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Comment by soared | Hacker News Reader

I would've expected yc's mission statement to shed some light on how they justified funding a bookie. Turns out yc has no ethical/moral/etc grounds in their mission or about us. Spend your money how you see fit, but I would've hoped you'd build some ethics into your business.

https://www.ycombinator.com/principles/

https://www.ycombinator.com/about/

(For context - I've worked closely with a number of large betting websites like mybookie.ag. 100% of my contact with them has been toxic. My employer explicitly does not fire clients but an exception was made after I recorded a call with them. Similar situations occurred freelancing.)

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YC funded a "crapware-bundling as a service" startup named InstallMonetizer. (And briefly had YCers defending this in comment threads on here)

They'll do anything that potentially makes them money.

YC states their lead ethical underpinning in the first line of their Founding Principles: "Startups are on balance a good thing." They go further in describing their goal to support and advise founders; and include phrasing about their philosophy of being "benevolent" to founders. Their Principles also describe prioritizing mission-driven endeavors over money. You or I may not share their ethics, but they have theirs.

Those are not ethics.

What exactly is your qualm with them investing in this company?

If you have a problem with gambling, take that up with your legislators. But I wouldn't expect you to have an issue with gambling, since you, ya know... literally earned a living working with the incumbents.

> If you have a problem with gambling, take that up with your legislators

Legal != Ethical

It's perfectly reasonable for people to be upset about things that are legal. In fact, almost every new law originates under those conditions.

My problem is not strictly with this company, I was just surprised to see that yc has not a single mention of ethics/morals/anything around what type of companies they'll invest in. Most big tech companies at a minimum put on a facade that they have ethics.

edited for clarity

Out of curiosity, why do you view gambling as unethical and/or immoral?

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