Pando goes to, and is escorted out of, Y Combinator demo day

https://pando.com/2015/08/19/pando-goes-and-escorted-out-y-combinator-demo-day/a165d4eeb37178c1acdd45c80fa06f9c80af2093/

by 24x7 • 11 years ago

97 30 11 years ago

pando.com

animefan2• 11 years ago

Really sickening how they throw in a jibe about the lack of women, just so they can sound self righteous and distract from the immorality[0] of them trespassing on YCombinator's event.

[0] Not that it's always immoral for journalists to trespass. Clearly they play a special role in society and sometimes this might involve going to places they weren't invited. However to me this crosses the line because there is no public interest angle. Everything in the article could have been read about in (or extrapolated from) articles written by the invited journalists.

kenko• 11 years ago

Immorality? Trespassing? Come on.

waterlesscloud• 11 years ago

I have to agree. Immorality is simply the wrong word to use here.

Pando is within their rights to attempt to attend a day meant to promote startups, and YC is within their rights to escort them out.

There's nothing "immoral" going on here. Way, way over the top.

click170• 11 years ago

Whats the back story behind this?

Does pando have a reputation for being disruptive?

Is y combinator demo day invite only?

I ask because I don't know.

animefan2• 11 years ago

The (paywalled) article states that they attempted to get press passes but were denied, so they snuck in. Perhaps the size of the event meant that YC wanted to limit the number of press? I don't know if they have a reputation for being disruptive, I just found the whole article petty.

biot• 11 years ago

From the article:

  The closest I got to an on-the-record comment confirming that
  press access was based on favor, not fire code, was when a YC
  registration official rejected my request for a badge, for
  the final time: “It’s an invite-only event for investors, and
  only a few select press are invited.”

javert• 11 years ago

Trespassing is not the same as going somewhere you weren't invited. It is always wrong for journalists to trespass (i.e. on private propery), but it's not wrong for them to show up uninvited.

nostrademons• 11 years ago

Curious where the line is, i.e. if Demo Days were at YC's offices (which it used to be, right?) would it be trespassing to show up uninvited? It's private property after all.

PhasmaFelis• 11 years ago

Really sickening how they throw in a jibe about the lack of women, just so they can sound self righteous

The writer does nothing but note that no investors or women are in sight. What you choose to read into that is your own business.

PhilWright• 11 years ago

Merely mentioning the observation is clearly an attempt to influence the reader. If I say that I notice you did not beat your wife today, then I have clearly directed the reader to an unpleasant accusation.

quick_stix• 11 years ago

I'm glad someone has finally went out of their way to point this out. Props to Pando Daily.

I too have noticed that TechCrunch will publish anything with YC's name on it - even from the outside, you can tell that the two parties have a really curious direct relationship. Despite this odd arrangement, TechCrunch writers still do not disclose it on their individual profiles (even though they may go as far as disclosing who they are dating and what loose connection that personal relationship might have to their excuse of "reporting"). By having a strong hold on TC, Ycombinator can distort the public opinion around it even if it has wronged someone.

Journalism should be free-thinking and not just morph into whatever opinion YC likes best and that suits them. I wonder how many journalists Ycombinator has strong armed into publishing stuff they like by denying them access to demo day or "exclusives" on their companies.

It also frustrates me because I have friends who aren't in YC but constantly grinding it out and working on their startups - how come they can't easily get on TC as well? How many real, actual stories have we missed out on just because a new YC company is entering the scene and feels compelled to occupy the very self-entitled YC showcase that is TechCrunch?

narrowrail• 11 years ago

I stopped reading TC in 2010 and haven't looked at it since. I read the comments here when linked to TC without ever bothering to click through. I am not sure why you seem angry that YC would cultivate a relationship with a "tech" blog? Does that really make sense?

bahahah2• 11 years ago

This is the way media/PR works in the US.

The media markets and develops a consumer base, and then sells or exercises its influence over those consumers to its customers. You generally think of this as just advertising mixed in with the medium, but most articles are specifically placed. Other articles are just fluff to reinforce the marketing identity.

Institutions that stick to authentic journalism can not compete against those supporting capital interests, and most consumers can not tell the difference.

I am just really curious how the cash or influence flows. Does a YC partner have a majority or significant investment in TC? Do you just pay flat out for coverage? Do high ranking journalists, editors, or partners at TC have capital interests strongly connected to YC?

dang3• 11 years ago

Why did you post this comment using the account that posted the story, then delete it and post it with another account, then delete that and make a new account to post it?

probably_wrong• 11 years ago

Maybe (s)he is trying to get kicked out of HN too?

vacri• 11 years ago

YC is not a public entity; they don't owe you a seat. Just because you don't get one doesn't mean they're in the wrong.

