The whole point of being young and female and having great ideas is that you’ve got a fire burning that isn’t going to be put out by the flame of someone skeptical. So what if someone thinks you’re too young to have a startup? So what if someone says girls can’t do that? It will take you all of a minute to prove that person wrong if you’re prepared with your business sense, your drive, and your passion for your ideas.

There will be times it feels like being young is a rock you have to push up a big hill every time you go out and try to talk to someone about your startup. We’ve all experienced the look of shock on someone’s face when it turned out we really do have something great to say. Now’s the time to prove all the naysayers wrong.

YOUNG + FEMALE = AWESOME!

SOMETIMES YOU HAVE TO REMIND YOURSELF OF THAT. The people you’re meeting with when you’re getting your venture off the ground might not always believe you can do everything you know you can do, but you are there to convince them. Don’t let your age or gender or someone else’s idea of what you should be determine your sense of self—or your future. Young and female? Face it head-on and let people know that being young means you have fresh ideas and energy. Being female means you’re tough and you don’t give up. You’re Boss. You know what to do.

WE STILL LIVE IN A WORLD WHERE WE LACK GENDER EQUALITY IN MOST FIELDS. Women make up half the workforce, but represent only 25% in the fields of science, technology, engineering, and math. Nearly one-third of practicing physicians are women, with just over one-third working as full-time medical faculty, according to the American Association of Medical Colleges. And a study by the Center for the Study of Women in Television and Film at San Diego State University found that women make up just 7% of directors of the top 250 films and 13% of writers on the top 700 films. The 2016 Fortune 500 CEOs included only 21 women, which works out to just over 4%. The numbers can feel discouraging, but look at them as a yardstick for where we are and where we still need to go.

Here’s what our Bosses have to say about it.

JULIETTE (MISS O AND FRIENDS)

I’m a member of lots of different entrepreneurial organizations, and I’ll always be introduced as “This is Juliette Brindak, she’s a young female entrepreneur who has a website where girls can play games.” And it bothers me so much because there’s a guy who’s also my age who also has some other kind of website or product, but I’m the “young female.” They’re not introducing him as a young male. Hello, I am young and I am female and you don’t have to point out the obvious. It’s one of the things I really can’t stand.

When I would present to Colgate, Procter & Gamble, Yahoo, or Target, they would be shocked that a 16-year-old could present a company to them. I think that they were really impressed. I knew the brand, I knew what we were trying to do, and they couldn’t really tell me otherwise because they didn’t know, and it was me telling them.

ALEX AND NELLIE (PURPOSE GENERATION)

We were 23 when we started the company with little credibility and track record. We realized early on that the key to acquiring new business was getting buy-in from the highest executive levels. We worked incredibly hard to prove ourselves to those first few clients who took a chance on us. We spent our first two years heads-down, focused on delivering better outcomes than any of our competitors. As a result, most of our growth has been the result of word of mouth and referrals, something we’re very proud of.

Millennials wasn’t a buzzword when we started. Instead of hiding our age, we used it to our advantage and pitched clients on the need for a “millennial tour guide” to help them identify the right trends, environments, networks, and partners to connect with. We turned a perceived weakness into a strength and made it the core of our pitch.

Confidence is a very important character trait to develop, especially for entrepreneurs. Yet millennials sometimes get a bad rap for being overconfident. We never assume that we have the answer—or that there’s only one right answer for that matter—but we’re confident we can get you the answer by asking the right questions and talking to the right people.

GABRIELLE (JEWELZ OF JORDAN)

I know a lot of people might think you should start a career as an adult, but I think it’s good to start something at a young age. First, you have more time to make mistakes and more time for learning. You don’t have to be an entrepreneur in the future if you don’t want, but if you want to be a mechanical engineer or create an app, start now. I want to be a gemologist, so I’m taking classes on that now because I have more time to learn, more time to develop. You can become an expert in a certain field and be ahead of the game. You have more time to create and to grow.

DEBBIE (YOGA TREE)

At 23 people didn’t take us seriously and were concerned about buying a membership with us. They’d ask: “Will these two young people run away with our membership money? “How long do think you’ll be in business for?” “Where’s your family from?”

CHENTAL-SONG (HONEY BUNCH KIDS)

My age has definitely been a factor. When I first started I was 13, and people thought it was so cute that this little teenager was promoting her own books. Now I’m almost 20, and when people hear I’ve been working on this almost 10 years, they take it more seriously because I’ve been doing it for such a long time.

PRISCILLA (NYC TECHY)

One of my concerns is fighting for equality in the workplace. I’ve had experiences working in a male-dominated industry, and those experiences have prepared me to assert myself in the workplace. How do you take ownership of your idea? You have to practice. In all my meetings, I find that it’s not about being the loudest one in the room, but about being confident in what you’re saying. Don’t qualify your statements with “I think” or “maybe.” I’ve seen too many men take credit for a woman’s idea. Represent yourself and be confident in your ideas, because your input is valued.

In my courses on the history of computing, I’ve learned that the gender imbalance in the technology industry was largely socially engineered. Sixty years ago, women were dominating the field. Now we only hear about the “founding fathers” of Silicon Valley, as Newsweek termed them. In fact, the mother of software, Ada Lovelace, in the nineteenth century conceived a vision of what computing is now. And Rear Admiral Grace Hopper invented the first compiler for a computer programming language on the Harvard Mark I. Then, in the mid-twentieth century, we see advertisements of women who are portrayed to be “too emotional” in the workplace. There are even ads that suggest that women’s nails would scratch the computer tape and serve as a hindrance to computing work. We must look at the history because it can inform us of our modern-day shortcomings. We must recognize that women can do anything that they put their minds to.

CHARLOTTE (FE MAIDENS)

Women are still a massive minority within the STEM community. Prejudice is a major inhibition: many women are still overlooked and underestimated, both professionally and personally. Although sexism against women in science is no secret, people tend to undervalue how common it is. Members of our team often face discriminating comments and behavior at robotics competitions, from students making generalizations about us to judges objectifying or disparaging us.