I want to tell you a story...

• Two boys were making jokes of a sexual nature while watching a presentation
• One of the attendees, a girl, got upset. So she took their photo and tweeted about them to all her BFFs
• The two boys got in trouble
• The girl then started to receive death threats for #tattletweeting

The story above actually happened, but not at a high school. It happened at a recent PyCon event where two male developers (Alex Reid, and a yet to be identified individual), both employed by Playhaven, were cracking sexual puns about "forking", and a female attendant, Adria Richards of SendGrid, decided to out them on Twitter. The aftermath...

• Both developers were pulled from the event and fired by Playhaven.
• Adria Richards started receiving death threats.
• SendGrid started receiving DDOS attacks.
• And Adria was eventually fired as well.

Everyone loses. In the end, the entire startup community is accountable for what created this incident, and the aftermath that followed. To discuss this issue in terms of gender bias, rightful termination, freedom of speech, or blame is limiting. Nothing good will come from it. Polarizing discourse never resolves anything. Everyone loses.

We need to reframe the issue towards something more constructive. The "startup community" is a brand onto itself, and this brand is tarnished every time something like the said incident happens. Founders represent the leadership of the startup community.

Founders should take this opportunity to be mindful of the culture they are incubating and accelerating, and how it impacts the startup community as a whole.

We want to invite the startup community, especially founders, to have a mindful and constructive discussion, not about what happened, but about the kind of startup culture and community we want to build.

This post was originally on FounderCode.com. Please visit to join the discussion.