rel=”nofollow” href=”https://www.joinwarp.com/”Warp is under the spotlight following controversial posts from an account tied to the company.
On Thursday, an account posting under the name Vittorio wrote on X, “i like White people more, they do more, they are better for the roles i need to climb the kardashev scale i’ll let blacks run and play basketball.”
His profile included a badge indicating he was affiliated with rel=”nofollow” href=”http://joinwarp.com”Warp, which offers payroll software with rel=”nofollow” href=”https://www.joinwarp.com/blog/warp-yc”>a focus on automating state-by-state tax compliance and was part of the winter 2023 cohort at incubator Y Combinator. The badge is something that X (formerly Twitter) created as part of the X for Business program in 2022 — something that’s usually given to employees, but which Warp appears to have distributed more broadly as part of an unconventional marketing strategy.
So the ensuing outcry focused not just on Vittorio, but on Warp as well. The startup rel=”nofollow” href=”https://x.com/joinwarp/status/1832204972718747684″>disavowed his post as “wrong,” adding, “We believe excellence can come from anywhere.” The company claimed Vittorio was “never a Warp employee” and said it had removed his affiliate badge.
Vittorio’s post and account have since been deleted. Warp’s Head of Growth Varunram Ganesh rel=”nofollow” href=”https://x.com/varunramg/status/1832145821665837158″>wrote, “I don’t like what he said, we removed his badge. Everyone piles on him / us online, which is also fine. Nobody should feel bad for him But some of you guys found his address, called people he knows, trying to SWAT him, and are trying to end his whole life Congrats?”
Warp also said it was “cutting down on affiliate badges more broadly, keeping it to a smaller group of people that we personally know.” The company did not immediately respond to a TechCrunch email asking for more details about its relationship with Vittorio and other affiliates.
Meanwhile, some of these affiliate accounts have been defending Vittorio’s post. The account Pico Paco rel=”nofollow” href=”https://x.com/PicoPaco17/status/1832163411674726842″>said “vittorio did nothing wrong” and that this was just a “pr crisis.” (Pico Paco rel=”nofollow” href=”https://x.com/PicoPaco17/status/1832240149222113604″>appeared to lose its affiliate badge yesterday.) Another affiliate account rel=”nofollow” href=”https://x.com/thegenesisbl0ck/status/1832116137867248076″>asked, “is he wrong tho”.
Disclaimer
We strive to uphold the highest ethical standards in all of our reporting and coverage. We StartupNews.fyi want to be transparent with our readers about any potential conflicts of interest that may arise in our work. It’s possible that some of the investors we feature may have connections to other businesses, including competitors or companies we write about. However, we want to assure our readers that this will not have any impact on the integrity or impartiality of our reporting. We are committed to delivering accurate, unbiased news and information to our audience, and we will continue to uphold our ethics and principles in all of our work. Thank you for your trust and support.
