Why Grown-Ass Adults Shouldn't Need Babysitters with Black Books
I'm 39. It's time I quit protecting buzzards in Patagonia vests. Done with the errors.
The "Me Too" reckoning in tech?
Overdue.
Like a system update 10 years past EOL, it's time we finally start tightening down VC culture, disclosing YC's golden boys turned predators.
But it makes you ask: Why the fuck do we need mentors at all?
Think about it. Silicon Valley worships the college dropout. Puts them on a pedestal. But dare you build without some "seasoned" guide whispering in your ear? Suddenly, you're radioactive. Invisible. A ghost in the machine.
Your worth isn't your vision.
Not your code.
Not your grit.
It's who talks about you in rooms you're locked out of.
That's the price of admission. The dirty little secret behind every "win."
Someone recently asked me, "Why does a 39-year-old woman need a mentor?"
My answer was the cold, hard truth:
"It's chess."
When you're building something that didn't exist yesterday, you need someone who has already broken ground. Someone with power. Money. Influence. A bat that's already hit out of the park. They move pieces you can't touch.
That's the game.
But why?
Why is the game a hunting ground?
Why do female founders get preyed on like vulnerabilities in beta code?
I know the pattern.
The peak? COVID. Isolation. The perfect exploit. They made their move. Made it clear: Funding flowed where flesh did. A transaction disguised as mentorship. A backdoor into your integrity.
Repellent. Degrading.
Not surprising, on any level.
Why did I play chess? For money, of course. (Once a Hooter's girl, always a Hooter's girl.)
And when the pattern glitched into view? I didn't break. I compiled. Started plotting. How do I shield the next wave? The brilliant minds building in SF, NYC, Miami, London, Sydney?
They don't need a fucking mentor.
Not the kind Silicon Valley peddles. And it's not just the men. Plenty of women, too. Masters of psychological DDoS attacks. Time vampires. Soul miners.
So here's the question, Valley:
How do we audit this rot?
Mentor credibility shouldn't be less verified than a fucking Stanford degree. We need accountability. Real consequences. If your assigned "guide" tries to exploit you: psychologically, financially, physically, sexually, they should burn. Not getting a quiet exit package and a new LLC.
My safeguards? Age. Over 30. The frontal lobe is mainly formed. Marriage. Kids. People who'd notice if I vanished. Guardrails.
But what about the solo players?
The naive ones?
The ones nobody looks for?
The ones desperate for that flash cash just to survive? That's the exploit. That's the zero-day they weaponize.
This is a long game. And they play it in the dark. Usually on Signal.
So I'm asking you, Silicon Valley:
Did your mentor make you do something dark for the check?
Slide into my DMs. Send the corruption receipts. Anonymized. Encrypted. I don't care.
Or did you keep that loop going?
And ask yourself:
Do grown-ass adults – builders, creators, fucking founders...do they really need babysitters with black books?
Or is the "mentor" myth just the prettiest lie in a system running on predatory code? Startup sex trafficking? Allegedly.
Time for a hard reboot.
// End Transmission