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Startup Founder Plays Tech Press Like a Fiddle
theodp writes "Steinar Skipsnes came up with a unique way to get more women into tech. Make them up. Posing as 'Sarah Hanson,' a 19-year-old woman who claimed to have auctioned off 10% of her future income in return for $125,000 to fund her Senior Living Map startup, Skipsnes pitched the story via email to generate press coverage. It worked — VentureBeat, HuffPo, Yahoo!, AOL, GeekWire, and others took the bait. But after doubts were aired about the story, Skipsnes fessed up to concocting the too-good-to-be-true hoax about the female teen entrepreneur to appeal to the interests of the tech press. 'I started to think "what if I took the elements of what the press loves and created a story?"' Skipsnes explained. "So I did.'"
Isn't this fraud (... deception intended to result in financial or personal gain)?
"When life gives you lemons, don't make lemonade. Make life take the lemons back!" -- Cave Johnson
Just more proof that been shown again and again that if a story fits the media's narriative template that they will not fact check a story.
"Skipsnes went public with his confession Tuesday night, after GeekWire discovered his real identity and left him a voicemail. He has since responded to our emails but refuses to talk on the phone or meet in person to answer our questions directly.
He insists that the startup at the center of the story, Senior Living Map, is his and is real. However, we have yet to find any evidence supporting its existence in state corporations filings or anywhere else, beyond the bare-bones site that was the subject of the fake auction.
The photo of “Sarah Hanson” used for the auction bears a striking resemblance to Skipsnes’ wife at a younger age. We asked Skipsnes if he used a picture of his wife to perpetrate the hoax, and if so, how she feels about that. As of publication of this post, he has yet to respond to that question."
So, this guy's just a high-tech, low life grifter. Only when he got caught did he confess to the scam.
Lock him up, after he's made reparations to anyone he scammed money from.
Was I the only one thinking of mascara, some red lipstick, a 40's hairdo...
Could you not be bothered to read the story?
Reading is hard. Let's go shopping!
Tic-Tac-Toe, Global Thermonuclear War, and relationships all have the same winning move.
If it had been a woman, posing as a man, there would be a big discussion about how it was reasonable for her to do that, because it gave her a chance to have her work judged without having to deal with peoples pro-male bias. It used to be pretty common, particularly when you're in a situation where you don't actually meet the people you're doing business with. Writers operating under a pseudonym, for example.
So, he lied, and took advantage of peoples pro-female bias. And, people react with anger, just like people of a previous generation reacted with anger. People genuinely believe that men SHOULD have to work harder to get ahead. That's why they're mad. Because their prejudice is heartfelt.
-1 Uncomfortable Truth
Nope. Clicked straight on through to the first article, and then added my comment.
Yes... I'm feeling sufficiently stupid now. Thanks for asking.
File under 'M' for 'Manic ranting'
Investers: "Oooh! Pretty girl! Shut up and take my money!"
Sheesh. How could people this dumb have so much disposable income?
Proverbs 21:19
Perfect reply, I wish I had modpoints!
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Why did I do this? I want to grow and build a business more than anyone can understand. When you want something bad enough, youâ(TM)re forced to create a path or quit. Am I proud of this path? In hindsight, I would have preferred promoting the site differently, but it is what it is at this point. My last startup up was destroyed by Craigslist.
forced to create a path or quit? perhaps, but what you did was intentionally lie to investors about your personal identity. Its something the SEC and to an equal extent the FBI tend to frown upon (try doing it at a bank sometime.) The attorneys you'll likely deal with with wont care about how much you wanted to grow a business or create a path, or what your fucking hindsight was. They will have cause to insist on a legal fact-finding period, during which every "business" youve ever been a part of will be torn open and shaken out onto the floor. the wording of every email and correspondance they can find will be used to build a case against you in an effort to reclaim far greater amounts of money than the original investment which was made in your company. Legal inquiries into your personal finances, criminal history, travel, residency, and credit standing will be made, against which you will have very little standing to protest. Once your willful intent to defraud investors is proven, you'll not find the resources to start up so much as a tupperware party.
