Founder depression and my fixes
I founded and bootstrapped three businesses. This is my contribution to the discussion about startup founder depression.
Startup founder depression in the technology industry is a serious issue.
I founded and bootstrapped three businesses. I understand the pressures. This is my contribution to the discussion. These activities keep me sane (ymmv):
- Daily exercise, strenuous and for at least 30 minutes1.
- Sleep, whatever works for you but ideally ~8 hours.
- Drugs, as in "don't do drugs", avoiding excessive alcohol consumption!
The challenge for many founders is that there's personal and institutional pressure to work 100% of the time. Please resist this. It's not good for you, your family, your business and by extension your investors.
An important note: my learnings are applicable to depression caused by lifestyle choices and not those associated with biological, physiological and/or psychological causes requiring medical intervention.
Header Photo by Emanuela Boros / Unsplash