A speaker reflects on self-doubt in venture capital and the Aspen Institute's Crown Fellows Program, where peers told them to see themselves as a dolphin, not a guppy among sharks.
There are times when I felt like I would not stay in Venture. And I was fortunate to do a program at the Aspen Institute called the Crown Fellows Program where you get put with 20 other people and you get to read cool stuff like Maya Angelou and mlk. And then you talk about them and how it impacts your thinking about your life and your impact on society. And you do this check in process where everyone goes around the circle and talks about how they're doing. And so it's a safe space where you really get to know the people and you get to trust the people. And I was, to be honest, younger and less experienced than a lot of the people in the room. I always felt like, wow, I can't believe I'm here. These people are so amazing. And I checked in and I said, you know, sometimes I don't know if I fit in in Venture capital because I feel like I swim with a lot of sharks and I feel like a guppy. And I cried and I just said, I really love this job, but I just don't know if I'm cut out for it. And my classmates, they listened, they made me feel safe. And they said, you have to come up with a different visualization for how you're feeling. You may be swimming with sharks, but you are not a shark. And you're never going to be a shark. But you cannot think of yourself as a guppy because that's not going to help. Maybe think of yourself as a dolphin. Dolphins are smart and they swim in pods and they swim with the sharks and they have every right to be in the ocean and they just swim differently. And you have to just think of yourself as a dolphin, not a guppy. And that was really helpful for me because for some reason it helped me visualize like the idea that I could stay in Venture and I didn't have to be a vest wearing bro to keep doing my job, that I could just be myself and be comfortable with it. And I don't know if that resonates with anyone here. If you either in the past or in the future, you may find yourself in a situation where you're really wondering, am I in the right place? Am I doing the right thing? And I think having the chance to actually reflect on kind of who you are and whether you can be yourself and in the environment I think is. I'm really grateful for that feedback that I got.
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