A well-known Silicon Valley venture capitalist is the subject of internet ire after calling new dads who take months-worth of paternity leave “losers.”
Joe Lonsdale, cofounder of Palantir, is dealing with the fallout from a tweet where he said: “Any man in an important position who takes 6 months of leave for a newborn is a loser.”
Pushback was almost immediate, with entrepreneurial names such as Reddit co-founder Alexis O’Hanian quick to criticize his remarks.
News that the Biden administration has, for now, eliminated a national paid leave proposal as part of a spending package compromise has even more people talking about the issue.
When Triangle Inno checked with local business leaders, they said the issue is more nuanced when it comes to startups. That’s as people Inno talked to said they were broadly in favor of parental leave – including paternity leave for new dads.
John Replogle, co-founder of Raleigh’s One Better Ventures, called parental leave “an essential.”
“We are the only ones who can be parents to our kids,” he said, adding that healthy companies make sure they have the depth to be "fine in a time of shared governance.”
“Anyone who doesn’t understand this is living in the 20th century,” Replogle said.
Jim Triandiflou, currently the CEO of fast-growing insightsoftware, said parental leave after a new baby can contribute to a healthy culture.
“You have to keep a little perspective in life,” he said. “Having a baby is one of the most incredible things in the world … work is important and you want to be successful and make a contribution to the world, but probably there’s no greater contribution than how you raise your kids.”
But what about taking leave when your company is the new baby? That’s where both paternity and maternity leave get complicated for some companies, Triangle investors said.
Joe Colopy, who cofounded a Triangle success story – email marketing firm Bronto Software – has some first hand experience tackling the issue. In Bronto’s early days, the company had no benefits “and I was back to work the day after my first daughter was born,” he said.
“Years later, when we were bigger and more successful, all employees including me received (and took!) a five-week sabbatical every five years of service.”
“The extent of benefits and leave varies tremendously on the stage and success of the startup,” he added in an email.
Colopy, who currently invests through his own venture capital startup, Jurassic Capital, said he encourages all startups to be generous with their benefits – including paternity leave – when they’re large enough to be able to.
“Sadly, American work culture is meager when it comes to maternity leave and even more so with paternity leave,” he said. “Ideally, they would both be better and the same.”
David Gardner, a local angel investor and co-founder of Cary-based Cofounders Capital, said the paternity leave situation has yet to come up, but that it would be a difficult sell for an early startup.
“I think they know that in an early stage company, taking a lot of time off would mean the end of their venture,” he said. “A startup is most likely the most difficult thing a person will ever do and they do pay a heavy price on many levels. I think that is one of the main reasons most people choose an easier path and why I have so much respect for those who do take the hard road.”
What Triangle entrepreneurs are saying
For their part, Triangle entrepreneurs heading up later-stage firms – particularly those trying to grab tech hires in the increasingly competitive talent pool – are talking about the issue of parental leave. Raleigh-based software firm Pendo, for example, currently offers new parent leave to all employees for 12 weeks, and the company just announced plans to extend that to 16 weeks next year, CEO Todd Olson said.
At Durham-based fintech Spreedly, CEO Justin Benson said 12 weeks leave is offered, regardless of gender or how the family started, and that the company “encourage[s] parents to take the full 12 weeks.”
“It’s a unique time for a family and worth 100 percent focus," he said.
Brook Markevicius, CEO of Durham freelance startup Allobee, said her firm has made parental leave a priority and has plans to extend it from eight to 12 weeks “and then include a part-time ‘buddy’ for the returning team member for 12 more weeks to support the transition.”
“Many early startups do not make time to ensure a good culture is established,” Markevicius said. “I think often it is because they cannot hustle/iterate fast if they do. I would challenge them on this. We have iterated and scaled quickly, but without sacrificing culture and values.”