Besides, if this is the standard of investigative journalism ("waaah, I couldn't get in! let's cast aspersions!"), I think that any group would be in the right to reject the author on journalistic merit.

snake117• 11 years ago

Yeah it seems that YC made the right choice by not letting them in. I can imagine YC being a little picky about what press they would allow into Demo Day because they only want positive news about their start-ups...and who can blame them? I don't have anything against Pando, but I've never heard of them until now, yet I've been familiar with TechCrunch for a long time. YC is comfortable with them and this is there event, therefore, they have the final say in who can attend...even if it only is TechCrunch.

bahahah2• 11 years ago

The only bad press is no press. Especially so when no one knows who you are.

And now you know who Pando is, mission accomplished. They just want to join in riding the demo day media wave, but were denied access to actually write about the demos.

tomasien• 11 years ago

(serious question not trying to demean Pando): does Pando have enough readership to warrant being included in the press section of an event with competitive press entry? I've enjoyed a lot of the Pando articles I've read, but I don't see them around very much and I pay a lot of attention to the tech press. Plus, it's pay-walled for the most part right?

Even if they don't have the readership to support this it isn't a criticism of it as a journalistic endeavor or business, but I'm just wondering if this warrants such a complaint.

cpncrunch• 11 years ago

Strange that your comment was downvoted. A quick bit of research on sites like Alexa shows that Techcrunch has 10x as many visitors as Pando, so why should they expect equal treatment?

gkoberger• 11 years ago

This title is clickbait. They were politely and apologetically asked to leave, since they snuck in and didn't have a press pass.

As to why they didn't get a press pass, who knows. But they've been extremely negative toward YC companies in the past. YC isn't running a White House press conference; they're running an event with the unabashed goal of helping their companies succeed. You wouldn't invite your bitter ex to your wedding.

As for why TC writes so much about YC companies: I know a bunch of YC companies that didn't get a TC write-up, and I know some that had negative writeups. Like it or not for Pando (or anyone else), it's mutually exclusive: the launch of a YC company is news, and launching on TC is a Silicon Valley rite of passage. TechCrunch wants YC startups, YC startups want TechCrunch.

(On a more personal note, being a founder is really fucking hard. It's the hardest thing I've ever done. YC is the only organization in the valley I've ever felt had my back 100%, and truly had my best interests in heart. VCs and press may complain about Demo Day, but who cares: YC makes decisions based on what's best for its companies, not the press or VCs. I can't thank YC enough for everything they did to protect, help and nurture us as an early-stage company.)

caminante• 11 years ago

Reading your comment, I couldn't help but chuckle at the irony.

Here we have...a site with a paywall COMPLAINING about access to information.

This "journalist" hoped to skate in and get something worth "$10 a month" to write about. After failing, he scrambled, spinning a conspiracy and making himself the story.

arielm• 11 years ago

Tech journalism at its lowest. 1. Whining over something meaningless to get page views. 2. Calling TechCrunch journalism...

SrslyJosh• 11 years ago

Nothing proves their point better than admins killing this story on HN.

dang3• 11 years ago

No admin touched this story.

pen2l• 11 years ago

You'll do your snooping work to find this stuff out, because you can. Sadly, others can't do this to HN. Because HN software becomes increasingly opaque by the day. Users are forced to take you at your word, all the while comment score points are hidden, users are rankbanned without warning, users are slowbanned, etc.

dang3• 11 years ago

Most of your statements about HN are false. Unfortunately, patiently answering you for many months hasn't seemed to help. As I explained at https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10071375, I'm not going to keep doing this. There are many HN users asking questions in good faith. Given that we can't even answer all of those, much as I wish we could, it's clear where our efforts should be focused.

I'm going to detach this subthread (from https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10090025) now and mark it off topic.

theshadowmonkey• 11 years ago

Im in no way to related to YC, Techcrunch or Pando. But, I think in their power and willingness, YC was very much justified in escorting Pando out of the event. Would you let someone into a private event or party when they come without an invitation and you dont want them there? They were very apologetic and nice in escorting them politely and journalist mentions that. Why were white men and women randomly thrown in the article as if to highlight them when there is neither a need nor it adds any information to the story ? This is plain clickbait. When it is my event, Im free to invite whoever I want.

hadeharian• 11 years ago

I hate that he makes it sound like he had some responsibility to be there as if by invitation. I'm sure everyone wants to report on this stuff, but reporting has never worked that way. Reporters are often excluded for any and every reason from conferences, for much the same reason that people don't invite everyone to a party.

Pando goes to, and is escorted out of, Y Combinator demo day

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