Slashdot Mirror
6 Female Founders Accuse VC Justin Caldbeck of Making Unwanted Advances (techcrunch.com)
An anonymous reader quotes a report from TechCrunch: Yesterday The Information reported on allegations made by half a dozen women working in the tech industry who say they have faced unwanted and inappropriate advances from Silicon Valley venture capitalist, Justin Caldbeck, co-founder and managing partner of Binary Capital. The women include Niniane Wang, co-creator of Google Desktop and a prior CTO of Minted; and Susan Ho and Leiti Hsu, co-founders of Journy, a travel planning and booking service. The Information also talked to three other women who said Caldbeck made inappropriate advances to them. It says these women did not want their names disclosed for fear of retaliation from the VC -- and because of wider concerns they might suffer a backlash from men in the industry who don't see inappropriate advances as a problem. Among the allegations made to The Information are that Caldbeck sent explicit text messages to women; that Caldbeck sent messages in the middle of the night suggesting meeting up; that Caldbeck suggested going to a hotel bedroom during a meeting; that Caldbeck made a proposition about having an open relationship; and that Caldbeck grabbed a woman's thigh under the table of a bar during a meeting. Several of the women reported finding Caldbeck's advances so awkward they gave up on continued dealings with him. In Caldbeck's initial statement, he "strongly" denied the allegations and claimed: "I have always enjoyed respectful relationships with female founders, business partners, and investors." However, in response to The Information's story, his tone changed significantly: "Obviously, I am deeply disturbed by these allegations. While significant context is missing from the incidents reported by The Information, I deeply regret ever causing anyone to feel uncomfortable. The fact is that I have been privileged to have worked with female entrepreneurs throughout my career and I sincerely apologize to anyone who I made uncomfortable by my actions. There's no denying this is an issue in the venture community, and I hate that my behavior has contributed to it." Caldbeck has since released a full statement to Axios, where he says he "will be taking an indefinite leave of absence from Binary Capital..."
He didn't abuse his position as employer because he's not their employer. He's a guy making passes at women, and they reject him. Any inability to handle the social awkwardness of that is their issue to be dealt with by them getting a thicker skin.
But then this is just whineyness here. They're not actually doing anything except complaining about his annoying passes at them. The equivalent of telling the wife about a husbands infidelities. So he should also shake it off as socially awkward.
Have you ever made a pass at a women and she's rejected? Has the subsequent relationship been very very awkward. The answer is yes for every man in the world.
Considering today's politics, all men are considered de-facto guilty until proven innocent. I don't know if caldbeck truly stepped out of line, but the current situation reenforces the need for evidence based justice instead of the (social) media witchhunts we have now. I hope your wife doesn't ever get mad enough to use those messages against you in divorce court as evidence of 'unwanted advances.' Marriage offers no more immunity to this than any other context. Thanks to pervasive logging of communications, messages like those have a way of cropping up years later, only to be taken out of context by her (and her lawyer). At the time it might've been fine, but women are human and can and do lie after the fact if it'll benefit them.
As far as context, legality, and appropriateness go, when is it ok to make a pass, these days, and who are the referees? Based on what I've seen, work and school (esp college, but, now, probably hs too) are now no-go zones. Doesn't leave much left. Feminist propaganda lumps reasonable advances in with the unreasonable, which effectively trains women to think any advance by men they don't like is inappropriate. Insane.
If one of these women had been your sister or your daughter, would you have considered the situation "handled" after Caldbeck stepped down?
So what's wrong with these women sticking up for themselves? There's nothing wrong with hanging a jacket on him so that women at his next venture are duly warned. Not every matter is best handled by courts or law enforcement. If what these women are saying isn't true, there are libel laws to handle it.
You are welcome on my lawn.
You mean he was pressurized to step down due to the smear campaigns?