Tech news site The Information reported that female entrepreneurs had been preyed upon by a venture capitalist, Justin Caldbeck of Binary Capital. The new accounts underscore how sexual harassment in the tech start-up ecosystem goes beyond one firm and is pervasive and ingrained. Now their speaking out suggests a cultural shift in Silicon Valley, where such predatory behavior had often been murmured about but rarely exposed.
Wendy Dent, 43, whose company Cinemmerse makes an app for smart watches, said she was sent increasingly flirtatious messages by a start-up adviser, Marc Canter, as she was trying to start her company in 2014. Mr. Canter, who had founded a software company in the 1980s that became known as Macromedia, initially agreed to help her find a co-founder. But over time, his messages became sexual in nature.
In one message, reviewed by The Times, he wrote that she was a sorceress casting a spell. In another, he commented on how she looked in a blue dress and added, Know what Im thinking? Why am I sending you this in private?
Mr. Canter, in an interview, said that Ms. Dent came on strong to me, asking for help and that she had used her sexuality publicly. He said he disliked her ideas so he behaved the way he did to make her go away.
Lindsay Meyer, an entrepreneur in San Francisco, said Mr. Caldbeck put $25,000 of his own money into her fitness start-up in 2015. That gave Mr. Caldbeck reason to constantly text her; in those messages, reviewed by The Times, he asked if she was attracted to him and why she would rather be with her boyfriend than him. At times, he groped and kissed her, she said.
I felt like I had to tolerate it because this is the cost of being a nonwhite female founder, said Ms. Meyer, who is Asian-American.
