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Ask HN: Do Transpeople Need Their Own Y Combinator?

7 points by alliem ↗ HN
My pitch to YC this round was TCombinator. It`s my first try. TCombinator is YCombinator for transgender founders, with more hand holding, proactive recruiting, and a social good focus. The pain point it solves is that transpeople can find it hard to find work sometimes. It operates on the theory that companies founded by transpeople will hire transpeople in a population proportionate way. It depends on the hypothesis that their exists, in the difference between their proportion of the population and their representation in the set of startup owners, some worthy transgender entrepreneurs with the potential to change everything. TCombinator is needed because YCombinatorexists, and there are no transgender founders blogging about how they were selected in a past round, and my cofounder and I are to only two I know of that applied this round. Theiris no role model or example to hear about to inspire people like me to participate in this startup world. I have other ideas I could have pitched at Transtartup.blogspot.com, and if I had just applied as a ciswoman with the best one and not mentioned my transgenderism or made it a focus of my pitch, I may have been accepted; but my story wouldn't do as much good to the transpeople that read about it, even if I'm not, and the story is just this AskHN post.

To those transpeople that make it this far: I am an escort, and adultfilm actressin Richmond,VA. I wasa software consultant for TCSC before being laid off in October 2010 for being unable to perform the duties I was hired to perform based on "conversations, observations, and joint work". It happened before I could come out as transgender to them, but after people had to have noticed my appearance changing. I've been telling recruiters up front ever since, and it seems like it makes them lose interest in me as a candidate. It's been a hard 17 months since getting my head above water to where I am able to start hacking again, so I intend to hack what almost drowned me. I`ve starved. I`vethought about suicide. If I can try to make things better for us, coming from where I'm coming from at this very moment, please; just try with me. Apply by emailing TCombinatorInc@gmail.com and read more atTCombinator.blogspot.com.

Goodnight World!

AskHN: Do Transpeople Need Their Own YCombinator?

4 comments

[ 3.0 ms ] story [ 23.6 ms ] thread
paulhauggis
If you would like to be treated like everyone else, why make an effort to start a group that separates you?

I would not have any problem working with (or for) someone who is transgender.

alliem
It doesn`t seperate us, it plugs us in to the wider sphere of mentors and investors that YC would be plugging me into if they accept me. Transpeople have atypical issues, and would feel more comfortable with other transpeople being the initial point of contact for something as personally challenging as launching a startup. Some have intermediate psychological or logistical barriers to participation cispeople cannot identify with. Think of it like prep school for YC, that operates at 1/10 the scale, solely online, and creates entrepreneurs through active recruiting and entrepreneurial tutoring, rather than waiting for already existing entrepreneurs to apply; a 25% charity, 75% seed venture capital firm and trans-social good movement, and YC loves a movement.
alliem
And if by treated like everyone else, you mean we want to be treated like men that are expected to behave like men or face fear of being fired, or like women that are expected to be nice about it when they get objectified, because that's how everyone else is treated, then no, we don't want an unethical system to accept us. We want everyone to be treated ethically, and fixing things for the nth, most fringe case, fixes things for the less fringe, n-1,n-2,n-3... cases.
1123581321
I'm sorry to hear about your troubles. It seems obvious to me that you need to talk about software, not your personal life, when you apply for YC and talk to recruiters. Everyone is different in some way and almost nobody is interested in hearing about it. It has nothing to do with activism.