Screw ScribD and the horse they rode in on. Between them and Installmonetizer it is hard to pick my least favorite YC company. At least new entrants know that they'll never bottom out in the ethics department since those two got in.
In the recent past I can't remember actually visiting.
No surprise that they want to make shitloads of cash through whatever dubious, underhanded means they think they can get away with.
That said, if you want to do a funded start-up and you're in the United States nothing will come close to beating YC for effectiveness, even today.
If that were true, wouldn't there be a lot more Installmonetizers to berate? I feel like the fact that you guys are talking about one startup from 8 years ago has to count for something. YC has funded thousands of startups since then.
I don't know anything about the backstory to that case but YC has turned down many startups for ethical reasons, so I always wondered what else was going on there. Perhaps they changed what they were doing after they got funded? That happens a lot.
YC is not perfect by any means but the absolutist denunciation of the GP seems a bit excessive.
I agree with you though that it is not as if they seek out underhanded ways of making money. But they also don't rule them out a-priori and will not call companies to task - as far as I'm aware of - when certain lines are crossed.
Fortunately there is Watsi to balance out the most horrible cases.
As for why those companies stand out to me: I knew the initial batches quite closely, these days there are so many YC backed companies it is impossible to keep track of them and I'm simply no longer trying.
Anyone know how to edit the hosts file on an Android device? I already block HN on my laptops, but I really should fix this once and for all.
With root, use Adaway