Silicon Valley Diversity Debate: Arrington vs. Wadwha #blackinamerica
On October 27, writer/VC Michael Arrington got into a twitter fight with academic Vivek Wadwha over the issue of diversity in Silicon Valley Venture Capital funding. The Tweets below give an overview of the discussion.
- On the night of October 27, hundreds of people had gathered in NYC to watch a preview of the Black in America: Silicon Valley. A member of the audience tweeted the following during the panel discussion.
I'm interested in @arrington's opinion of the Indian guy that says "get the white guy" at Stanford to sell your idea to SV. #blackinamerica- Just uploaded photos I took of Michael Arrington (like this one: t.co/dEKYnje) presenting at #tcdisrupt: t.co/845FZgM
- RT @arrington: @lyneka the indian guy is viveck. he always plays the victim card.
@arrington fair enough - not my intent to attack you, but just show a perspective i have access to that you might now.- I engage with you in these conversations, @arrington because you'll be a terrific advocate for women/minorities in tech once you do hear us.
@kapriforce "Shitty ideas get funded all the time" - yes but that's not a race or sex issue, it's human psychology.- @wadhwa FWIW, I think @arrington can be empathetic about it, but starts by being defensive. To be fair, he does that with everything. ;)
- @arrington prominent female founders whom you & I both know have told me about VCs responding to their pitches with propositions. Regularly.
- But where were the minority startup founders? Kalimah Priforce, founder of the education startup Qeyno, quickly jumped into the conversation as well. Check out a pitch about his startup below.
RT @jilldruschke: @kapriforce @arrington You would decline the funding if you knew that was a consideration? What if it opened a door?- @jilldruschke My integrity won't accept money from half-assed VCs/angels who want me to shut up and go away and fill a quota.
- @arrington Witch-hunting solves nothing. I'm against it. It's about who will step out of their motherf'cking comfort zone.
- @arrington I DO NOT wanted to get funded because I'm Black. I want VCs/Angels to embrace something different/unknown/new.
My last debate with Mike: tcrn.ch/aCpOMK and some more articles: tcrn.ch/eX9gU4" target="_blank" rel="external nofollow" title="Open this link in a new window">tcrn.ch/eX9gU4 http://t.co/4iOZ8QqB tcrn.ch/akEo9o- @arrington This started because you challenged what I said in the CNN documentary about racism that I had experienced. Don't make up garbage
- @arrington I'll eagerly await your opinion on Nov. 14. I'm sure you're going to receive a lot of twitter messages.
