www.biculturalmom.com/2012/02/10/white-privilege-anti-racism-in-the-funnies/#axzz1sQzEd8QA http://www.biculturalmom.com/2012/02/10/white-privilege-anti...
    - angersock 14y ago
      First, I'm pretty sure that comparing the plight of the differently-gendered to that of slaves is somewhat absurd. Second, your comic is open to interpretation: In the first panel, the white and black are at the same level, with the black enchained. In the last panel, the white is up one level and the black is free. So, clearly, the sum situation has improved for both parties. Where's the problem?
      - dguaraglia 14y ago
        The problem is that to go from point A to point B, the white had to enslave the black to use them as scaffold. As far as I remember black slaves didn't just volunteer to come to America and do the hard work, did they?
      - zem 14y ago
        why is it absurd? it's comparing the plight of the transgendered to the plight of racial minorities; the whole point of affirmative action is to provide a helping hand to groups that face ubiquitous and often invisible-to-the-majority difficulties, to level their personal playing fields a bit. as for the comic, the point of it is that inheriting a situation where, thanks to historical swings, things are easy for your demographic, and then complaining that more disadvantaged groups are asking for a hand when you made it on your own, is both wrongheaded and sadly common.
- callahad 14y ago
  There's a layer of indirection that I don't think people are considering: The OP is wanting to build an incubator for transpeople. The startups it funds will likely pass your test and focus on being the best at what they do. The only difference is that they had an additional funding avenue due to their founders' identities. The real question is why that additional avenue should be available at all, and I think there are at least two good reasons: 1. Allison has compelling social motivation, meaning that she doesn't need to maximize her financial return to achieve her goals, so long as the investments are sustainably profitable. 2. If there's an institutional bias against funding transpeople, her willingness to provide funding may work to her financial benefit. I have my reservations, but they're not related to the target audience.
  - angersock 14y ago
    The problem I see is that I can either get the service from the best of the set of transpeople, or from the set of people who offer the service (of which the former is a subset). I'm unsure that choosing gender identity as a defining factor is going to help anyone market themselves as the best--especially when there are significant social biases in place.
    - intellection 14y ago
      Some people want to market to specific groups for good reasons. Is it possible some great services and ideas can come from smaller groups? Maybe even better service, better designed for a specialized, smaller group? Demonstrated in our thread is intense negativity, lack of recognition and anti-support towards some people's gender identity -- and even a resistance towards writing about it. If significant social biases exists, and alternative support networks remove social biases, is it potentially helpful? If great technological people can be identified within specific groups better than before, why resist?
veyron 14y ago
What's a T combinator? Y combinator, i assume, was named after the Y fixed point combinator, but I don't recall a combinator named T ...
- angersock 14y ago
  It's like a Y combinator, but straighter? EDIT: Because, you see, if you straighten out the arms of the Y, it turns into a T. Nevermind. It was a dumb joke. The serious answer is because it's a Trans-friendly YCombinator. I think.
  - veyron 14y ago
    I figured that T stood for trans, but I subconsciously hoped that it was a real thing ...
meatpopsicle 14y ago
One of the funniest things I've read all day. Thanks. Good luck with your incubator.
- angersock 14y ago
  Hey, come on now, be constructive in your criticisms. Try to help them suss out a business model/market fit instead of just poking fun.
  - meatpopsicle 14y ago
    You're absolutely right. forgive me. She's looking to fund a very niche market. To go after GLBT* is targeting a potentially disruptive market; to target the subset of only Transgendered people is to ignore the blue ocean the entire GLBT* community represents. Is there any real indicators of Transgendered people experiencing a problem with getting funding? This business incubator positively reeks of sour grapes for not being chosen for YC. The thought of transgender discrimination so close to San Francisco makes me even more doubtful that it actually happened the way that's inferred. PG doesn't strike me as the homophobic type, either. I occasionally say "It's because I'm black/gay/asian/a woman, isn't it?" in irony, when something doesn't go my way, because I am none of those things. we are now witnessing "I wasn't chosen for YC because I'm transgendered", which I can't help but find hillarious. In the post/announcement, There isn't an "I can do it better" mentality being discussed; if anything, all I can see is someone bitterly asking "How Hard Can It Be?". She'll learn soon enough. Further down in her post, she states that she already has companies lined up before she has money to give them. Bad sign. Given the timeline since rejection, I doubt she's had ample time to sit down with these potential investees and truly figure out if they're worth an investment. Makes it seem a bit like a jilted ex-lover texting "fine. leave. I have 10 men lined up for dates!". all of the above was in-mind when I stated why it gave me a good laugh. I feel that nobody is going to take this