Trust your yourself, not the playbook

Inara Lalani, co-founder of FemTherapeutics, a company revolutionizing women’s health with personalized solutions for Pelvic Floor Disorders.

Pat Chaisang, co-founder and CEO of Wayble, an EdTech startup helping international students succeed by bridging gaps in higher education and employment.

Dolma Tsundu, co-founder and CEO of Flutter Care, a company leveraging technology to improve maternal health outcomes.

What was the biggest uncertainty you faced when you started your business?

Inara: We had a very untraditional start to how we created the business. We’re a spinoff company from the McGill Surgical Innovation Program, and I co-founded this business with two other colleagues—Negain, who was my peer at the time, and Dr. Gangal, who was our supervisor.

As a result of this academic program, we came up with the idea of building FemTherapeutics and offering a more comfortable and effective solution for pelvic organ prolapse. But we didn’t initially think this would be something we’d take outside the classroom. When we reached the end of the program, we saw that the solution had merit and was receiving a lot of interest, so we decided to incorporate the business.

However, because we were still students at the time, it was really tricky to get our feet off the ground and decide whether this was something we wanted to invest our energies into full-time or if we wanted to pursue other entrepreneurial endeavors. I had never thought of building my own business—it just kind of happened. Coming to terms with that was definitely one of the biggest challenges I faced personally.

I also had this feeling of, "If not now, then when?" So after graduating from the program, we decided to take Femme Therapeutics full-time.

Pat: When I first started my business, I didn’t even plan for it to be a business. It was a completely different approach than most entrepreneurs take. My journey of helping international students started purely from my personal experience and passion.

I’ve always been the kind of person who wanted to do something outside of a day job or school. I was very active and for the first two years I did this work for fun without getting paid. Then I thought, "Why not try to turn this into something more?"

When I officially started the business, I didn’t have a clear roadmap or a structured business model. I knew the problem from the student side and had some understanding of the employer side, but I wasn’t as clear on the needs of higher education institutions—who I ultimately ended up selling to three years later.

There was a lot of uncertainty in figuring out if I was building something schools truly needed or if it was just something I was passionate about. I spent a lot of time validating the business model, iterating and ensuring that we were solving the problem from an industry-wide perspective. Different institutions have different KPIs and metrics and understanding those was a major learning curve for me.

Dolma: I became a founder directly out of my undergraduate degree. Therefore, the biggest uncertainty was whether it would make sense to commit my early career to building this company. This was especially the case considering Flutter Care would be in one of the most difficult areas of technology commercialization (medical devices) tackling a severely under researched health challenge (stillbirth). I think the question quickly had to change from “does this make sense?” to “are you willing to make the sacrifices?” and my answer has continued to be yes.

How did you push through moments of self-doubt or fear of failure? Were there any strategies, habits, or mindsets that helped you navigate?

Inara: I still struggle with this on a day-to-day basis. Anybody in the startup world can attest to this—you never feel like you're fully out of the weeds. If you cross one hurdle, you think you've won, but then another challenge arises and you have to overcome that as well.

Being a business owner in a very technical industry like medical devices means constantly facing challenges and hurdles. What has helped me over the last few years is leaning on my peers and other startup founders I look up to. Seeing how they've overcome their adversities and getting real feedback and advice has been invaluable.

You can read as many books, listen to as many podcasts and try to follow the textbook way of doing things, but it’s rarely that straightforward. You have to learn from firsthand experience. Surrounding yourself with the right network of people—those who are candid and transparent about their challenges—helps you gain translatable lessons for your own journey.

Pat: In the beginning, so many people told me not to build this business. They’d say, "So many people have tried this and failed. Why do you think you’ll succeed?" I took that as a challenge. My mindset was, "Let me prove you wrong. My approach will be different."

From the start, I was clear that I wanted this to be a large-scale technology business, not just another career coaching service. Many organizations in this sector focus on coaching, but I knew that model wouldn’t scale to serve millions of people.

I still struggle with self-doubt. I sometimes ask myself, "Can I do this? Will I fail? Will my parents disown me if I do?" But instead of letting fear control me, I use it as motivation. If building a business were easy, everyone would do it. I remind myself that small wins matter and that overnight success is overrated.

I wouldn’t say I fear failure itself, but rather not achieving my full potential. Reframing my mindset was crucial. Even if I fail today, I’ve learned so much—from not knowing how to build a business to now leading a team and raising funds. That knowledge won’t go to waste. If I build multiple companies in the future, I’ll keep learning from each experience.

Dolma: While I have had to push through self-doubts, one thing I have never doubted is that my perspective is my greatest strength that I can offer to the world. This is because it has been shaped by my lived experiences and those of the people close to me, rather than a skill I need to master. So I hold confidently onto this belief as I try to move closer toward visions of a brighter future. I have always loved this quote by Audre Lorde which I believe conveys this idea: “When I dare to be powerful, to use my strength in the service of my vision, then it becomes less and less important whether I am afraid.”

