Nightmare pitch meetings

Being too vulnerable can make you a weak leader. Here's what you should do instead. INC. THIS MORNING Presented by [Nightmare pitch meetings]( Good morning, Heather Shoemaker was used to being the only woman in the room, both from her experience in graduate school and later working in artificial intelligence, where women make up only a quarter of the industry. But she didn’t expect the blatant gender bias she experienced when attempting to scale her company Language I/O, an A.I.-powered SaaS platform that provides real-time, multilingual customer support in more than 100 languages. "I talked to so many people that were just a nightmare," she says. "I don't know why they think what I'm doing is easy." Shoemaker could tell that the VC firms were not used to seeing a woman, especially one with technical skills as opposed to an MBA. During one meeting in Silicon Valley, a partner learned that Shoemaker was pitching hard tech and had written the original code herself. He asked, "How hard can it be to replicate what you coded?" Shoemaker says--insinuating that if a woman programmed the software, it must be simple for any other developer to copy, making it less valuable. Read on for more about [how she dodged the crude insults and got the funding her company needed](. [Applications are now open for Inc.’s Best in Business—Early Rate Deadline: August 19]( Our annual list celebrates the companies that go above and beyond to make a positive impact on more than their balance sheet. [Apply Now!]( A MESSAGE FROM amazon business [The future of more sustainable products is here.]( Learn more at Amazon Business, your partner for smart business buying. [Learn More]( Here's what else I'm reading today: Is one of your clients perpetually late? [Here’s what to do about it](. –Inc. Knowing the stage your company is in can tell you a lot about how to think about [your role as its leader](. –Inc. Are you underpricing your products? [Here’s how to tell](. –WSJ Mentoring can be a high-impact and high-stakes relationship. But you shouldn’t let it [burn you out](. –HBR Female founders: Audition today to be featured on [the new business competition TV show “Women of Wall Street”](--with a chance to win $100,000 for your company. One more thing: Being too vulnerable can make you a weak leader. [Here's what you should do instead](. –Inc. This newsletter was written by Inc. associate editor Brit Morse. How are we doing? Send us ideas and feedback on [Twitter](. Did someone forward you this newsletter? [Subscribe here.]( Join the visionaries who choose Inc. as their trusted source for the most accurate reporting on business. [Subscribe]( 7 World Trade Center 29th Floor New York, NY, 10007 [LinkedIn]( [Facebook]( [Twitter]( This email was sent by Mansueto Ventures. If you do not wish to receive email communications please [click here]( to unsubscribe. To view our privacy policy, [click here](. Copyright © 2022 Mansueto Ventures LLC. All rights reserved. [Link](