Taking the Leap at 23—Kendall Tucker on Building Her Self-Worth in the Male Dominated Tech Industry

When I first started my company I felt like people weren’t taking me seriously because I was young, and I was a woman. Investors are comfortable with the “Mark Zuckerberg-I’m a young white man who just dropped out of college” stereotype and many of them told me I was too inexperienced at 23. In one particularly outrageous meeting, an investor insulted my inexperience and then went on to tell me how impressed he was with an 18 year old man who had just dropped out of college.⠀
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The best ways to combat this discrimination are to believe in yourself, get great mentors (of both genders), and ultimately to succeed. The best revenge is when underestimated women win.⠀
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Like most female founders, I hustle harder than most male founders. I make sure my metrics are better and I hold myself to extremely high standards. I practice public speaking over and over to make sure that when I present or sell, my pitch is better than most of my male peers. These strategies work.⠀
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Working hard builds confidence and people can sense confidence. If you don’t feel confident yet, work your butt off, and keep working hard until you believe it. For any women out there thinking about starting a company, do it. Women led tech companies consistently overperform. I bet you will crush it. — @kendallhtucker 

Kendall is a Forbes 30 under 30 recipient, Forbes contributor, women in tech enthusiast, and the founder and CEO of Polis. Check out @kendallhtucker for more info.