seriously, and any support in-thread is mere pandering at best, so we aren't accused of being non-inclusive to someone that seems to be using the threat of non-inclusion as a weapon. I respect her determination and zeal, similarly to how I respect a kitten's determination and zeal when chasing it's own tail, and I wish her the best. I really do hope she proves me wrong, however; judging from the original post, I'll be tracked down and passively-aggressively rewarded for being wrong. I love it when people send me free stuff to prove they're rich and I'm wrong. I get free stuff. I once had a corporate sociopath hand me a half pound of weed as an "up yours" present after he got me fired from a $10/hour job I hated. I can't wait to see what a reasonably-attractive tg could offer. I'll totally give my mailing address in a PM. * GLBT* as in wildcard, not as a footnote. please ignore the recursion.
pinchyfingers 14y ago
Well, I suppose transgendered startup founders is a bigger niche than bingo cards... I don't know, I don't get the business angle, but good luck!
noodly 14y ago
lol, and I will do ACombinator, for agender people, that live outside borders of sexuality and are on a brink of extinction ! :D or NCombinator for necromancers, that are feeling lonely and misunderstood by modern humans :D
deleted 14y ago
[deleted]
intellection 14y ago
We give positive feedback for posts about stopping discrimination against 'popular' minorities, and ending gender gaps. But more unusual prejudices, biodiversity and genderism is hard for people to think about equally supporting. I will keep following your posts because I sense you understand there are people who can help people, who are not being helped, in our community.
philwelch 14y ago
If you're "on the brink" of "suicide, homelessness, and starvation", you're not ready to do a startup and there are a thousand things you need more than you need seed investment. This is absurd.
- PatrickTulskie 14y ago
  This is the most important comment in this thread here. It's not possible to start up a successful company when you're also on the brink of suicide, malnourished, and you're having deep internal conflict. Your startup is going to push those things on you by itself and adding to your personal conflicts and problems is asking for trouble.
lukifer 14y ago
Politically incorrect rant here; brace yourself. Put simply, I have a hard time taking TG issues as seriously as I take gay rights, which I support unilaterally. There is a long history of homosexual behavior both in humans and in nature. But the idea of altering sexuality with surgery is extremely recent, and I am unaware of any precedent in nature (feel free to correct me). Now, bear in mind that I support anybody's choice to do just about anything to themselves. If you want to give yourself a face tattoo, attach a shark fin to your back, or give yourself fake breasts, knock yourself out. And I don't think such individuals should be judged or persecuted, to the extent that's possible. At the same time, the TG community needs to understand that people will judge you, not because they're prejudiced, but because judging is something that humans do in general. If someone laughs at you behind your back for a bad haircut or an outfit that clashes, it may be impolite and mean, but it's not out of hate. If you look ridiculous, whether it's for 50 piercings, or heavy makeup combined with an Adam's Apple, people are going to see you differently, period. And maybe I've received a bad sampling, but I can't ever recall encountering a TG person who did not look ridiculous to me. If that's my flaw, then I'll accept that. I still treated those persons with the same dignity I would give someone with a bad haircut. I am sensitive to those who feel they were born with the wrong body, and absolutely believe that some people inherited a genuine genetic flaw with which they must cope. Even if the gender conflict is psychological, it is a person's right to deal with that how they choose. I understand what it's like to feel like a freak. (I'm still waiting on the possibility of species reassignment surgery...) But be realistic. If you're going to switch to another gender, and you can't make it work so well that no one can tell the difference (ie, Carmen from It's Always Sunny), people are going to look at you weird. Everyone has their cross to bear, and if you are a TG person, this is yours.
- figglesonrails 14y ago
  This isn't really addressing the issue of "Is this a good idea to create TCombinator?", it's just a personal statement. Agreeing or disagreeing with this still makes it OT.
  - lukifer 14y ago
    I accept the rebuke. :) But it seems to me that part of the purpose of TCombinator is to get people to take TG individuals more seriously, and I would think that includes dialoguing with Neanderthals like me. I posted in part to spill my guts, but in part because I want to hear the other side as well.
MaysonL 14y ago
Why I am not reading any blogspot blogs: I hate the design.
janlukacs 14y ago
the YMCAcombinator generator.
vectorpush 14y ago
You won't be taken seriously unless you can demonstrate your technical\business chops. If you fancy yourself a Steve Jobs then show the world something worthwhile. Build something that is impressive on its own merit and you will inspire your peers to do great things as well.
WalterSear 14y ago
>I'm doing this to save the lives of transgender people on the brink. Those at risk of suicide, homelessness, and starvation. Those are all risks of joining a startup, not reasons to start one.
cjcartwright 14y ago
