The former Urban Airship CEO sparked a visceral reaction after he was to appear as a scheduled speaker.
BY JACOB PALMER | OB DIGITAL NEWS EDITOR
A Startup Week event has been canceled after an invitation to Scott Kveton to present was met with protest.
The Ignite event’s organizers issued the following statement about the cancellation:
We’ve heard from members of our community who are uncomfortable with Scott Kveton’s involvement in this event due to allegations of sexual assault that were made against him. We respect and understand those thoughts, and thank the members of our community for having the courage to voice them.
Portland’s startup community is and has long been highly collaborative and collegial. But it has been damaged. We, as members of this community have struggled to move forward, but have still not found the appropriate time or venue to begin the much needed healing process. It has been difficult for each and every one of us. And it continues to be.
We had hoped, incredibly naively as it were, that we might help take an initial step to start to repair that damage. Unfortunately, that decision has only caused further aggravation for our community. What should have been an event to share our thoughts and stories has instead become a source of hurt and anxiety.
If this event negatively impacts members of our community, then it is absolutely the wrong thing to do. At the same time the efforts and contributions of our speakers and sponsors should not be overshadowed by concerns about one speaker. In light of this we are canceling the event. We apologize for any hurt or damage we have caused. Perhaps, this will still serve as a starting point for a discussion about safety and inclusiveness that we, as a community, still clearly need to have.
The Portland Business Journal reported on the outcry from some in the Portland tech community.
The decision to cancel the event followed a powerful blog post by Crystal Beasley, co-founder and CEO of startup Qcut. Beasley was also supposed to speak at Ignite Bridgetown but withdrew in protest over Kveton’s involvement. …
[A passage from that post]: “Our collective condoning of terrible, sexist, and violent behaviors means that we perpetuate the culture that supports it. If we are not speaking out, we are complicit. In that culture, in our culture, women’s experiences are denied, erased and invalidated. And we wonder why there’s a pipeline problem with women in tech?”
Kveton withdrew from the event before its cancellation and explained why in a blog post:
So when Cami Kaos DM’d me on Twitter over the weekend asking if I would come to Ignite Bridgetown and speak on the marijuana industry I was excited. It’s been a tough year and I was looking forward to sharing my perspectives and thoughts on this emerging market. After I tweeted that I was going to be there a few people reached out to Cami and myself expressing concern that I hadn’t addressed my personal issues publicly; almost like I was trying to pretend nothing happened this past summer. I’m looking forward to when I can tell my story. I knew I had to say at least something.
I decided to back out out of respect for this community and to not put Cami, Rick, Aaron and the other speakers in a uncomfortable position.
The toughest thing you have to do is decide whether you will let me rebuild the trust and relationships I’ve forged with many of you over the last 8+ years. For me, I have to deal with this every single day until it’s finished. I hope I can earn that trust and continue giving back to this community I love so much.
The former CEO of Urban Airship recently said he is going to focus his entrepreneurial efforts on the new legal pot market. Read that story here.
