I must say, just like his scummy partner Danny and his "we're disappointed in your, well, factual account of us dicking you" nonsense, I do really like Boris' little legal threats: "I read another round of comments that said that we should be commenting in public at all. I kind of know how to use these tools, and engaging where the discussion is taking place seems to be the right thing to do. Our instinctive response is not to call in the lawyers [emphasis mine]… because, you know, we're actually entrepreneurs / startup guys ourselves." BootupLabs definitely brings the class.
If he and his partner had just been up front and said, you know, one of our investors failed to show up with cash as promised and the whole situation is a nightmare that we feel awful about, it would have put a very different spin on events. Along with, say, giving the startups they left hanging in the wind some support to get home and restart / transition their lives to the next thing. Instead, giving them a couple days to find a job in Canada? Fucking awesome. Entrepreneurs would do well to note how these people treat folks; I've never heard stories of YC acting like this.
I'm sure you're misinterpreting what Boris wrote. I read that line as saying that their instinctive response is to engage in a dialogue with their critics (even if IMHO their initial response was very poor) rather than running to a lawyer who would almost certainly advise them to say nothing.
If he and his partner had just been up front and said, you know, one of our investors failed to show up with cash as promised and the whole situation is a nightmare that we feel awful about, it would have put a very different spin on events. Along with, say, giving the startups they left hanging in the wind some support to get home and restart / transition their lives to the next thing. Instead, giving them a couple days to find a job in Canada? Fucking awesome. Entrepreneurs would do well to note how these people treat folks; I've never heard stories of YC acting like this.