Greetings. I am Cheyenne Cartwright the co-founder of TCombinator, working in tandem with Allison. I'd like to take the opportunity to address several matters here, point by point. First, as callahad points out, there is some indirection going on. As people continue to debate the validity of our very existence, as transwoman, the point is being lost that we seek to give viable startups a helping hand by way of investment, a business model that has already proven effective in itself. Second, our business is being mischaracterized as focusing on our identity. Our business is focused on viable startups, and it is targeted at trans folk. This is a very important difference which is easy to illustrate. If our business were focused on our identity, especially within the boundaries set by culture at large and how it stereotypes us, then our business would not seek talent and solid ideas to fund. Instead, it would be, at best, a charitable organization aimed at meeting the basic medical needs of transfolk. Alternatively, and in keeping with the general assumptions about us, we would be exploiting trans folk as sex workers, something both I and Allison are intimately familiar with as our job opportunities, education, and even our families turned us out. Third, generalizing a truth applicable to all humans based on one's own limited observations only manages to show how little observation was accomplished, and how poorly those observations were connected to a claim. Behaviors deemed "gender deviant" are as old as homosexual behaviors (as if we should even dignify the naturalistic fallacy with an endorsement). People say that "transgender" is new, and it is plain that it is only as new as "homosexual" is itself, since no one had that identity, or label, available to them until the late 19th century at the earliest. In any case, it does not mean that there have never been "trans" people until "recently". South Solowesi has, for many centuries, had 5 established genders, and both the kathooey of Thailand and the Hijras of India, along with scores of other peoples have been with us a very long time, and in some cases, before the Common Era. Fourth, and very briefly, there is no arguing with people who unironically believe either that it is acceptable for everyone that one group be exploited to raise another group up, or that the simple act of being who we are, and daring to show our faces in the world by attempting to be citizens within it, means we deserve a subaltern place in society, that it is the cross we must accept. Besides, we already do accept it, but we cannot be asked to accept it in silence, or accede to people's ignorant discomfort when it comes to whether or not we have access to housing and meaningful labor. Beliefs like that are either hardened intractably, or lazy to the point where I doubt this comment will even be read, so I won't argue those points. That's me being realistic. Even less attention is given to those who thought this post was an appropriate forum for dehumanizing jokes. I can only with you well, and that your companies are never embarrassed by having your identities linked to such talk. What we want to discuss is business. We have a business model that is tried and true. It will be up to the market to determine the value of what our startups produce, and we accept that. We aren't particularly interested in apologizing for our efforts to move beyond survival sex work, or helping others to do so, nor are we going to have a discussion that assumes from the beginning that our identities, our selves, are up for debate. There are numerous comparable ventures for other minority entrepreneurs, precisely because of how discrimination impacts them, and how "the best person for the job" is often just a mask for the person who had the most privilege in their background to enable their own rise. We welcome questions about what we want to accomplish and how we will do so, what we are doing now, even some questions about who we are. Just remember that we, like any of you here, are above invasive, cruel, dismissive, or inappropriate questions.
SpaceDragon 14y ago
I'm as ignorant as can be about transgender-ism and even homosexuality, but I wanted to reach out to say it makes me sad that someone would want to physically hurt you because of your gender reorientation. But more on point with the post, I perceive you have three problems: 1) You don't have a simple, punchy business idea that can make a lot of money 2) The writing comes off as a bit outlandish and loquacious in this business setting. Sorry. Cut your prose down and stick with the cold facts.[1] 3) I said I had three? I lied. Yes, that's my third point: never lie. Seriously though, I hope you address the first two issues and arrive at something you can be successful with. [1] Then again, what do I know.
rdl 14y ago
Isn't Y Combinator already the Y Combinator for transgendered people? I can't see it affecting an interview or acceptance -- the bathrooms at YC don't even have gender assignment on the door.
- philwelch 14y ago
  My best guess is that, in the mind of this person, her transgender status, rather than the obvious inconsistency and absurdity of her business idea and whatever other red flags she managed to work into her YC application, is what caused YC to reject her.
  - rdl 14y ago
    Yeah, I really think this person would be better off moving to the bay area (which seems to be the plan) and getting a job at a reasonable tech company (where no one cares either way about your sexual orientation, gender identity, etc., except to the extent that you want to get the best candidates to apply/accept, and thus don't want to exclude pools of people intentionally or unintentionally), vs. trying to start an incubator (without money, without any experience or special skills, and in a saturated market...).

