Y Combinator entrepreneurs say they were kicked out of the accelerator for criticizing its founders and slamming efforts to skip vaccine lines

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Y Combinator entrepreneurs say they were kicked out of the accelerator for criticizing its founders and slamming efforts to skip vaccine lines
Paul Graham and Jessica Livingston, two of Y Combinator's founding partners.Joe Corrigan/Getty Images; Steve Jennings/Getty Images for TechCrunch
  • Two Y Combinator entrepreneurs say they were kicked out for talking about issues within the accelerator.
  • Dark CEO Paul Biggar said YC booting him for tweeting about internal posts on skipping COVID-19 vaccine lines.
  • Prolific CEO Katia Damer said she was cut after calling out misogyny by YC founders.
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Two entrepreneurs claimed Friday the startup accelerator Y Combinator kicked them out of its program for speaking publicly about misogyny and members' efforts to circumvent COVID-19 vaccine eligibility requirements.

"Lol just got kicked out of @ycombinator," Dark CEO Paul Biggar tweeted.

Biggar said he was expelled for a March tweet in which he claimed two founders posted to internal Y Combinator forums saying they had skipped vaccine queues in Oakland, California, and had shared tips to help other founders also jump spots in line.

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Just hours later, Prolific CEO Katia Damer replied to Biggar's tweet, claiming Y Combinator had kicked her out for speaking about misogyny within the accelerator.

"OK, I'll come out publicly: 2 weeks ago YC kicked me out as well because I dared to criticise their beloved founders," Damer said.

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"Jessica literally defended a misogynist," she said, referring to Y Combinator founding partner Jessica Livingston, adding: "I called it out and got expelled from their 'oh-so-great' community lmao."

"YC has systemically disadvantaged female founders for years," Damer said, claiming Y Combinator's success stories included "almost exclusively white male founders."

Y Combinator did not respond to a request for comment on this story.

Venture capital has long had a diversity problem, with firms hiring few investors or employees of color and funneling an overwhelming majority of their investments toward white male founders. Y Combinator has been vocal at times over the years about the need to increase diversity in its ranks, but it has struggled to make significant progress.

In September, Y Combinator touted that its Black-, Latinx-, and female-founded portfolio companies had a combined post-money valuation of $23.6 billion - less than 8% of the more than $300 billion combined valuation of its top companies alone.

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