I don't think her sex is an issue here. The only people mentioning that she's female are the ones defending her. The astrophysicist had actually assumed she was male.

I think you're right that she's got to where she is through skill/intelligence rather than gaming the system. I also think there's a perceived pressure on people in the start-up community to be unrealistically talented and I feel a lot fall to the pressure when they don't really need to.

I get what you're saying here. I lived in New York years ago (where Hilary lives) and loved how genuine New Yorkers were. Then I visited again recently and was shocked by the way the ethos of the folks in the city has changed towards over-inflating their successes/experiences/credentials. Especially the start-up folks I met.

Does this mean that to get ahead in America in a start-up you have to become good at mis-representing yourself?

I know a lot of wonderfully talented people who have awful credentials. Should they feel pressure to over-inflate their 'personal stories' in order to keep up?

Is Hilary just doing what she has to to stay in the game or is she part of the problem and perpetuating it? It seems she's done a lot of good stuff for the start-up community in New York and she works hard.

Anyone got any insights on why some people have started to feel the pressure to 'talk big' in order to be in a position where they can get things done?