22 points by alliem 14y ago

I, erm, appreciate your attitude. That said, what is so special about you folks? Business-wise, I mean? I don't care if my website is hosted by queer folks. I don't care if my payments are processed by dwarves. I don't even care if my favorite news sites are generated by python scripts. I care that they work, I care that they help me do my thing, and I care that they're cheaper for the value they provide than competitors. Why do you believe that transpeople need to focus on anything other than being the best at what they do (and that is running a business, hacking code, design or engineering--not being transpeople)?

figglesonrails 14y ago
Yeah, going to have to agree here. Right now, you seem focused on accentuating the differences between "us" and "them" in an area where it doesn't matter at all. You should be pushing towards an ideal world where things like LGBT pride parades aren't necessary because the differences are inconsequential. EDIT: It isn't to say there is exists no discrimination, but if you're running an e-business, the question of sexuality or gender identity does not come into play whatsoever, nor should it ever. I'm not sure how someone would be able to find out either of these to even discriminate against you unless you took the time to specifically advertise them. How you choose to invest the money you make as a business person (e.g. help other transfolk) is purely a personal concern.
- zem 14y ago
  think of it as affirmative action for transgendered people. this cartoon explains the need for affirmative action more tellingly than i could: http://www.biculturalmom.com/2012/02/10/white-privilege-anti-racism-in-the-funnies/#axzz1sQzEd8QA http://www.biculturalmom.com/2012/02/10/white-privilege-anti...
  - angersock 14y ago
    First, I'm pretty sure that comparing the plight of the differently-gendered to that of slaves is somewhat absurd. Second, your comic is open to interpretation: In the first panel, the white and black are at the same level, with the black enchained. In the last panel, the white is up one level and the black is free. So, clearly, the sum situation has improved for both parties. Where's the problem?
    - dguaraglia 14y ago
      The problem is that to go from point A to point B, the white had to enslave the black to use them as scaffold. As far as I remember black slaves didn't just volunteer to come to America and do the hard work, did they?
    - zem 14y ago
      why is it absurd? it's comparing the plight of the transgendered to the plight of racial minorities; the whole point of affirmative action is to provide a helping hand to groups that face ubiquitous and often invisible-to-the-majority difficulties, to level their personal playing fields a bit. as for the comic, the point of it is that inheriting a situation where, thanks to historical swings, things are easy for your demographic, and then complaining that more disadvantaged groups are asking for a hand when you made it on your own, is both wrongheaded and sadly common.
callahad 14y ago
There's a layer of indirection that I don't think people are considering: The OP is wanting to build an incubator for transpeople. The startups it funds will likely pass your test and focus on being the best at what they do. The only difference is that they had an additional funding avenue due to their founders' identities. The real question is why that additional avenue should be available at all, and I think there are at least two good reasons: 1. Allison has compelling social motivation, meaning that she doesn't need to maximize her financial return to achieve her goals, so long as the investments are sustainably profitable. 2. If there's an institutional bias against funding transpeople, her willingness to provide funding may work to her financial benefit. I have my reservations, but they're not related to the target audience.
- angersock 14y ago
  The problem I see is that I can either get the service from the best of the set of transpeople, or from the set of people who offer the service (of which the former is a subset). I'm unsure that choosing gender identity as a defining factor is going to help anyone market themselves as the best--especially when there are significant social biases in place.
  - intellection 14y ago
    Some people want to market to specific groups for good reasons. Is it possible some great services and ideas can come from smaller groups? Maybe even better service, better designed for a specialized, smaller group? Demonstrated in our thread is intense negativity, lack of recognition and anti-support towards some people's gender identity -- and even a resistance towards writing about it. If significant social biases exists, and alternative support networks remove social biases, is it potentially helpful? If great technological people can be identified within specific groups better than before, why resist?

