We (Startup Chile women) have recently been interviewed by The Next Web Latin America. When the article came out - http://tnw.to/1DhmO, we got a bit of a hype, especially in our group. I was thinking, it's not unusual that people talk about how few women participate in startups, and even fewer as a solo, woman founder in startups. It all sounds so glorious and I love every single bit of it so far, but there are certain things you have to at least be prepared both physically and mentally before making this major decision of your life. Especially for women, relationships take up a big part of our emotional life. And you might not even have time for that anymore.
This is my first real technology startup. I have done independent consulting and run large and small tech events as the chief planner in the past while working at big corporations. This time is a bit different. Beside putting in a lot of hours and sweat trying to make this happen, I also encounter significant amount of difficulties with starting a business in this foreign land - language barrier, differences in work mentality, lack of professionalism etc. I can't deny that I am more or less a little bit burned out. I came all the way from my beloved San Francisco and left a great life to come to Chile for a small seedfund to start the business. Similar to my peers in the program, we are plugging in for our babies days and nights and feeling beat most of time.
Although I still encourage women to get out of their comfort zone, take the plunge, and make the most out of themselves, I will now say it with some fine prints - make sure you can handle the stress and uncertainties in life. It could mean sacrifices that you wouldn't even imagine.
We are not weaker, but we are emotionally and physically more vulnerable then men so we need to take better care of ourselves before taking on these tremendous responsibilties from our startup.
First of all - Try to find a partner. Find someone who can compliment you. If you are an introvert, find an extrovert. If you get goosebumps seeing codes, find a technical cofounder. And it's good to have someone discipline and challenge you. We all think our ideas and approaches are excellent and perfect, right?:) I know it's easier said than done. Hence I am still the solo founder.
Second - Do NOT compromise your health. With the startup budget, I thought I couldn't afford the gyms here. Believe it or not, gyms in Chile are outrageously expensive and shitty. But, I would have paid the top dollars had I known how difficult it is to find a place to work out in Santiago - the summer heat is unbearable and the city is too polluted to run outside. Now I have gained 10 lbs since I got here.
Third - Make sure you get out of the house/office at least once a day, especially when you feel overwhelmed and a tendency to procrastinate because you just have too much to do and don't even know where to start sometimes. Women are generally more social then men. We need social activities to maintain our mental health.
Fourth - Eat well. You are what you eat, and don't skim on food. It's unfortunate that Chilean food is very boring and lack of variety. And most of the food here is very processed and high in sugar and carb. Don't fall for it because it's convenient. Again, be conscious of what you eat.
Fifth - Spend your free time wisely. Alcohol is dirt cheap in South America, but it does not compensate the time you waste on hungover. You don't have to go to every single freaking event in the circle. Most of them are drinking parties anyway. And it's not safe for women to go around town alone in Santiago late at night.
Would I still do it if I could choose it all over again? Absolutely! I think getting paid to build your company is worth more than doing MBAs where you learn from real life problems (aka failing) in business much faster and get much more satisfaction.
Every challenge represents an opportunity.
Most importantly, I learned to appreciate what I have in the US. One good example: to deposit a cheque in Chile, most of the time you need to go the bank and wait in a long line to get it done vs. in the US, you just need to launch your bank's smartphone app to take a picture of the cheque, and it will automatically be deposited.
There are relatively a lot more women entrepreneurs in the US so we have more social support in the ecosystem. Chile is a very conservative country and being housewives and care takers are a means to an end for most Chilean women. I am definitely not pleased whenever a local asked bluntly why am I still not married.
We Americans are very spoiled. ;)
Be patient, be strong.
