INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Jake Chapman
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Jake Chapman is a managing partner at Alpha
Bridge Partners.
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Colin Kroll was the co-founder of Vine and HQ Trivia, both consumer sensations that brought joy
to millions; Anthony Bourdain had been a chef, journalist and philosopher who brought understanding and connectedness to millions of lives;
Robin Williams built a career as a brilliant comedian and actor.
What these three share in common is that they were all people at the
pinnacle of their industry and they all died too soon
Their premature loss is a tragedy.
The most brilliant and creative amongst us are sometimes the most troubled, and nowhere is that clearer
than in the entrepreneurial ecosystem
With each passing unnecessary death, the importance of mental health comes briefly into focus… but that focus lasts no longer than a news
cycle and nothing changes
The time for lip service came and went long ago
We must take these issues seriously and we need to act.
The mental health epidemic is real
There are 18.5 percent of Americans that will suffer from mental illness this year; 4 percent of them will suffer so acutely that it will
substantially limit their ability to live their lives.
That means it is extremely likely you or someone you know is suffering right now and
Moreover, unlike many of the challenges we face today, the most common expressions of mental health disorder (anxiety, depression, substance
abuse and imposter syndrome) are largely addressable through individual action
Not only should we all take action, we allcantake action.
While national mental health statistics are troubling, they are downright
terrifying for entrepreneurs
According to astudy by Michael Freeman, entrepreneurs are50 percent more likely to report having a mental health condition, with some
specific conditions being incredibly prevalent amongst founders.
Founders are:
2X more likely to suffer from depression
6X more likely to
suffer from ADHD
3X more likely to suffer from substance abuse
10X more likely to suffer from bi-polar disorder
2X more likely to have
psychiatric hospitalization
2X more likely to have suicidal thoughts
Photo courtesy of Flickr/Thomas Shahan
Addressing the ongoing mental
health catastrophe in entrepreneurship is a moral imperative, and for wise investors, it should be a function of doing business.
Venture
capitalists make their living off the blood, sweat and tears of founders
It is through their passion and efforts that we succeed or fail
We can either choose to see founders purely as a means to an end (generating returns) or we can see them as the whole people they are.
When
I make an effort to get to know our founders beyond the most superficial level, then I cannot help but be moved by their personal struggles
Seeing founders in our portfolio succeed on a personal level is just as rewarding for me as sharing in their professional success
Luckily, I believe the two are intrinsically linked, which means we don&t have to choose.
As Michael Freeman writes:
Mental health is as
essential for knowledge work in the 21st century as physical health was for physical labor in the past
Creativity, ingenuity, insight, brilliance, planning, analysis, and other executive functions are often the cognitive cornerstones of
breakthrough value creation by entrepreneurs.
Depression, anxiety and mood disorders all actively work to undermine founder performance
They often contribute to burnout, co-founder conflict, toxic company culture, increased employee turnover, an inability to hire top talent,
an inability to &show up& for important meetings and pitches and poor decision making in general
According to Noam Wasserman at HBS, 65 percent of failed startups fail for avoidable reasons like co-founder conflict
All of these experiences are exacerbated when founders are in a time of high mental and emotional strain.
Let assume that in a portfolio of
20 companies, 15 of them fail or underperform and that Noam Wasserman 65 percent statistic holds true
That would mean that 10 of the 15 companies (65 percent) failed for avoidable &human-centric& reasons
If a firm were able to help even half of those companies avoid failure caused by burnout and mental strain, that would mean an additional
five companies would be successful, doubling the number of successful outcomes in the portfolio.
Even if you&re a huge pessimist, to help
change the trajectory for one out of 10 companies changes the portfolio from five winners to six
In other words, supporting founders before their &people problems& become business problems yields a 20 percent improvement in performance
Even if one were indifferent to the personal lives of the portfolio founders, they should care about founder health if they care about
portfolio returns.
It great that investors profess to care about founders& mental health, but words are not enough
We must act to reduce founders& mental and emotional suffering
It the right thing to do and it good for business.
Photo courtesy of Flickr/Thomas Shahan
Why do entrepreneurs suffer so much more
acutely
Mental health problems permeate every industry, not just the tech industry, but the statistics above would seem to indicate that we
have a particular problem
What causes entrepreneurs to suffer at substantially higher than average rates It a hard question to answer, and soon research from
progressive labs like that of theFounder Central Initiative will help us to identify these drivers
For now, based on our own observations of founders, we believe there are several explanations that may contribute.
