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"I wanted to do x, but no one would hire me even though I was capable because I didn’t have sufficient experience in x on my resume." I definitely identify with this line. I'm a 27-year-old woman and I left a cushy (read: boring) job writing for Vogue magazine so I could create a dating site that women will actually feel proud to join. Like so many, I was under the assumption you had to have ninja coding skills, an MBA, Google on your resume, or a genius gene to become a founder. I had none of those, and having worked as a print journalist, I missed the boat on the importance of developing your online brand. I had nothing to give me credibility--not even a Twitter page. And let's face it, my one laurel, ie that shiny "Vogue" on my resume, meant nothing to this audience. I tried to get a job at a startup just to see what I was getting myself into, and no one would hire me. I had pretty much one friend in the biz--Meetup's cofounder Matt Meeker--and once he heard my idea, he said, "You've got to do this." I said, "But I don't have experience or any sort of reputation," and he said, "The best and most efficient way to get those things is to just do it." So, I'm doing it. I probably wouldn't have if Matt hadn't offered those words of wisdom and created such an unthreatening environment in which to pitch him. The other thing that helped me plow forward when I wanted to give in to all the judgmental haters out there was the research I did on what sort of skills investors look for in the entrepreneurs they fund. If more women knew that it's about PERSPIRATION and PERSEVERANCE above all, I truly believe we'd have more female founders. I've always had that fire in the belly that makes for a good entrepreneur. If it weren't for the misconceptions that you have to be some sort of savant to start something, I would have, like Jessica, maybe done this at 25. Though I've got a lot of catching up to do, I'm so thankful I realized I CAN do this, I SHOULD do this (to gain experience if nothing else), and I WANT to do this--because if I pull this off, I'll have accomplished something 100x more gratifying than anything I could have ever done working in corporate. |