The NewYork Times has revealed a detailed report of women undergoing sexual harassment in Silicon Valley, where one female entrepreneur spoke about the suggestive messages she received from a startup investor, and one chief executive faced a number of sexist comments from an investor while she was raising money for her online community website.
When the women spoke out against these issues, the firms failed to take serious action against the harrassments that occured, and were even down played. Additionally, the women were warned about it, and were told that this could lead to their ostracization.
The investors mentioned in the NewYork times piece include Chris Sacca and David Mcclure. Susan Wu, an entreprenuer and investor mentioned an incident that heppened to her by Mr. Sacca:
“At a mostly male tech gathering in Las Vegas in 2009, Susan Wu, an entrepreneur and investor, said that Mr. Sacca, an investor and former Google executive, touched her face without her consent in a way that made her uncomfortable. Ms. Wu said she was also propositioned by Mr. Caldbeck while fund-raising in 2010 and worked hard to avoid him later when they crossed paths.”
Another part of the report include Sarah Kunst’s story being harrassed by McClure:
“In 2014, Sarah Kunst, 31, an entrepreneur, said she discussed a potential job at 500 Startups, a start-up incubator in San Francisco. During the recruiting process, Mr.[Dave] McClure, a founder of 500 Startups and an investor, sent her a Facebook message that read in part, “I was getting confused figuring out whether to hire you or hit on you.”
Ms. Kunst, who now runs a fitness start-up, said she declined Mr. McClure’s advance. When she later discussed the message with one of Mr. McClure’s colleagues, she said 500 Startups ended its conversations with her.”
Chris Sacca, recently released a Medium post as an attempt to overshadow The NewYork Times report, where he acknowldges and addresses the problem of sexual harrassment and sexism in Silicon Valley. Alternatively, David McClure’s company posted their own statement stating that McClure is “addressing changes in his previous unacceptable behavior.”