Self-selection: Most
founders are smart, driven and skilled people whose résumé could almost certainly land them a job with a higher lifetime expected value
(the median salaryat Facebook is now $240,000), but they still choose the grueling, uncertain and more creative founder journey
Founders are almost certainly pre-disposed toward certain conditions (like ADHD) for example
In his book The Da Vinci Method, Garret LoPorto cites Fortune Magazine as claiming that people with ADHD are 300 percent more likely to
start their own company than others.
Poisonous industry tropes: The narratives our industry tells are less real than pictures that grace the
front of fashion magazines and are just as destructive
Photoshopped pictures of &perfect people& create an unattainable standard of beauty; the constant stream of stories about &overnight
success& and &crushing it& create an unattainable standard for founders.
Startups are hard: The magic of a great team is in building a group
with complementary skills
Just-starting-out founders don&t have a complete team and are required to do things they are not well-suited to do
Working on projects that do not fit within a leader innate skills tends to be emotionally draining
It not uncommon in an early startup for introverts in the company to have to pitch and make sales calls while extroverts are forced to sit
at a desk and grind away in a CRM.
Startups are alienating: The all-encompassing nature of a startup often causes founders to spend less
time with family, friends and significant others, and many are required to re-locate away from these support networks for funding or
As stress at a company builds, founders are more inclined to double down at work (a natural response to an emergency)
This tendency only further burdens the founder by muting their supportive relationships and reduces their ability to cope with company
pressures.
A founder must be a rock: There a lot of pressure put on founders to stay steady in times of company turmoil.As a result, they
are often alone when they need others the most
Founders report that they feel they cannot talk with their co-founders, especially when the problem is with the co-founder, they cannot pass
the burden of their worry on to their employees and they feel their friends and family do not understand or are tired of hearing about the
company.
The &I am my company& syndrome: Founders blur the line between themselves and their companies in such a way that company failures
often are felt as personal failures
Losing a customer contract or receiving a &no& from an investor can feel like a deeply personal rejection.
Founders eat last: I have yet to
meet a founder who has a budgeted line item for self-care or who takes guilt-free vacations
In almost every other skilled industry there is recognition that people have a right to take care of themselves and that a little bit of
self-care actually leads to a more productive workforce
Investors, founders and poorly trained middle managers all perpetuate a myth in the startup ecosystem that the only way to be successful is
to grind yourself inexorably to the bone.
Financial risk: In addition to opportunity cost, founders often go without a paycheck and pour a
significant portion of their personal capital into their businesses
This creates enormous financial stress and anxiety that sets up a scenario in which a business failure also creates personal financial ruin
A certain amount of &skin in the game& can be positive, but founders are often already all-in emotionally with their businesses
A founder with too much skin in the game may live under a Sword of Damocles and be unable to focus on the key tasks, ironically bringing
about their own worst fears.
Imposter Syndrome: Founders often suffer from the sense that they don&t belong where they are and that
eventually they will be exposed as frauds
This leads founders to chalk up success to luck, but to take all the blame for any failures
Indeed, 58 percent of tech workers suffer from Imposter Syndrome, and I suspect the number is substantially higher among founders.
Moving
the goalposts: Founders find it difficult to celebrate the small wins, as each victory brings on the next, greater challenge
The second most stressful time for founders is right before they are able to secure a major fundraise; the most stressful time is right
afterward.
Substance abuse:Our industry is awash in alcohol and other substances that founders and tech workers are encouraged to consumer
freely for bonding, as a social crutch and for performance optimization
These substances are both a cause and a symptom of broader problems in the ecosystem.
I wager that simply reading the above list left you
stressed out and self-identifying with a number of the factors that cause founders stress
Luckily there are some things we can all do to combat mental health strain.
Photo courtesy of Flickr/Thomas Shahan
What can investors and
founders do about founder mental health
Each of us who participates in the startup ecosystem contributes to the problem of poor founder
This puts each of us in a position to positively impact this experience by acting.Here are a few things we can do.
Destigmatize
Investors
should make sure that the founders they work with know that they take mental health issues seriously
One way to do this is to take theInvestors Pledge developed by Erin Frey and Ti Zhao at Kip
Just taking the pledge sends a powerful signal to founders that it OK for them to seek help
Better yet, investors, in their onboarding process with founders, should explicitly touch on their support for the founders& seeking mental
health services when they feel compelled to do so.
Drop the act
Being an investor is different from being a founder, but it isn&t easy, and investors suffer in many of the same ways
If investors want to support their founders, they need to be authentic and vulnerable in front of them
Investors need to show founders it OK to open up and that it OK to have doubts or to struggle with mental health.
