Hey! I'm a person who stutters and also interned at an early-stage startup during my college years. I currently work in the venture capital industry and always encourage PWS to go work for startups. Why? Because they rarely care about your speech and are instead more concerned about execution and getting shit done. Sometimes large corporations overvalue fluent communication, which can be harder for people who stutter. Overall, stuttering is more of a mental challenge than a physical one. When we're anxious about our speech and scared to stutter, we're going to stutter more - it's just a vicious cycle that so many of us go through. My theory is that your views of your stutter and your anxieties related to it made you stutter more during that interview. It got in the way of your thoughts and you weren't able to say exactly what you wanted to say even though you knew what to say. I've been there and gone through these exact trials and tribulations, but if there's one thing I can tell you that's held true in most situations, it's that early-stage startups don't care about your stutter. This means that you shouldn't care either. This is much easier said than done though. I've been starting every interview recently by telling the interviewer that I'm a person who stutters and that has no impact on my working abilities but instead gives me the motivation to work harder and provide unique perspectives. I'm still working through my challenges, but I've found that simply accepting the way I speak is the best thing I can do for my mind. Again, easier said than done. I highly recommend you join the free stuttering community I launched just a few months ago for professionals who stutter ([www.stutterfreely.com](https://www.stutterfreely.com)). It's completely free and we already have close to 200 professionals who stutter in the community. Why do I mention this? Because meeting other people, especially professionals, who stutter will help you build more normalcy in your speech and challenges. Stuttering can be isolating as people who stutter only represent 1% of the population. I think joining this would be really beneficial for you and will get you started on your journey to accepting your speech more and reducing the mental anxieties associated with hiding your stutter. Seeing other professionals who stutter will also open your mind to all the different career paths that are achievable. We can't cure our stutter, but we can change and improve it. Cheers to personal growth!