<story><title>Peter Thiel, YC, and hard decisions</title><url>https://medium.com/projectinclude/peter-thiel-yc-and-hard-decisions-2b91bab83764#.f8k645921</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>dfabulich</author><text>There is clear precedent for YC taking a political stand by uninviting investors.&lt;p&gt;Only five years ago, Paul Graham was willing to uninvite investors from Demo Day based on their support for the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA). &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;techcrunch.com&amp;#x2F;2011&amp;#x2F;12&amp;#x2F;22&amp;#x2F;paul-graham-sopa-supporting-companies-no-longer-allowed-at-yc-demo-day&amp;#x2F;&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;techcrunch.com&amp;#x2F;2011&amp;#x2F;12&amp;#x2F;22&amp;#x2F;paul-graham-sopa-supportin...&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;Paul asked, &amp;quot;If these companies are so clueless about technology that they think SOPA is a good idea, how could they be good investors?&amp;quot;&lt;p&gt;The obvious answer to that question would be, &amp;quot;their track record as investors could demonstrate that.&amp;quot; But no, in 2011, if you supported SOPA, you&amp;#x27;re out, &lt;i&gt;regardless of your track record&lt;/i&gt;.&lt;p&gt;I think it&amp;#x27;s fair to ask whether, if Peter Thiel is so clueless as to donate $1.25 million to Donald Trump &lt;i&gt;today&lt;/i&gt;, after so much of his dirty laundry has come to light and after this has been reflected in the polls, how could he be a good investor?&lt;p&gt;If it was the right decision for SOPA, it&amp;#x27;s right decision today.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>untog</author><text>IMO, you can even disregard all of Trump&amp;#x27;s dirty laundry in this calculation. He is openly calling into doubt the result of this election before it&amp;#x27;s even happened, asking supporters to intimidate voters, and suggesting the entire election is &amp;quot;rigged&amp;quot;.&lt;p&gt;He is attempting to undermine democracy in the country and I&amp;#x27;m not sure you need a single additional reason to object to anyone who supports him.&lt;p&gt;Thiel, of course, does not think &amp;quot;freedom and democracy are compatible&amp;quot;: &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.cato-unbound.org&amp;#x2F;2009&amp;#x2F;04&amp;#x2F;13&amp;#x2F;peter-thiel&amp;#x2F;education-libertarian&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.cato-unbound.org&amp;#x2F;2009&amp;#x2F;04&amp;#x2F;13&amp;#x2F;peter-thiel&amp;#x2F;educatio...&lt;/a&gt;</text></comment>
<story><title>Peter Thiel, YC, and hard decisions</title><url>https://medium.com/projectinclude/peter-thiel-yc-and-hard-decisions-2b91bab83764#.f8k645921</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>dfabulich</author><text>There is clear precedent for YC taking a political stand by uninviting investors.&lt;p&gt;Only five years ago, Paul Graham was willing to uninvite investors from Demo Day based on their support for the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA). &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;techcrunch.com&amp;#x2F;2011&amp;#x2F;12&amp;#x2F;22&amp;#x2F;paul-graham-sopa-supporting-companies-no-longer-allowed-at-yc-demo-day&amp;#x2F;&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;techcrunch.com&amp;#x2F;2011&amp;#x2F;12&amp;#x2F;22&amp;#x2F;paul-graham-sopa-supportin...&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;Paul asked, &amp;quot;If these companies are so clueless about technology that they think SOPA is a good idea, how could they be good investors?&amp;quot;&lt;p&gt;The obvious answer to that question would be, &amp;quot;their track record as investors could demonstrate that.&amp;quot; But no, in 2011, if you supported SOPA, you&amp;#x27;re out, &lt;i&gt;regardless of your track record&lt;/i&gt;.&lt;p&gt;I think it&amp;#x27;s fair to ask whether, if Peter Thiel is so clueless as to donate $1.25 million to Donald Trump &lt;i&gt;today&lt;/i&gt;, after so much of his dirty laundry has come to light and after this has been reflected in the polls, how could he be a good investor?&lt;p&gt;If it was the right decision for SOPA, it&amp;#x27;s right decision today.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>dsacco</author><text>I agree with the thrust of your point - that organizations like YC should be allowed to uninvite or refuse to collaborate with people they are diametrically opposed to for political reasons.&lt;p&gt;However, I do not agree that it&amp;#x27;s fair to call an investor&amp;#x27;s competency into question due to their political views. I agree organizations have every right to not affiliate themselves with those investors, but in the real world there are plenty of examples of investors who hold controversial political views.&lt;p&gt;Logically, there is no a priori reason why &amp;quot;Thiel is a good investor.&amp;quot; and &amp;quot;Thiel strongly endorses Trump.&amp;quot; cannot both be true. To go further, I don&amp;#x27;t see an a priori reason why an investor with political views that are antagonistic to the industry he focuses on cannot be a very good investor. It might not be likely, but on its own I do not agree with using politics as a criterion for investing performance. That&amp;#x27;s silly - just look at investing performance directly.&lt;p&gt;To go even further, I think it would be disingenuous for groups like YC to announce they will distance themselves from investors they disagree with because &amp;quot;How could they be qualified investors if they hold this opinion?&amp;quot; That&amp;#x27;s masking the real reason for not affiliating with them, and in my opinion they shouldn&amp;#x27;t have to mask that anyway.&lt;p&gt;I also think using that sort of language establishes a precedent that makes the industry less inclusive to people with opposing political views. Much of the tech industry is progressive and liberal, but it would be ridiculous if this was applied to potential founders. Should founders who support SOPA or Trump not be admitted to YC if they are well into a startup that will most likely become the next Google?&lt;p&gt;Put another way, if you read Zero to One and you found it to be very insightful and full of legitimately good ideas, would you call it into question after learning that Thiel supports Trump? Doesn&amp;#x27;t that strike you as an ad hominem? Sure, Thiel&amp;#x27;s political views might be &lt;i&gt;relevant&lt;/i&gt; or &lt;i&gt;worth noting&lt;/i&gt; as an investor, but they certainly do not define his investment performance.</text></comment>