Good people go to bed earlier.
So, his name is Steinar Nintendo64?
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This pretty much debunked the myth that being a woman in tech is difficult and that is kjust because women opt to do other things that we don't see them around. And that the whole issue is around only for a few individuals special interests.
What i really want to see is someone pull that coverage by being a 50-60 yr old male white developer. The only group that really is absent in tech despite trying.
I've done that, was given the 'internetz of the day' award for it. I'm still waiting for the statue to arrive in the mail. Any day now.... :)
Not true, this worked for the guy, Adria Richard, from the dongle-gate
This country has no journalists left. All we have now are highly-paid stenographers.
I'm having a very "get off my lawn!" moment right now, but I remember a time when journalism had standards and articles were researched.
Sigh.
They don't grade fathers, but if your daughter's a stripper, you fucked up. --Chris Rock
Sorry, but any idiot that actually invested in this story (to the tune of $125,000) without doing more research than the press did (at least before publishing the first story) is an idiot, and deserves what they got.
There are two types of people in the world: Those who crave closure
It would be a real coup if he managed to get his stupid site linked to on the front page of slashdot.
Ah, yes, there it is.
There are 0x40000000 types of people: those who understand 32-bit IEEE 754 floating point, and those who don't.
And that if he had made his lies a little better/more thorough, he would have gotten even more press.
There are two types of people in the world: Those who crave closure
Tech low life? I think the sites that ignore great startups to run articles about the pretty teenage girl startup are the low lifes
my karma will be here long after I'm gone
Not true, this worked for the guy, Adria Richard, from the dongle-gate
Nice!
-1 Uncomfortable Truth
...to have her work judged without having to deal with peoples pro-male bias.
and
So, he lied, and took advantage of peoples pro-female bias.
I don't see how these two jibe.
There's a huge difference between operating under a pseudonym to avoid gender bias and manufacturing blatant lies specifically intended to defraud.
Dontcha think? Dontcha?
If he will lie about something as silly as that, who in their right mind will trust him in business? He sold his integrity for a ridiculously low price and doesn't even understand why that matters.
...to have her work judged without having to deal with peoples pro-male bias.
and
So, he lied, and took advantage of peoples pro-female bias.
I don't see how these two jibe.
Because the pro-male bias doesn't exist any more except in select circles (but the media believes it exists everywhere), just as the pro-female bias doesn't exist, with an exception for select circles (primarily the media).
Some people have a pro male bias, and some people have a pro female bias, and some of us don't really care.
If the worst we ever get from Canada are the Hideki comments, well I am not that bent outta shape.
Making up a single fake woman is still small potatoes compared to Mitt Romney. Or Wilt Chamberlain.
"Love heals scars love left." -- Henry Rollins
Sorry, but any idiot that actually invested in this story (to the tune of $125,000) without doing more research than the press did (at least before publishing the first story) is an idiot, and deserves what they got.
Did anyone invest anything? TFA says that Sarah Hanson (who doesn't exist) claims to have received an investment of $125,000, but the implication is that was a lie too. So it isn't clear that anyone actually invested or was defrauded of anything. But TFA is so poorly written that it isn't clear.
Interestingly enough, Senior Living Map seems to be up & doing what it's supposed to.
Dark Reflection
Nope. Clicked straight on through to the first article, and then added my comment.
Allow me to explain how things work here at Slashdot.
First, you read the headline. Advanced users might also make mental note of the Slashdot editor who posted the story (this helps to frame your reactions to the story.)
Now, there are two differing schools of thought as to what to do from here. One camp jumps straight from here into commenting on the story, having already taken in sufficient information at this point to begin forming and expressing opinions. The other camp will read some or all of the summary before commenting. They claim the latter method helps them in identifying and avoiding commenting on duplicate stories.
However, at no point should you ever actually read the articles (this was where you made your critical mistake.)
It's just not done.