veyron 14y ago

What's a T combinator? Y combinator, i assume, was named after the Y fixed point combinator, but I don't recall a combinator named T ...

angersock 14y ago
It's like a Y combinator, but straighter? EDIT: Because, you see, if you straighten out the arms of the Y, it turns into a T. Nevermind. It was a dumb joke. The serious answer is because it's a Trans-friendly YCombinator. I think.
- veyron 14y ago
  I figured that T stood for trans, but I subconsciously hoped that it was a real thing ...

meatpopsicle 14y ago

One of the funniest things I've read all day. Thanks. Good luck with your incubator.

angersock 14y ago
Hey, come on now, be constructive in your criticisms. Try to help them suss out a business model/market fit instead of just poking fun.
- meatpopsicle 14y ago
  You're absolutely right. forgive me. She's looking to fund a very niche market. To go after GLBT* is targeting a potentially disruptive market; to target the subset of only Transgendered people is to ignore the blue ocean the entire GLBT* community represents. Is there any real indicators of Transgendered people experiencing a problem with getting funding? This business incubator positively reeks of sour grapes for not being chosen for YC. The thought of transgender discrimination so close to San Francisco makes me even more doubtful that it actually happened the way that's inferred. PG doesn't strike me as the homophobic type, either. I occasionally say "It's because I'm black/gay/asian/a woman, isn't it?" in irony, when something doesn't go my way, because I am none of those things. we are now witnessing "I wasn't chosen for YC because I'm transgendered", which I can't help but find hillarious. In the post/announcement, There isn't an "I can do it better" mentality being discussed; if anything, all I can see is someone bitterly asking "How Hard Can It Be?". She'll learn soon enough. Further down in her post, she states that she already has companies lined up before she has money to give them. Bad sign. Given the timeline since rejection, I doubt she's had ample time to sit down with these potential investees and truly figure out if they're worth an investment. Makes it seem a bit like a jilted ex-lover texting "fine. leave. I have 10 men lined up for dates!". all of the above was in-mind when I stated why it gave me a good laugh. I feel that nobody is going to take this seriously, and any support in-thread is mere pandering at best, so we aren't accused of being non-inclusive to someone that seems to be using the threat of non-inclusion as a weapon. I respect her determination and zeal, similarly to how I respect a kitten's determination and zeal when chasing it's own tail, and I wish her the best. I really do hope she proves me wrong, however; judging from the original post, I'll be tracked down and passively-aggressively rewarded for being wrong. I love it when people send me free stuff to prove they're rich and I'm wrong. I get free stuff. I once had a corporate sociopath hand me a half pound of weed as an "up yours" present after he got me fired from a $10/hour job I hated. I can't wait to see what a reasonably-attractive tg could offer. I'll totally give my mailing address in a PM. * GLBT* as in wildcard, not as a footnote. please ignore the recursion.

pinchyfingers 14y ago

Well, I suppose transgendered startup founders is a bigger niche than bingo cards... I don't know, I don't get the business angle, but good luck!

