Over the weekend, the New York Times published a lengthy story about the rampant harassment of women in Silicon Valley that centered on an investor named Justin Caldbeck and singled out several people including occasional Shark Tank panelist Chris Sacca, who pre-empted the Times‘ story with a bland apology on his own Medium blog titled “I Have More Work To Do.” Another man mentioned in that story, Dave McClure, has followed suit with a post titled “I’m a Creep. I’m Sorry.”
McClure, the cofounder of accelerator and investment firm 500 Startups, wrote that he “made advances toward multiple women in work-related situations, where it was clearly inappropriate.” One of those situations, as the Times reported, occurred when McClure wrote a potential hire a Facebook message that read, “I was getting confused figuring out whether to hire you or hit on you.” In his apology, McClure notes that his firm ended up not hiring the woman.
“I put people in compromising and inappropriate situations, and I selfishly took advantage of those situations where I should have known better,” McClure wrote concerning other incidents. “My behavior was inexcusable and wrong. For these and other incidents where I have been at fault, I would like to apologize for being a clueless, selfish, unapologetic and defensive ass.”
McClure’s behavior stretches back a few years, as old pitch decks he created surfaced shortly after his apology was published.
This 2012 deck abt pitching to VCs is 1 of many versions of by Dave McClure of 500 Startups on Slideshare. https://t.co/dHdrFQBouX pic.twitter.com/vWEdOaXUlF
— Eleanor Stribling (@eleanorstrib) July 1, 2017
According to CNN, [the deck] “includes an image of a woman straddling a man, mid-makeout. “Remember to have fun … when you pitch” it says, with an arrow pointing to the image.”
In response to the Times‘ original story, at least one 500 Startups partner is seeking to dissolve their relationship with the firm.
According to 500 Startups, McClure is no longer managing the firm’s day-to-day operations.
UPDATE – 2:35pm EST: Axios reports that McClure has resigned as general partner of the 500 Startups firm.