How did you handle situations where you felt underestimated or not taken seriously?

Inara: It’s no surprise that female founders are taken less seriously than our male counterparts. The stats are clear—only 2% of VC funding goes to female founders. Women's health is also a severely neglected, underserved and under-resourced space.

Dealing with both of those challenges—being female founders and working in women’s health—has been, and continues to be, difficult. This ultimately comes down to the biases within our industry. Medical devices, in particular, are very male-dominated and skew towards an older demographic. I often say the industry is "male, pale and stale." Femme Therapeutics is the complete opposite of that.

It’s an uphill battle, but we’ve learned to block out the noise. If a conversation takes a certain turn, we recognize that we also have the ability to vet whether someone is a good partner for us. If they don’t share our vision, we’re willing to walk away.

Pat: Oh, it happens to me all the time. When I go to networking events, people often assume I work in marketing. When I tell them I’m a co-founder and CEO, they’re surprised—like, "Really? You? Are you serious?"

The first thing I do is ground myself. I remind myself that I deserve to be here. I deserve a seat at this table, regardless of my gender or age. I demand respect—period.

If someone disrespects me, I don’t let it slide. I’ll pause, make them uncomfortable, and even ask, "Do you want to take a moment?" There have been times when people raised their voice at me or treated me in a way that I never expected. I don’t tolerate it.

And to add to that, I sell into a very old, traditional, bureaucratic industry. I often have to speak louder, slower, or overcompensate in some way just to be taken seriously.

I never feel like I can fully be myself. Once I build rapport, I can show my fun, young side, but in serious conversations, I find myself acting more calm, mature, or even "manly" to fit in.

Dolma: I believe that the reasons I can be underestimated are also reasons why I need to be in the arena and can be uniquely positioned to succeed. This has taken time for me, but now I do not fixate or get discouraged by it. Instead I take it as a motivation to work harder, be more ambitious and prove to myself what I am capable of. Once you manage to flip it on its head, it can become a powerful force in your life and make you unstoppable. 

What is one piece of advice you wish you had received before starting your business?

Inara: Like I said earlier, no one can really prepare you for what you're about to undertake. People can tell you the right way to do things and you can read all the textbooks. But it’s still not the same as actually going through it.

I studied entrepreneurship at McGill and even that didn’t fully prepare me. If I could give myself advice before starting, I’d say, "It’s going to take longer than you think, so hang in there."

Timelines are unpredictable—from concept development to launch—and you need patience. That’s the biggest trait I’ve had to develop over the years. Whether it’s fundraising, regulatory approvals, or hiring the right team, nothing can be rushed. You can’t just move from A to B to C quickly—you need to take your time to make the right decisions.

Pat: "You don’t have to do this alone."

For a long time, I felt like I had to figure everything out on my own. I felt accountable and responsible for every decision.

It took me years to realize that building a company takes a village. I don’t want to be the smartest person in the room—I want to hire people who are 10 times more knowledgeable than me. They might make me feel "dumb" in comparison, but that’s okay because I’ll learn from them.

That was a strange concept at first because, in the early days, you wear every hat as a founder. You think you know best. But now, I’m okay not knowing everything. I don’t need to be the expert in every area.

Dolma: I wish I had been encouraged to trust myself more and to not be afraid to build differently than others. I think transformational leadership requires following your heart and going against the grain. I have always believed this, but when things get tough it can help to receive a gentle reminder from the people around you.

If you could go back in time, what would you do differently in your early startup days?

Inara: There are so many things I wish I had done differently. I always joke that I could write a book about all the mistakes we made, hoping it would help future entrepreneurs avoid them.

For me, the biggest lesson is about the team—the people. It’s not just about filling critical roles, like hiring an engineer because you need one. It’s about building the right culture and ensuring that your team members feel ownership over what you’re building.

Ultimately, they are the ones supporting the mission. If you haven’t convinced your team that the company is worth building, how will you convince anyone externally?

Pat: I would have talked to a lot more customers—not just the obvious ones, but also adjacent stakeholders.

For example, I sell to universities now. In the beginning, I only spoke with my potential buyers, but I should have also talked to their colleagues. Different people have different perspectives on the issue. It would have helped me identify my strongest champions and, just as importantly, those who might push back against my product.

Dolma: I would have spent less time accommodating people who were not aligned with my values or made me feel small. I would have been quicker to surround myself with people who believe in me and make me feel more energized. This can be difficult to do in the early days, especially if you are young and starting with a small network. I have never regretted standing up for what I believe in – even when there was risk involved – and doing so has led me to incredible people.