Silicon Valley Women, in Cultural Shift, Frankly Describe Sexual Harassment
Several of Silicon Valley’s top venture capitalists
and technologists, including Reid Hoffman, a founder of LinkedIn, condemned Mr. Caldbeck’s behavior last week and called for investors to sign a “decency pledge.” Binary has since collapsed, with Mr. Caldbeck leaving the firm and investors pulling money out of its funds.
“Female entrepreneurs are a critical part of the fabric of Silicon Valley,” said Katrina Lake, founder
and chief executive of online clothing start-up Stitch Fix, who was one of the women targeted by Mr. Caldbeck.
At a mostly male tech gathering in Las Vegas in 2009, Susan Wu, an entrepreneur and investor, said
that Mr. Sacca, an investor and former Google executive, touched her face without her consent in a way that made her uncomfortable.
“It’s important to expose the type of behavior that’s been reported in the last few weeks, so the community can recognize and address these problems.”
Most venture capitalists and entrepreneurs are men, with female entrepreneurs receiving $1.5 billion
in funding last year versus $58.2 billion for men, according to the data firm PitchBook.
“Having had several women come out earlier, including Ellen Pao and me, most likely paved the way and primed the industry
that these things indeed happen,” said Gesche Haas, an entrepreneur who said she was propositioned for sex by an investor, Pavel Curda, in 2014.
