Slow Ventures holds a ‘finishing school’ to help founders learn to be fancy

Slow Ventures hosted a three-hour “Etiquette Finishing School” this week, covering topics like the perfect handshake, public speaking, and office decorum. There was even a fashion show with models showing off different looks for different occasions, and then a closing lesson about caviar and wine.

The San Francisco Standard reports that a few hundred founders applied for the free program, held at the Four Seasons in SF’s financial district, with 50 founders accepted. Most of the attendees were male.

Apparently the idea started as a joke, with Slow Ventures sussing out interest at Y Combinator’s Demo Day. And while YC CEO Garry Tan reportedly told founders not to attend, Tan posted on X that he has “no beef with Slow Ventures,” while writing, “You don’t need finishing school. You need to build something great, make your users happy, and have craftsmanship.”

One unnamed founder told The Standard that they attended to learn how to be “less feral.”

“Tech is no longer playful and cute,” Slow Ventures general partner Sam Lessin reportedly told the audience. “It’s taking people’s jobs and changing environments. Everyone’s threatened by it, which means you need to be like, ‘I’m here and respectful,’ as opposed to ‘I’m here and intentionally disrespectful.’”