So, he lied, and took advantage of peoples pro-female bias.
Exactly.
The only thing Skipsnes really did was use the unfair biases of the tech-press and their readers to his advantage. The fact is that the value of Skipsnes website has *absolutely* nothing to do with whether it was coded by a 19-year-old girl, or a 70-year-old grandmother, or a run-of-the-mill 30-something, white, male programmer. The site shouldn't get more press because we thought it was coded by a cute girl, but it did. So, Skipsnes turned the tables on our own, unjustified prejudices. Maybe this will erode those prejudices a little bit.
To me, this doesn't strike me as all that different from, say, a black person, on a job application, marking themselves as being white. Ideally, it shouldn't matter *what* they put as their race, but the fact it that their odds are improved if the employer thinks the guy is white (in a universe without affirmative-action and wherein employers are allowed to query about race). And, just maybe, it will cause the employer to start disregarding the "race" section on the applications once they realize that it's not reliable info. And maybe *we* will stop giving undue extra attention to startups which seem to be from cute, unmarried, doe-eyed females.
The problem, as I remarked in this followup post to someone who asked if I had even read the summary was that I *did* read the article (or at least one of the ones linked to), unfortunately, I did so, and immediately commented upon it before I had even fully read and comprehended the points that the summary was actually making.
I could chalk it up to having just woken up at the time, but then I wouldn't be admitting responsibility for doing so. It was my bad, and I realize I probably deserve gratuitous levels of mocking from slashdot posters and AC's everywhere for it.
File under 'M' for 'Manic ranting'
Sadly, this isn't any different than a scam that some government contractors play.
In many government contracts, there are set-asides for women and/or minority owned businesses. Sometimes less than scrupulous goverment contractors set up shell companies that name a women and/or a minority as a principal owner (more often than not a wife of the owners of the original contractors) and bid on those contracts with set-asides to avoid competition and make more profit. Inevitably, some of the work come the way of the shell company, and these shell companies simply subcontract the actual work to the original shady governnment contractors at a non-competitive price and kick-back a finders fee of sorts to the principals of the shell company.
Government (and eventually the taxpayers) lose every day to these types of scams and you don't hear about them. The wake of the Sarah Hanson / Manti teo / Dora Ratjen style of scams is generally much smaller (although potentially more media tickling)
No idea, I was just addressing the idea of a fraud charge.
There are two types of people in the world: Those who crave closure
High tech? The funniest thing about the story I think is that people honestly thought that "senior living map" could have been a real startup, instead of just a summer intern project. Way too much entrepreneur worship going on, I sense a new era of dotcom gullibility cropping up.
What amused me about this story is that it's a truism that you can't believe anything you read in the newspapers. Seems to me there's some justice in the story being fabricated before the journalists got their hands on it.
"So, he lied, and took advantage of peoples pro-female bias...People genuinely believe that men SHOULD have to work harder to get ahead. That's why they're mad. Because their prejudice is heartfelt."
Yeah...no. The tech press wants to jump on a story about a female-led startup *precisely because there are so few female led startups*. That hardly suggests that being female is an advantage in the environment. If he'd actually managed to create a viable company then it may be interesting, but he didn't; just threw up a website and told some lies. No-one actually gave him any money.
Nicely played, sir. I got a giggle out of that this morning, especially considering that the Ada Initiative would have given you a creeper card for daring to utter a "rape trigger." Too bad nobody modded you up. I'd mod you up, but you'd need to create a time paradox where I never posted so I could use my mod points.
And yes, I posted before I had my tea. I should have replied to the guy who pointed out that this (among lots and lots of other things) pretty much debunks the myth that grrls and womyn-born-womyn somehow have a difficult time of things in IT with a "hear, hear!"
Join the Slashcott! Stay away entirely Feb 10 thru Feb 17! Close all tabs to prevent autorefresh!
The funniest thing about the story I think is that people honestly thought that "senior living map" could have been a real startup, instead of just a summer intern project.
Can't say I blame them when Instagram sold for a cool billion.