Friends: I am formulating the seed of an idea that I'd like some feedback on. See, there is something about this article I wrote back in 2018 about my fundraising journey, how I framed it & how people react to it that is not sitting well with me anymore 1/ medium.com/techstars/how-…
I wrote this as an anthem for the struggling entrepreneur, to feel less lonely on the hard hard road we've all chosen. I say in it: you out there, keep going. And the response to this article is often something like: LOOK AT THE GRIT OF THIS ENTREPRENEUR. I think I reject this.
I think "grit" is one of those qualities that was sold to us so that we could take pride in what is actually needless suffering. The system is so profoundly stacked against entrepreneurs (SB owners also!) that we've had to invent a value for a thing that we shouldn't need.
Nobody should have to go through what I went through - and I didn't even talk about the years I and my team went without health insurance. When I had a miscarriage I had to pay for out of pocket. But I swallowed it and kept going because "the only failure is giving up."
Except that if you are an immigrant, or a person of color - especially a woman of color the additional layers of structural barriers are such that actually nobody SHOULD be able to succeed. When they do, we applaud them for GRIT...
...as opposed to mourn the loss of the thousands like them who couldn't succeed because barely anyone can. GRIT is not the sign of someone's success, the need for it points to a broken fucking system.
Assigning the success-despite-obstacles to the rock star status of an entrepreneur allows us to step over the failure of all the institutions, VCs, advisors and partners who failed them because of structural sexism, racism, and other isms.
GRIT lets the system off the hook. I don't want to be celebrated for something I shouldn't have to have to make my way in this world.
So you out there - if you're struggling beyond what you think you can handle. It's not you. It's not your lack of some quintessential quality needed to really succeed. It's this fucked up system we've bought into for way too long that asks for too much and returns too little.
I'm posting this article again published today about my dear friend and one of @seedandspark's cofounders. I have been grappling with my role in perpetuating the system (whiteness, privilege, and now language!). I want to do better. medium.com/age-of-awarene…