noodly 14y ago

lol, and I will do ACombinator, for agender people, that live outside borders of sexuality and are on a brink of extinction ! :D or NCombinator for necromancers, that are feeling lonely and misunderstood by modern humans :D

deleted 14y ago

[deleted]

intellection 14y ago

We give positive feedback for posts about stopping discrimination against 'popular' minorities, and ending gender gaps. But more unusual prejudices, biodiversity and genderism is hard for people to think about equally supporting. I will keep following your posts because I sense you understand there are people who can help people, who are not being helped, in our community.

philwelch 14y ago

If you're "on the brink" of "suicide, homelessness, and starvation", you're not ready to do a startup and there are a thousand things you need more than you need seed investment. This is absurd.

PatrickTulskie 14y ago
This is the most important comment in this thread here. It's not possible to start up a successful company when you're also on the brink of suicide, malnourished, and you're having deep internal conflict. Your startup is going to push those things on you by itself and adding to your personal conflicts and problems is asking for trouble.

lukifer 14y ago

Politically incorrect rant here; brace yourself. Put simply, I have a hard time taking TG issues as seriously as I take gay rights, which I support unilaterally. There is a long history of homosexual behavior both in humans and in nature. But the idea of altering sexuality with surgery is extremely recent, and I am unaware of any precedent in nature (feel free to correct me). Now, bear in mind that I support anybody's choice to do just about anything to themselves. If you want to give yourself a face tattoo, attach a shark fin to your back, or give yourself fake breasts, knock yourself out. And I don't think such individuals should be judged or persecuted, to the extent that's possible. At the same time, the TG community needs to understand that people will judge you, not because they're prejudiced, but because judging is something that humans do in general. If someone laughs at you behind your back for a bad haircut or an outfit that clashes, it may be impolite and mean, but it's not out of hate. If you look ridiculous, whether it's for 50 piercings, or heavy makeup combined with an Adam's Apple, people are going to see you differently, period. And maybe I've received a bad sampling, but I can't ever recall encountering a TG person who did not look ridiculous to me. If that's my flaw, then I'll accept that. I still treated those persons with the same dignity I would give someone with a bad haircut. I am sensitive to those who feel they were born with the wrong body, and absolutely believe that some people inherited a genuine genetic flaw with which they must cope. Even if the gender conflict is psychological, it is a person's right to deal with that how they choose. I understand what it's like to feel like a freak. (I'm still waiting on the possibility of species reassignment surgery...) But be realistic. If you're going to switch to another gender, and you can't make it work so well that no one can tell the difference (ie, Carmen from It's Always Sunny), people are going to look at you weird. Everyone has their cross to bear, and if you are a TG person, this is yours.

figglesonrails 14y ago
This isn't really addressing the issue of "Is this a good idea to create TCombinator?", it's just a personal statement. Agreeing or disagreeing with this still makes it OT.
- lukifer 14y ago
  I accept the rebuke. :) But it seems to me that part of the purpose of TCombinator is to get people to take TG individuals more seriously, and I would think that includes dialoguing with Neanderthals like me. I posted in part to spill my guts, but in part because I want to hear the other side as well.

MaysonL 14y ago

Why I am not reading any blogspot blogs: I hate the design.

janlukacs 14y ago

the YMCAcombinator generator.

vectorpush 14y ago

You won't be taken seriously unless you can demonstrate your technical\business chops. If you fancy yourself a Steve Jobs then show the world something worthwhile. Build something that is impressive on its own merit and you will inspire your peers to do great things as well.

