👧🏻 Part 1: I want to build a community for female builders

I was in SF a week ago and met a ton of super cool people (mostly in tech).

I’m not exactly building a startup, mostly just building out projects for fun — so most conversations went something like this:

Amy: Hey! Don’t think we’ve met yet — I’m Amy.

X: I’m [X]. So, what are you building?

Amy: I’m in the women’s health space, working on a few small projects. You?

X: I’m building [insert wild startup idea]. We actually raised a couple million last week.

(Said in the least arrogant way possible, I assure you 👍)

Amy proceeds to ask questions about their startup until the conversation ends.

I felt a little… small? And a bit stressed to be honest. Of course I know it’s a bad idea to compare my journey to someone else’s, but it’s also not something I can really control.

So naturally, I turned to friends who were a few steps ahead of me.

Talking to my female founder friends made me realize that feeling out of place and battling imposter syndrome is just more common for girls. It’s not in our heads — it’s in the air around us.

Here’s why:

• Systemic underrepresentation: Women — especially women of color — are often the only ones in the room.

• Unequal standards and subtle bias:

  • Women are judged more on proof, while men are judged on potential.
  • We’re interrupted more often in meetings.
  • We get less credit for group work or technical contributions.

• Social conditioning:

  From a young age, girls are taught to:

  • Be modest, not boastful.
  • Seek external validation.
  • Be likable, not assertive.

  Meanwhile, boys are taught to be confident, take risks, and “fake it till they make it.”

That last point hits close to home, as the illegal second child under China’s one-child policy.

I think I’ve climbed out of that ditch — but some things, you never fully leave behind.

And so here it is — the first seed:

I want to create a community for female builders.

🛠️ Part 2: Building Through Every Chapter

I want this community to be home to builders at every stage — from those launching their tenth project to those just starting their first.

But I especially want to create a haven for the Chapter 1s.

One of my favorite pieces of advice I got while talking to friends about imposter syndrome:

Don’t compare your Chapter 1 to someone else’s Chapter 20.