This week, Slow Ventures hosted a three-hour “Etiquette Polishing School,” covering topics like the perfect handshake, public speaking, and office etiquette. There was a fashion show where models showed off different looks in different scenes, followed by a closing lesson on caviar and wine.
Hundreds of founders applied to the free program, held at the Four Seasons in San Francisco's financial district, and 50 were accepted, the San Francisco Standard reported. Most of the participants were men.
Apparently the idea started as a joke, with Slow Ventures expressing interest at Y Combinator's Demo Day. YC CEO Garry Tan also reportedly told the founders not to attend, but Tan wrote on X that he “disagreed with Slow Ventures” and wrote, “You don't need to finish school. You need to build something great, satisfy your users, and have craftsmanship.”
One anonymous founder told the Standard he joined to learn how to “reduce wildness”.
“Technology is no longer about playfulness and cuteness,” Sam Lessin, general partner at Slow Ventures, reportedly told the audience. “It's taking people's jobs away and changing the environment. Everyone is under threat. So instead of 'I'm here and I'm being intentionally disrespectful,' we need to have an attitude of 'I'm here and I'm being respectful.'”