Article · 12 min read

This Is Me: Indian Women Founders Are Taking Up Space By Being Unapologetic

Forbes India Staff · Forbes India Free Beginner India

It puts the double standard in real founders' own words: Ahana Gautam (Open Secret) told an investor who called her 'too confident' to name his problem, Shruti (ApnaKlub) turned period-shaming at IIT into fuel, and Tamanna Dhamija (Convosight) stopped hiding behind 'co-founder' to own CEO. Concrete proof that naming the bias out loud, instead of shrinking to avoid it, is the resilient move.

  • The 'too confident' note is a bias tax on women founders, not real feedback; you are allowed to hand it back
  • Introducing yourself as 'co-founder' when you are the CEO quietly cedes ground you earned
  • Anger at gendered slights is data, not a flaw; channel it into proving the doubters wrong
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The question it answers

  1. As a woman founder, how do I stay resilient when I'm carrying bias, doubt, and often a household on top of the startup?

Read with it

  1. Sairee Chahal built SHEROES because she saw the exact load you are carrying: a network where women talk about in-laws,... Inc42 Article · 15 min read Sairee Chahal: The SHEROES Story And Women Entrepreneurs In India Inc42 (interview with Sairee Chahal)
  2. This is the room the answer tells you to find. SheThePeople has run a women-founder community for over a decade (70,000+ women... SheThePeople Tool · Recurring community + annual summit She Leads India: SheThePeople's Women Founder Community and Summit Shaili Chopra, SheThePeople
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