From optics engineer to founder of YC-backed material sciences company | Hacker News Reader

From optics engineer to founder of YC-backed material sciences company

elpha.com

46 pointscbcowans15 comments

Hi HN! This is a conversation we had on Elpha with Dr. Whitney Gaynor, CEO of Sinovia Technologies.

Elpha is a community for women in tech to talk candidly online and I'm the co-founder and CEO. Hope you enjoy the conversation!

I'll be in the comments if you have any questions.

Very interesting discussion, especially with respect to experience with the SBIR program. And I like seeing hardware startups here. Thank you for posting.

Same. Our funding started with SBIR and it’s always nice to run into others.

How could one find posts like this without a direct link? Is there some portion of your posts that are public? Every action I try prompts me to sign up, but I do not meet the sign-up criteria. Just wondering if there's a still a way to passively view/read some portion of your content, without attempting to comment/participate.

Cool AMA, thanks.

Yes our main feed at https://elpha.com/top. Thanks for the feedback we will add a more clear way to get back to the main feed from a specific post.

Hi, can you let me know why communities like yours demand a linked in profile to join? I use no social media whatsoever and it blocks me from enjoying communities such as yours. It makes me feel further isolated as a woman in tech who is also strongly privacy-oriented. I understand the need to verify, however could you provide a link perhaps where manual verification could be offered?

You can add a link to a personal website or github profile instead. We'll update language to reflect that. Thanks for the feedback. Please do email us at hi@elpha if you've got other questions. Thanks.

Please do. I asked this exact question a while ago and no change was made to the sign-up form. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19080420

Is there a specific reason Elpha isn't positioned as a community for all persons to talk candidly online?

I look forward to a future where such platforms exist for all people, and don't need to be bound to any particular kind of identity.

I'm concerned about such tools, despite being well-meant, widening divisions rather than healing them.

There are plenty of communities that allow all persons to talk candidly online. However, these communities of all persons tend to be dominated by the majority voice while other voices get drowned out. These majorities don't usually consist of women and other groups.

I find my belief that women are equal in talent and ability contradicts the notion that such segregated 'safe spaces' are anything but sexist; how do we reconcile the opinion that women are equal with the opinion that women need segregated spaces (professional-related)?

You can probably reconcile by talking in person with women who use these spaces.

Is this not the most (or at least a) reasonable place to discuss? It would seem rude to walk into a club and ask 'why should you exist'.

"Segregated" is an odd word choice. A historically disenfranchised group that now has the power to create avenues for themselves is what I would call equality. It is not a segregated space, but an act of empowerment.

"Eschew flamebait. Don't introduce flamewar topics unless you have something genuinely new to say."

https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

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