Do As He Says, Not As He Does. That Would Be Unprofitable.

Chamath Palihapitiya is a partner at a wealthy venture capital firm, Social+Capital Partnership, which aims “to create value and change on a global scale.” Being interested not just in profit but in social change, Mr. Palihapitiya appeared Sunday before a marginalized group to tell them harsh truths about their access to capital: “It’s really unfair to you guys, but I think you’re discriminated against.” The Baffler hopes the students of Harvard Business School took this news with a stoicism becoming their august institution.

Kate Losse has written excellently about the “manic pixie dream hacker,” Silicon Valley’s fetishistic search for the One True “Natural” Boy Hacker in a Hoodie. She has focused attention on the way the myth manages to marginalize those without power who do not match the narrative. The myth also serves to reinforce Silicon Valley’s claim that it is the purest meritocracy. Palihapitiya takes this to its natural conclusion when he says the students of HBS are now discriminated against because capital wants to reward “naïveté.” “If someone in the audience decided to try to solve a problem in heart disease, without any prior medical experience, ‘I’d fund it on the spot,’ he told the students.”

Not only is this bullshit in the aggregate, but it is bullshit in the immediate disaggregate. A look through the CrunchBase info on companies Social+Capital has funded reveals at least one company founded on naïveté —they were one of the five firms that put $6.5 million into the notorious Bustle, a feminist pop culture news site founded by a man who didn’t know there were other pop culture websites for women. Mostly their portfolio is a grab-bag of “sharing economy,” cloud, and other buzzwordy apps. They have funded seven or so medical related startups, out of several dozen companies total.

Integrated Plasmonics, which makes sensing devices, was founded and is led by someone with a PhD in Applied Physics from CalTech.
Simplee, which is “a next generation platform for patient payment and engagement,” basically a payment company, and is led by an Israeli e-commerce specialist.
Flatiron Health, “an oncology data platform,” was founded by two Wharton grads. The VP of Technology has a PhD from Tel-Aviv University, and the VP of Oncology has an MD. The Director of Product Management is a Yale grad who, before Flatiron, worked at Massachusetts General Hospital where he “built and managed oncology research databases.”
Syapse, which “is disrupting healthcare by bringing -omics into routine medical use.” Whether or not that is a useful description of the company written in the English language, the founder has an MS in Biological Sciences from Stanford and years of experience in “the university, startup biotech, and pharmaceutical sides of the biomedical industry.”
Propeller Health, which aims to help doctors collect information about asthmatic patients. The founder has a PhD in Medical Anthropology, and wrote his dissertation on asthma.
Breakthrough Behavioral “connects people with mental health providers for online counseling and telepsychiatry.” The founder only has a BA, but it is from Stanford. The COO has “over thirty years of executive experience in behavioral health.”
Glooko makes technology to help people manage their diabetes. The co-founder and chairman has a Stanford PhD in Electrical Engineering and decades of experience in tech. The CEO has been a “Technologist for 25 years (15 in healthcare).” He has a degree from Stanford. The Chief Medical Officer is a Harvard Medical School-trained doctor.

Harvard MBAs have never been prime startup founders. They tend to go into investment banking, consulting, or established tech companies. Those that do found startups are not going to be “discriminated” against by Chamath Palihapitiya in any meaningful sense. They will have access to capital at rates that exceed every other conceivable sector of the population. And, fortunately for them, he does not believe the bullshit he is peddling. When he funds a medical startup, he wants people who know something about medicine. When he wants to fund a company with a “vision of connecting people, devices and networks,” he funds a white guy who dropped out of a prestigious MBA program. When he wants to “revolutioniz[e] the world of mobile productivity,” well, that’s when he gets a Wharton MBA. When he wants some complete suckers, well, DealBook is there to write about it.