For founders, don&t spread
When you&ve been grinding away on your business for years in anonymity and then have a major breakthrough, make sure your PR campaign
accurately reflects the journey
You suffered to bring your company to the pinnacle of success and you had to invest heavily in yourself to survive the trip
Make sure when other founders read about your success they understand how you really got there.
Provide Resources
It easy for people to
forget how financially constrained most founders are
Just because they&ve raised $5 million in a recent financing doesn&t mean they necessarily have the personal capital to seek help and
A portion of financing rounds should be earmarked for the founders themselves and investors should hold founders accountable for investing
in their well-being and development.
Founders need to include a line item in their PL for wellness or self-care
Budgets are moral documents and they set the priorities of a company
If there is no line item for supporting the mental/physical/emotional well-being of the founders and employees, then the company will be
devoid of the resources to offer this type of support
We, the participants in this ecosystem, need to put our money where our mouths are when we say that we are &founder-friendly& and &invest in
founders first.&
Don&t forget the mind-body connection
Mental, emotional and physical well-being are all deeply linked to one another
Just as mental health issues often lead to substance abuse, a lack of physical exercise or nutrition can also lead to depressive mood states
The founder 15 is as real as the freshman 15, but it much more destructive.
Founders need to make sure to incorporate their physical
activity of choice into their life, need to watch their nutritional intake and should consider activities such as yoga, meditation and
intentional breathing that research shows help boost mood, sharpen focus and enhance emotional resilience
(Short plug, atAtlas we work on addressing the whole person because we believe effective leaders are those who are both physically and
emotionally fit.)
Connect, connect, connect
Founders need to remain anchored in a support network
They should join a peer group, engage with old friends, go out on date nights with their significant other and make new friends
Not only is it a fun way to unload some of the pressure they&re under, but it a great reminder to founders that they have a separate
existence from their company.
Founders should take an intentional vacation away from work, tech and business
If, like me, a founder can&t voluntarily disconnect even while on vacation, they should consider joining a community likeSoulscape or
traveling off the grid so they are forced to disconnect and recharge
Burnout rarely appears as the primary track in startup post-mortem, but a trained ear can usually find its influence.
Set a culture that is
If everyone from the receptionist to the CEO is willing to seek help and take care of themselves, it creates a company-wide habit that
enables everyone to thrive
A healthy culture will pay for itself a thousand times over in recruitment, lower turnover and happier, more productive people who are
willing to sacrifice for the company when sacrifice is called for.
Set priorities not tasks
Founders and A-type personalities tend to live
and die by their calendar and their task lists
Unfortunately, task lists are just reminders that there are countless things to be done
For most of us our task lists are quite literally infinite
This is a recipe for unbearable mental strain and unmanageable cognitive load
The definition of anxiety is when we perceive that our ability to achieve is overwhelmed by the tasks at hand, which is inevitable when our
tasks are ill-defined, too large or seemingly unending
Instead of a task list, switch to a daily priorities list where only the urgent AND important items are listed
Completing these items may be more difficult, but getting them off your plate is infinitely more satisfying.
Be vigilant
Learn the warning
signs of depression and burnout
People who are drowning don&t wave their hands in the air and shout for help, they slip silently beneath the waves and only trained life
guards tend to spot people in trouble
It the same way with depression
Depressed people don&t mope around and they aren&t necessarily sad so much as numb
Here are things to look for:
Persistent feelings of pessimism
Sad, anxious or empty mood
Change in behavior and loss of interest in
previously enjoyed activities
Change in diet or eating schedule
Change in sleep schedule
Irritability
Inability to make decisions or
concentrate
You can also use this validatedself-assessment for depression
Building companies is inherently hard mentally, physically and
emotionally, but our ecosystem is a toxic one, with dozens of factors all contributing to make it even more so
We are quite literally killing ourselves and thereby sabotaging our long-term competitiveness
There are tangible actions each one of us can take to start fixing this toxicity, but at the end of the day I believe most of those actions
boil down to treating each other and ourselves as human beings
If we recognize and embrace our weaknesses and support one another in our imperfections, we will start seeing a healthier more sustainable
entrepreneurial ecosystem.
Resources:
National Suicide Prevention Hotline: 1-800-273-8255
Depression
resources:https://www.everydayhealth.com/depression/guide/resources/
Free/Cheap Peer
Groups:https://www.evryman.co;https://www.chairmanmom.com; Atlas Events and Peer Groups
(If anyone knows of similar free resources, please
share them in the comments.)