WalterSear 14y ago

>I'm doing this to save the lives of transgender people on the brink. Those at risk of suicide, homelessness, and starvation. Those are all risks of joining a startup, not reasons to start one.

cjcartwright 14y ago

Greetings. I am Cheyenne Cartwright the co-founder of TCombinator, working in tandem with Allison. I'd like to take the opportunity to address several matters here, point by point. First, as callahad points out, there is some indirection going on. As people continue to debate the validity of our very existence, as transwoman, the point is being lost that we seek to give viable startups a helping hand by way of investment, a business model that has already proven effective in itself. Second, our business is being mischaracterized as focusing on our identity. Our business is focused on viable startups, and it is targeted at trans folk. This is a very important difference which is easy to illustrate. If our business were focused on our identity, especially within the boundaries set by culture at large and how it stereotypes us, then our business would not seek talent and solid ideas to fund. Instead, it would be, at best, a charitable organization aimed at meeting the basic medical needs of transfolk. Alternatively, and in keeping with the general assumptions about us, we would be exploiting trans folk as sex workers, something both I and Allison are intimately familiar with as our job opportunities, education, and even our families turned us out. Third, generalizing a truth applicable to all humans based on one's own limited observations only manages to show how little observation was accomplished, and how poorly those observations were connected to a claim. Behaviors deemed "gender deviant" are as old as homosexual behaviors (as if we should even dignify the naturalistic fallacy with an endorsement). People say that "transgender" is new, and it is plain that it is only as new as "homosexual" is itself, since no one had that identity, or label, available to them until the late 19th century at the earliest. In any case, it does not mean that there have never been "trans" people until "recently". South Solowesi has, for many centuries, had 5 established genders, and both the kathooey of Thailand and the Hijras of India, along with scores of other peoples have been with us a very long time, and in some cases, before the Common Era. Fourth, and very briefly, there is no arguing with people who unironically believe either that it is acceptable for everyone that one group be exploited to raise another group up, or that the simple act of being who we are, and daring to show our faces in the world by attempting to be citizens within it, means we deserve a subaltern place in society, that it is the cross we must accept. Besides, we already do accept it, but we cannot be asked to accept it in silence, or accede to people's ignorant discomfort when it comes to whether or not we have access to housing and meaningful labor. Beliefs like that are either hardened intractably, or lazy to the point where I doubt this comment will even be read, so I won't argue those points. That's me being realistic. Even less attention is given to those who thought this post was an appropriate forum for dehumanizing jokes. I can only with you well, and that your companies are never embarrassed by having your identities linked to such talk. What we want to discuss is business. We have a business model that is tried and true. It will be up to the market to determine the value of what our startups produce, and we accept that. We aren't particularly interested in apologizing for our efforts to move beyond survival sex work, or helping others to do so, nor are we going to have a discussion that assumes from the beginning that our identities, our selves, are up for debate. There are numerous comparable ventures for other minority entrepreneurs, precisely because of how discrimination impacts them, and how "the best person for the job" is often just a mask for the person who had the most privilege in their background to enable their own rise. We welcome questions about what we want to accomplish and how we will do so, what we are doing now, even some questions about who we are. Just remember that we, like any of you here, are above invasive, cruel, dismissive, or inappropriate questions.

SpaceDragon 14y ago

I'm as ignorant as can be about transgender-ism and even homosexuality, but I wanted to reach out to say it makes me sad that someone would want to physically hurt you because of your gender reorientation. But more on point with the post, I perceive you have three problems: 1) You don't have a simple, punchy business idea that can make a lot of money 2) The writing comes off as a bit outlandish and loquacious in this business setting. Sorry. Cut your prose down and stick with the cold facts.[1] 3) I said I had three? I lied. Yes, that's my third point: never lie. Seriously though, I hope you address the first two issues and arrive at something you can be successful with. [1] Then again, what do I know.

rdl 14y ago

Isn't Y Combinator already the Y Combinator for transgendered people? I can't see it affecting an interview or acceptance -- the bathrooms at YC don't even have gender assignment on the door.

philwelch 14y ago
My best guess is that, in the mind of this person, her transgender status, rather than the obvious inconsistency and absurdity of her business idea and whatever other red flags she managed to work into her YC application, is what caused YC to reject her.
- rdl 14y ago
  Yeah, I really think this person would be better off moving to the bay area (which seems to be the plan) and getting a job at a reasonable tech company (where no one cares either way about your sexual orientation, gender identity, etc., except to the extent that you want to get the best candidates to apply/accept, and thus don't want to exclude pools of people intentionally or unintentionally), vs. trying to start an incubator (without money, without any experience or special skills, and in a saturated market...).