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Delve removed from Y Combinator

Delve removed from Y Combinator

carabiner

Comments (153)

  • maxbond
    I'm getting the impression that a lot of people in this thread think this is because they violated an open-source license and saying things to the effect of, "they're just the ones who got caught". I also thought that was the scandal initially. (And when it comes to license violations, yes, there's absolutely more where that came from.)But that's just the cherry on top. I don't think they're being thrown out because they violated a license. There are really serious fraud allegations. Allegedly they were rubber-stamping noncompliant customers, leaving them exposed to potential criminal liability under regulations like HIPPA.https://deepdelver.substack.com/p/delve-fake-compliance-as-a...I've only skimmed this so I do not endorse these allegations, but I think it's context missing from this discussion.
  • everfrustrated
    Someone leaked an internal Bookface chat from Garry Tan (YC CEO) saying: We have asked Delve to leave YC. YC is a community, not just an accelerator. The founders in our community have to trust each other, and we have to trust them. When that trust breaks down, there's really only one thing to do. We're not going to get into the details publicly. We wish them well. https://x.com/___4o____/status/2040271468874076380I have no direct knowledge of the accuracy of any of this. This is not my account.
  • hbbio
    This other profile is still up:https://www.forbes.com/profile/delve/30U30 never ceases to amaze.
  • thoughthadlogin
    Sure, most companies could add an About section and probably put this behind them pretty quickly. They could have even hired someone like Delve to assure this kind of thing wouldn’t happen again.But Delve themselves can’t really do any of that. They’ve screwed up on a fundamental piece of their own business model. Their core offering *is* Compliance as a Service!How could I trust their word that they’ll ensure my company is compliant? How could I trust their word that a company I’m doing business with is compliant? They can’t even handle their own Apache 2.0 licensed works, and that’s child’s play- relatively speaking. I’m supposed to trust that they can handle PCI and HIPPA and all the rest for other companies?This is like having a dentist who doesn’t brush and floss their own teeth. Or a building inspector working out of a moldy office suite with exposed rebar. Or an editor with a personal website full of typos and grammatical errors. It’s a dealbreaker to anyone with common sense.
  • nfw2
    It's not just about delve. It's about yc's model. YC encourages YC companies to trust other YC companies even though they are early.If you can't trust your batch mates for something as crucial as compliance, the model doesn't work.
  • gnabgib
    Related: Delve allegedly forked an open-source tool and sold it as its own (295 points, yesterday, 153 comments) https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47615434
  • yyds666
    Great to see them take action. I'm waiting for cambioml next. A married couple notorious for fraud that apparently relocated to ME as a result. That's outside of the terrible treatment of ripping off interviewees (see: https://www.reddit.com/r/devops/comments/1n7cdua/got_a_devop...). Won't even comment on other stories I've heard related to them screwing over employees/cofounders.
  • bboreham
  • wenbin
    Curious - in this situation, does delve return money to YC? Or YC simply writes off the investment
  • jaredsohn
    Interestingly, they show up in the company list. When you click the link it returns 404.https://www.ycombinator.com/companies/?query=delve
  • cyrusradfar
    Related from an hour earlier: Delve removed from YC website [archive.org] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47634405
  • big-chungus4
    An I the only one who has 404 not found when I click the link
  • apt-apt-apt-apt
    Not surprising that Cluely is using them.. they were probably like, what we're compliant, sure if you say so
  • sandeepkd
    Its quite ironical and interesting at the same time, seems like there is a threshold size/impact beyond which everyone would come and save you, anything less and you will have to bear the consequences.
  • bilalq
    While I do think Delve and the leadership there should be held responsible, it's a bit weird to see YC and others take shots at them for breaking the law when so many of their prized unicorns achieved what they did by being willing to just ignore laws and deal with the consequences later.
  • jmcgough
    Turns out you can't "fake it til you make it" with SOC2 compliance.
  • Bratmon
    Fairly inevitable. Like all YC companies, they were total frauds, but they made the cardinal mistake of defrauding other YC companies instead of the general public. Bad move.
  • jrflowers
    On the one hand the company that was selling companies pre-made “You’re hipaa compliant” pdfs was doing fraud, but on the other hand the companies that were buying “We’re hipaa compliant” pdfs that said they had implemented compliance measures that they definitely hadn’t were also doing fr
  • kshri24
    YC needs to go back to how it was. Choosing those who know what they are doing, and have been in the game for long and not blindly choose those who have graduated from tier-1 institutions. University degrees mean nothing at the end of the day.And please stop investing in slop/wrappers. They do not solve World's problems.I feel there has been complacency set into investing in general where investors are chasing quick money (first crypto and now AI slop) over solving hard/grueling problems that take a long time to fix but have huge returns down the line.And we have a lot of tough problems that still need solving. AI won't magically fix that, despite being a great tool.
  • redanddead
    waiting on the cluely scandal next
  • jazzpush2
    Pretty disgusting behavior from the founders just posting as normal on linkedin/twitter as if this is run-of-the-mill. Fraudsters need to be nipped in the bud, lest we get trump-like scenarios.
  • philip1209
    Can they keep their CISO out of jail?
  • carabiner
    Bye-bye tweet from founder: https://x.com/kocalars/status/2040262537166618887Notably YC hasn't wished them a farewell.
  • mememememememo
    404s for me
  • SanjayMehta
    Orwellian memory hole engaged.
  • phplovesong
    Classic. I knew this would happen ever sine i first saw Delve on YC. I was right to trust my gut, and never used their product.
  • jacquesm
    "By combining the evidence I collected together with what the sim.ai team provided, I will show that Delve has stolen an open-source company’s tech by violating their license and then making a lot of money with it."->You mean like OpenAI, Anthropic and all these other 'unicorns'?I'm happy we're all clear on how bad Delve is but in essence what they were doing is exactly the same as what these AI companies do.
  • rvz
    There is no saving Delve after this.The only next product launch is an investigation.
  • blast
    friday news dump tho
  • anovikov
    Interesting! I worked for one YC startup that committed blatant fraud, with the founders vanishing when investors started chasing them to bring them to responsibility. And they haven't been removed. Just marked as "inactive".
  • baggy_trough
    can't believe I almost spent 10 grand on this company a week before they blew up.
  • getverdict
    [dead]
  • dfordp11
    [dead]
  • anon
    undefined