I’m a female founder. Should I be worried?
How one experience made me laugh, then get pissed off, then scared and hopeful again.
Female founder. Should I be worried?
Actually the thought had never crossed my mind until a few weeks ago. Before that, I was convinced it didn’t matter what my gender was. That I would be judged based on what I did, what I built and on merit alone. Maybe that was naïve but that’s truly how I felt.
So what triggered this concern?
A few weeks ago, I did a reddit AMA titled “I quit my day job and launched two mobile apps in six months, without any previous programming experience. I now have interest from several VCs and am raising a seed round. Ask me anything.”
The discussion started off well. There were some fantastic questions and comments, on and off reddit.
But then slowly, I started seeing posts which clearly assumed I was a guy.
‘Very cool man’
‘Good luck dude’
‘It sounds like he made the websites himself…’
‘Perhaps his costs were…’
At first I found it funny. I even sent it to a couple of friends on Facebook and we had a laugh. I brushed it off. But as it continued to happen, over and over, I started to get pissed off. After consulting with a few friends I decided the best thing to do would be to just say it. I’m a woman.
Then something weird happened. I got scared. What if by mentioning I’m a woman I killed the discussion? Would people dismiss what I had to say? Would they take me seriously? Would they want to hear my advice?
After a few minutes and some back and forth in my own head, I took the plunge, and edited my original reddit post:
‘A lot of people are assuming I’m a guy, but last time I checked I’m still a girl’
Then I waited. I held my breath.
But nothing happened. Well nothing bad, just the opposite. People started correcting themselves, discussion continued to skyrocket and it became the top post in its subreddit for two days straight.
So based on this experience I wanted to highlight two things:
- When given the chance, people are able to base achievements on merit, regardless of gender
- But the fact that assumptions about gender are made, even if an innocent mistake, is still damaging, in that it affects how women think about themselves
That said, I think the industry is moving in the right direction. I’m really proud that companies like YCombinator acknowledge the issue (YC had a Female Founders event this past weekend) and others like Product Hunt are openly admitting when things go wrong and are being quick to fix it (see Ryan Hoover’s post ‘We fucked up’).
So going back to my original question — female founder, should I be worried?
I’m proud to say I’m not. I’m not worried at all. In fact now I feel incredibly hopeful.
And for those struggling with similar thoughts, I believe the best way to overcome this, is to just get out there, build something and show what you can do. Successful startups aren’t successful because of gender. They succeed because of determination, perseverance, and making sure you build something people want.
