Start Before You Feel Ready: Building a Tech Startup in Your 20s with Natesha Mortimer

There is no roadmap for when you decide to build something from scratch. But there are lessons that actually shape you as a founder, and they show up long before you ever write a business plan. In this episode of Her Career Unplugged, we sit down with Natesha Mortimer, Georgia Tech grad student, data entrepreneur, and founder of Data Swale, for a conversation about what building a company in your 20s actually looks like when you strip away the Instagram version. We talk about the moment you realize a need keeps finding you, why the "be your own boss" dream glosses over the part where you are also your own accountant, marketer, and calendar manager, and how showing up before you feel ready is often the only move that works. Natesha shares why she refuses to give energy to imposter syndrome, how she built a support system that followed her out of corporate into entrepreneurship, and the flywheel framework she uses to turn community into opportunity over time. She also gets real about burnout, and the triangle she draws in her planner to make sure career ambition does not quietly swallow everything else. If you have ever talked yourself out of starting something because the timing was not right, wondered how young founders actually build their networks, or felt like the only person in the room who had not figured it out yet, this one is for you. In this episode: - Why starting before you feel ready is not reckless, it is the whole strategy - What entrepreneurship actually looks like when the social media filter comes off - How to build genuine community that opens doors without feeling transactional - The triangle method for staying grounded when you are chasing big goals - Why refusing to give energy to imposter syndrome is itself a practice Follow Her Career Unplugged on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or YouTube. New episodes weekly.