I am an introvert.
I know that surprises people. But the version of me that walks onto a stage, takes a pitch meeting, or holds a room full of investors did not arrive naturally. That version was built out of necessity, out of discomfort, and honestly, out of having no other choice.
That skill took years to build. And I still work on it.
This week in my newsletter, The Fire Report, we are talking about the confidence gap. Because the data is clear that it disproportionately affects the people reading this newsletter, and the consequences are real.
75% of women executives report experiencing imposter syndrome in their careers. A meta-analysis of 108 studies with more than 40,000 participants confirmed that imposter syndrome is more prevalent among women than men, and the effect is stronger for women in high-achievement environments, which is exactly where most of you are operating.
But here is the thing that often gets lost in that conversation: imposter syndrome is not a personality flaw. It is a rational response to environments that have historically rewarded certain people for confidence while penalizing others for the same behaviour. Research published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology found that women who negotiate assertively are rated as less likeable and less hireable than men who do the same. Women are not imagining the cost of being too visible. There is a documented cost. The self-doubt is a learned response to a real pattern.
A 2025 survey by recruitment firm Hays found that 68% of women in tech report experiencing imposter syndrome at some point in their careers. Female founders receive approximately a quarter of the funding they seek, while their male counterparts receive around half on average. Women are not asking for less because they lack ambition. They are asking for less because the system has consistently shown them that asking for more comes with a price.
Naming this matters. Because if you think the confidence gap is a you problem, you will try to fix it alone. And if you understand it is a structural problem that shows up in individual moments, you can start addressing it with the tools that actually work.
Here are three practical ways to start to close the confidence gap.
Start keeping a running record of your accomplishments that are specific, concrete, and in your own words. It can be a private document where you write down what you did, what it took, and what the result was. Revenue generated. Problems solved. People helped. Deals closed. Stages taken.
The research on this is straightforward: when people track their wins consistently, they are significantly better at articulating their value under pressure. The wins log isn't about vanity. It's about having accurate data on yourself, so that when you walk into a high-stakes conversation, you are not working from memory and anxiety. You are working from evidence.
When imposter syndrome kicks in (and it will!) your brain will generate feelings. "I don't belong here." "They are going to find out." "I got lucky." These are not facts. They are patterns. And they can be interrupted.
The practice is simple: every time an imposter thought arrives, ask yourself for the evidence on the other side. What have you actually done? What do you actually know? What results have you produced that are verifiable and real?
Feelings of inadequacy tend to show up loudest right before the moments that matter most. Getting familiar with that pattern is how you stop letting it make decisions for you.
Here is what nobody tells introverts about public speaking, pitching, or high-stakes conversations: confidence does not precede preparation. It follows it.
The founders and leaders who look effortlessly confident in rooms are almost never winging it. They have practiced their pitch until the words are automatic. They have anticipated the questions and prepared the answers. They have walked through the material enough times that their brain is not spending bandwidth on remembering it, which frees them up to actually be present.
Before any important conversation, over-prepare. Know your numbers inside and out. Rehearse out loud, not just in your head. Walk through it with someone you trust. The discomfort of that preparation is temporary. The confidence it produces is real.
