“Women, young women especially, are not what people picture when they think of tech entrepreneurs. There is often this initial reaction or surprise - sometimes the first time that someone meets you, they do not know quite what to expect and can be slightly dismissive. Often that can be overcome by talking about your technology and company. It can be tough entering those conversations knowing that you are not the expectation the other person had in mind.” – Claire Watts, CEO and Co-Founder of ThruWave
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For the most part, I surround myself with people who are not the majority – In other words, minority groups: Women in Engineer, Girls Who Code, Women in CS from high school to college, and then Women in Entrepreneurship, Women in Academia… Or just in terms of age, undergraduate entrepreneurs, compared to MBAs, etc.
Since there are so few people in these groups, they are more or less overgeneralized into stereotypes.
For example, saying that: There are stereotypes about female entrepreneurship (non-profit/psychology/education/women’s health related business) There are stereotypes about women or anyone studying computer works (Nerd, robotic in speech, not as sentimental as women “should” be, but logical) There are stereotypes when starting a business with an engineering background (“First come up with fancy programs like MVP, and then look for market problems to solve”)
Thank you, I have experienced people thinking this way on me, but no thank you.
What I’m trying to say is that while I like not conforming, it doesn’t matter to me that I’m not labeled as a minority.
When starting a business in high school or undergraduate, people may say, “Wow, this kid has so many ideas. This kid wants to start a business at such a young age” or “Does that kid know how to even talk to a customer at such young and bold age?”
I don’t do things to hear “You’re thinking about starting a business at such a young age” or “It’s not easy for a female to study computer science/start a business”
What I would rather hear is: “What is your value proposition? What is your revenue model? What are your go-to-market strategies?” and: “Can you replicate the game theory discussed in this paper using Naïve Bayes? Do you know the time complexity of this algorithm?” and things alike
Entrepreneurship and Engineering are not lofty things in a general sense. If you are proficient in any industry, there will be top representatives. People who devote all their energy and possibilities to the path they like are more worthy of respect than those who think they are just pointing fingers.
I am indifferent whether I should feel superior as a minority. What I want is anyone who can actually give me effective advice or even be willing to emotionally support me rather than just “professionals” who just disgust me.