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If she wanted to do this she'd change her name and disavow her inheritence.
Stephen King's child at least doesn't write under the name "King" to avoid nepotism. I can't read the actual paid article because just going off headlines is apparently OK here, but it doesn't seem like she's trying.
Her chip on her shoulder is a tiny one she blows out of proportion, like so many "problems" of the uber-wealthy.
Joe Hill is quite good.
The first time I had a friend reccomend him, I gave them a funny look, thinking they were talking about Joe Hill the musician and labor organizer XD
Edit: I'm sick of people mentioning musicians without songs; here's Preacher and the Slave, from which we get the term "Pie in the Sky".
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=RHyGpFncovU
Performed by the late Utah Phillips, as Joe Hill was executed a good 110 years ago.
well, there's a website I'm never going back to. that layout is just offensive. and this is after after dismissing the cookies popup
Homie do you rawdog the internet without an adblocker??
"Wow, what does your startup do?"
"It synthesizes mining crypto by capturing efforts from Microsoft users trying to uninstall bloatware in Windows 11"
With what money did she start the business then? Get the F out of here with that crap. Also, so original, going into AI like everyone else.
And the "connections" which is just fancy-speak for "rich friends."
Same way daddy did it
Phoebe Cates>>>>>Phoebe Gates
Yep. That's exactly who I thought. Then I saw the picture and thought, "wow she hasn't aged a bit!"
you arnt independtly wealthy, if you have a "credit card" from your wealthy family and you are living on your own. same goes for CV/RESUME.
Phoebe Gates wants her $185 million AI startup to succeed with 'no ties to my privilege or my last name'
But you have no problem with the $35 million they gave you? That's part of your privilege. You say you want to succeed without it while stuffing your pockets with it.
If she really wants to show the world how good she is, and non-privileged, she can change her name, get into community college while working a minimum wage job, and then start a multimillion dollar business on her own from her savings, without getting carried through life by her father.
shes basically like the rich people that think they are independant and living on thier own, but thier parents give them a credit card to do pay whatever she wants on her own,.
Well you don't get to have that. Possible access to your father is enough for you to get priveleges.
"Entrepreneurship is like one of those carnival games where you throw darts or something.
Middle class kids can afford one throw. Most miss. A few hit the target and get a small prize. A very few hit the center bullseye and get a bigger prize. Rags to riches! The American Dream lives on.
Rich kids can afford many throws. If they want to, they can try over and over and over again until they hit something and feel good about themselves. Some keep going until they hit the center bullseye, then they give speeches or write blog posts about "meritocracy" and the salutary effects of hard work.
Poor kids aren't visiting the carnival. They're the ones working it."
In addition to the multiple throws, and in addition to the direct nepotistic help, there is also just the osmosis effect. How many people would give their right arm to get basic mentoring from Bill Gates? Just knowing someone who’s succeeded at something gives you a massive cultural window into that thing and how to nail it. This kid is delusional. If she wants to do something totally on her own she should be a movie director or race car driver or flower arranger. What’s that? Starting up a tech company? Ohh… how original.
A coworker of mine left to start his own startup. He claimed that the IPO of an old employer gave him a little bit of cushion to work with, and he was going to take his shot. I wished him well. It was a crazy dumb app idea. But you never know.
I do remember thinking “gee and he just had a baby too, what a time to take a risk.” I later learned that he had married old money. The second he had a kid with her, he couldn’t lose.
What an awesome comparison.
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She will ALWAYS have help lol
Well I guess as long as she has a 'chip' on her shoulder
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no ties to my privilege
it's an AI startup
$185 million
Something does not compute, in a Microslop sort of way.
“I have a chip on my shoulder,” she said, describing her drive to prove she can win over private equity in Silicon Valley based on merit, not inheritance or legacy ...[T]he young founder hasn’t taken money from her parents for Phia. Instead, she’s insisted on raising outside capital even as some investors remain fixated on her personal life instead of her business venture.
I appreciate the sentiment, but it would be delusional to think her ability to "win over private equity" was divorced at all from her father's legacy and last name. And actually, I'm not sure I appreciate the sentiment. In 2026, merit is way down the list, like scrawled sideways in the margins, of things that matter to private equity.
It's certainly delusional. I've been active in the innovation space for ~25 years, and for most normal people it's taking a massive risk. Here, she's not ending-up on the street if the venture flops, so the risk is low.
So merit my ass, it's easy to take a risk if it's not real risk, i.e. I agree and don't appreciate the sentiment.
Real question: what on earth does "on the street" mean in the tech startup world? Because I have a strong suspicion that "on the street" means just going to work a normal job like 300 million other people even despite personal anecdotes of one or two people who literally became homeless.
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"Child of prominent pedophile has an AI startup" is such a vibe right now.
The featured article under this is titled
Hailey Bieber and Kris Jenner back Phoebe Gates’ fashion tech startup Phia in $8 million seed round
hilarious stuff
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She just wants to be treated like any other totally unqualified person whose mom gave her commencement speed and got handed 100 million dollars to start up a made up company.
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Wonder how much of her funding came from people who rape kids with her dad...
If she thinks she's doing anything that her name doesn't benefit, she's fucking stupider than most AI ceos and that's saying a lot.
Maybe even stupid enough to not know the reason her dad's company took off is her grandparents worked for Xerox and just gave him a bunch of IP including the first computer mouse and a shit ton of money.
The Gates family is a nepo family, they're just all too stupid to understand and legitimately think they have the same opportunities as anyone else.
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The shopping assistant plugs into browsers like Chrome and Safari to compare prices and surface deals across tens of thousands of retail and resale sites in real time. It essentially serves as your own personal deal finder: Say you’re looking at a $200 dress from Anthropologie, Phia can find and compare prices at secondhand sellers to help customers find a better price.
Gates and Kianni first brainstormed startup ideas in their Stanford dorm room, cycling through concepts before landing on a consumer tool that included Gates’ interest in women’s empowerment (likely modeled after her own mother) and Kianni’s sustainability focus.
I don’t think a coupon tool that wastes excessive resources is either empowering or sustainable.
I'd be concerned about monied motives driving suggestions. Even if it starts out neutral, how can we as consumers be sure it won't become corrupted? Enshittification is par for the course these days, I'd be extremely wary about relying on an app to tell me real, unbiased price info unless its mechanisms and sources are (and remain) completely transparent.
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She's going to be another super villain in ten years isn't she
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Is this the same entitled bitch who got a $1,000,000 ranch as a present?
Maybe pay some fucking taxes, Phoebe.
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this post was submitted on 23 Feb 2026
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