Venture capitalists openly substitute profiling for genuine evaluation of startup founders

Evidence

VCs [venture capitalists] hold clear stereo types of successful CEOs (they call it pattern recognition, but in other industries they call it profiling or stereotyping.) John Doerr [a venture capitalist] publicly stated that his most successful investments—and the no-brainer pattern for future investments—were in founders who were white, male, under 30, nerds, with no social life who dropped out of Harvard or Stanford. — Alice E. Marwick, Status Update, 668

Categorization

• DEFINE: Defines ‘pattern recognition’ as the euphemism VCs use for demographic profiling — a core concept for critiquing meritocracy narratives.
• XREF: Directly connects to the self-branding thesis: the ideal tech founder is itself a brand archetype that excludes most would-be participants. — connects to: Venture capitalists who see women as emotionally immature are less likely to fund them — Alice E. Marwick, Status Update: Celebrity, Publicity,…, 705