Ran into a fake "LP" at a YC after-party and I need to vent
5 pointsby danish001116 hours ago2 comments
  • sbierwagen5 hours ago
    What event was this?
  • orionblastar5 hours ago
    Fake LPs want in on the action. They remind me of Fake programmers who are only in the career for the money and never learned to code, but got the job anyway. I had to teach them how to program and work with a database.

    I learned never to discriminate or judge others; you never know their story. If someone is married or engaged, it is their own personal business that doesn't make them a bad employee or red flag. Truth is, I can work with almost anyone as long as they don't stab me in the back. I'm here to help and have a passion for the industry. I'm 57, have schizoaffective disorder, but those shouldn't be red flags or make me unstable. In fact, it is discrimination based on age and disability.

    I learned to program when I was 12 on a Commodore 64 in BASIC. I went to college to learn how to program in other languages on multiple platforms. I went and earned a business management degree to go with my IS degree. I got skin in the game.

    I've been to Thailand 3 times already, and it has religion and culture from India, and they have Indian people living there as well, whom I met. I learned International Business and Global Management in college.

    I'm in a slump, and have to start all over again as AI becomes popular and all of the retro tech I know isn't being used anymore.

    I've run two businesses with friends, I know how hard it is to turn a profit and pay everyone, and the bills pile up as well.

    Fake Programmers who don't know how to code are doing the fake it until you make it, and need a teacher or mentor like me on the job to help them learn what they need to know.

    If I had enough money and time, I would be doing business and legal apps cross-platform for Windows, MacOS, and Linux.

    • danish001114 hours ago
      Thanks man, you just became my therapist. Let me know where to send the $200. Totally agree with you. One thing I actually like about China's laws — you can't become an influencer on something without a degree in it. Yeah, it kills a lot of people who'd have made it without one, but at least you don't get random nobodies being loudly wrong about things they've never studied. If you don't know the shit, don't talk about it. I learned 7 programming languages in school — C, C++, Java, C#, HTML and more. Still wouldn't walk up to a CTO and lecture him.

      One thing I didn't mention in the post. The girl he was flirting with? I actually know her and her guy. She's the one who asked me to come meet this LP. Sitting there watching him flirt with her, tell her she should build alone and he'd back her, her passing him gum, him half on his phone — wasn't a great watch. She showed me his LinkedIn. Yale PhD in math, no funding mentioned, no background in entrepreneurship. Just wanting to flirt with her. I left.

      He couldn't say anything to me directly. All the peacocking was for her and for the young game dev founder he was grilling. Then he turned to that founder and told him he doesn't need to raise funds, trying to pull him down just to look smart, and I lost it internally.

      I've been in gaming 10 years. First 2 bootstrapped, building games for other companies. Got funding in year 4, through an accelerator, because the total annual VC money in India right now is roughly what Anthropic raised in the previous round.

      So when he turned and told the guy "you don't need VC money, you're not ready," I jumped in to defend him.

      At some point she told me he'd said something about my product too — that I don't need an ICP, that I shouldn't focus on one user. Our traction came from neurodivergent kids who loved the product. We teach real-life skills through games — originally aimed at young adults, but neurodivergent kids especially get a lot from it, because reading social cues, setting boundaries, body language, negotiation, all of that is harder for them, and games are a low-stakes way to practice. Meanwhile he was acting like some YC advisor or LP, showing off and telling everyone what to do.

      I don't know why I'm this upset. Maybe my ego, maybe I just really wanted to shut him up in the moment and didn't. Just hated everything about him, his energy, all of it.

      Thanks for listening, orionblastar. Made a real difference. :)

      • orionblastar3 hours ago
        You are welcome. I've worked with people from India before, and they seem really smart. I studied Buddhism a bit and learned to let go of my ego, since it doesn't really exist. I once wanted to make a Buddhist Boot Camp to teach mindfulness and meditation to reduce stress. Maybe that is something you can do?

        Feel free to bend my ear anytime, I'm a good listener.

        That Fake LP needs to be mentored and taught by a real LP. A PhD in Math is fine, but computers and making human connections require more than just math.