"Female founder" of Paul Graham Anthology

I have previously commented on female programmers and entrepreneurs and some have recently been blamed, so I think it is necessary to write a full picture of the idea.

I was accused of sex discrimination. In this regard, any person who knows YC is not justified in listening to it. Self-evidence is very difficult, I just want to say: we really have a female co-founder. YC's 12 founders were 3 women--three times times the average in the venture industry. Although the 3/12 ratio is less than "55", YC is much better than the same size as the female power position. Yes, you're right, YC's spokesperson is me, but YC will never act against the will of Jessica, Kirsty and Carolynn.

People with a more mature mind certainly do not think there is gender discrimination at YC, but expect us to increase the number of women entrepreneurs-just as some say: we should not be goalkeepers, we should be a door.

YC is just a door. Some people discredit us and say that we are only interested in promising young entrepreneurs, but they forget that young entrepreneurs are not "steamed" when we first started in 2005, and instead they are marginalized groups. Investors usually don't want to sponsor them, and even if they do, they try to replace their right to self-determination with parental supervision. Frankly speaking, young entrepreneurs now have little in the light of our efforts. We were dealing with the problem by not talking about verbal initiatives, but real action – we financed more young entrepreneurs than other VCs, and helped them overcome prejudices from other investors. This works, and it has a double effect: once you fund a young entrepreneur who is desperate to help him succeed, you win not just an entrepreneur, but a role model to motivate more people.

For female entrepreneurs, we have the same principles. With other VCs, we've funded more women entrepreneurs and helped them overcome prejudices from other investors. Of the 68 companies currently hatching in YC, 16, or 24%, are female founders, which are almost twice times more than other VCs. Experience: Once they are successful, they will be role models for other female entrepreneurs – the most powerful motivation.

The reason we win so many women entrepreneurs is by not discriminating or prejudice. It's the same thing about winning young entrepreneurs-we're not trying to lower the bar for young entrepreneurs, but (rather than other investors) we're spending more effort to inspire and tap into the real potential of these people--that's the whole point.

In quantitative terms, are there any other organizations that have done more to help female entrepreneurs than YC? It's not impossible. But will you ask the question? We have at least reached the "best organization list to help women entrepreneurs".

Other investors will eventually emulate YC's approach, saying that it is not just a matter of expectation, but a certainty: if you can work with young entrepreneurs, investors can make more money-they are always sensitive to things that are relevant to their own interests. A lot of people outside the business circle take it for granted that investors, when deciding who to invite in, will have a naïve bias similar to ordinary people, to choose the most congenial of their own-unrealistic-investors ' biggest driving force is money. This is understandable in the sense that they are entrusted by LP (2¥q Partner, money), so even if they really have prejudices, these prejudices are merely a moment of stupidity, not a belief in life. Once they realize that they have been too long to see which startup or startup is going too far, they will immediately stop, for no other reason than to lose money-only one of the results of prejudice is to give away the investment opportunity.

Homejoy is a living example. When Adora Cheung to do a round to raise money for it, although the company grew rapidly, but it is not a VC willing to lead. This is partly due to the innate nature of the industry--for many investors, startups that eat the world with just one set of software sound less than plausible. But I also think that part of the reason is because Adora is a woman. So I sent a tweet to Homejoy's income map and wrote: "This is the fastest growing company I've ever seen in YC incubation." I knew at the time: how can such a beautiful business growth impress investors-and that happens as I expect. As long as the company can grow steadily, it can be eye-catching, investors purse but the inevitable.

But I also understand that what we are doing for women entrepreneurs is not enough. In principle, for example, we could have tackled the prejudices of young entrepreneurs on their own: if we invest enough young entrepreneurs to help them succeed, then investors and potential entrepreneurs will be able to draw value from them. Topic back to women entrepreneurs, know that the proportion of female programmers is far below 50%, to the proportion of female entrepreneurs to 50%? I'm afraid it's just an unrealistic fantasy. Although this is different from the past, technology still plays an important role for many startups-if you want to create a tech company, chances are higher if you are a programmer. Adora Cheung is not a female programmer. A software to eat all over the world, is essentially a software.

So what can be done to increase the number of women programmers? The answer is: it is impossible to "a panacea." When people grow up to be old enough to start a business, their abilities and interests are the product of their complete lives. The vernacular is the product of their forefathers ' past life. Even if we focus on this lifetime, we will find that there are too many factors affecting the ratio of male and female programmers-when a little girl first feels the difference between her parents, until she leaves the programming field because she is not being seen as a female programmer. The imbalance between men and women is like a funnel, if you want to increase the number of pass, it is necessary to break the bottleneck-to eliminate the difference between the treatment of men and women programmers, I am afraid to go back to the beginning of the difference.

The little girls grew up to puberty, and the situation was relatively ideal. I firmly believe that this time is the most need to spend the mind, to figure out how to make more girls interested in programming.

It's important, but it's not the only thing to do. I am not to let the women in programming, entrepreneurship encountered obstacles do not pay attention to. I simply feel that this method of input and output is the highest.

So what can be done to make more girls interested in programming? I don't know a thing about girls, but there's a little bit of an idea about how to get kids to like programming--it involves two elements: the way to approach programming, and the role model.

First, children need to be able to program, "can", and make two solutions: they need to know how to program, but also have to have a computer for programming. Now may have to add: to get on the net.

But if you want to turn kids into passionate programmers--and make them willing to develop projects in their spare time--then it's not just to direct them to more programming. My experience is that if you want someone to be interested in a project that is ambitious, the best way to do that is to have a role model around him. I think this can explain why some universities are coming out of startups, and they are far ahead of other schools. For example, I don't think Yale students are inherently less entrepreneurial than Stanford students, or that Yale education does not provide them with the foundation for entrepreneurship. Not like this, I think they are missing is the role model around, is Stanford students around the kind of successful start-up companies.

So if you want more girls to be programmers, you should set more examples for them. To have experience is the best, really not, through the media is also valuable. Do these examples have to be female? It is true that not only female programmers can convey the message that "programming is a job that everyone can do", but for girls, they may be more persuasive as role models.

Is there any other way for girls to be interested in programming? Pretty much. Is there anything else you can do? Most likely. But pay attention to my statement: they changed from "affirmative" to "almost" and "very likely". And why? Although female entrepreneurship is more than most people I know more topics, but let girls interested in programming? I don't think I can handle it.

In other words, I think the trend shown by the female entrepreneur community is encouraging. I say this not only because YC has the "24%", or because there are a large number of successful female entrepreneurs in YC's formerly hatched company. Jessica has been organizing events and sharing ideas and exchanges with other women who are interested in starting a business, and today YC can do the same. I believe this will further accelerate the growth of the number of female entrepreneurs.