All other things being equal, I would agree with you. I am intimating that, perhaps, all other things are not equal. The guy in the article seems, to me, as though he has a case. I think that the behaviors and statements outlined indicate a hostile work environment. As to the question of the guy in my story, if we follow your logic, that "any smart company will hire him", then we would have to conclude that the majority of the people and organizations that he attempted to approach prior to me are "not smart". I am not so important or well known that I would be very high on the list of your average entrepreneur shopping around his idea. That is why I have to keep an eye on the forum users at places like news.YC, it allows me to potentially contact some bright kids at VERY early stages to see what they are about. I say that so that you realize that this kid tried to go to a large number of places before he was reduced to making desperation pitches to people like me. So I think it is a little idealistic to assume that he would have been "hired", or "invested in", in any case.
