It's not gatekeeping. It's saying that the people who can persevere as founders are the kinds of people who intrinsically and deeply want to found something, and someone telling them they shouldn't do it wouldn't stop or impede them from doing what they already set out to do. They'd be doing it anyway, regardless of what other people say.
I think we'll have to agree to disagree that that's not gatekeeping.
Becoming an astronaut is far harder than becoming a founder, yet we wouldn't dream of telling children not to think about becoming one.
What other people say is an important force. The reason I mentioned Jessica is because much of her work has been to convince people who otherwise wouldn't become founders to start companies. I think she has more experience than either of us, and she doesn't seem to agree that the thesis here is true.
I didn’t see the tweet as gatekeeping, maybe just something stemming from survivorship bias.
What I got from it was that this is a challenge unlike other work related challenges. For one there’s no comp if things don’t work out, whereas anyone can find a job anywhere and get paid. You’re exchanging time and effort for something which may not turn out to be something people want to buy or use.
I assume it was just to make the argument more pointed; I skipped over the word "female" by accident and the message is unchanged.
If you wouldn't want to make this kind of discouragement with women founders, you wouldn't want to do it with men either, and I assume that's what sillysaurus meant.