I’m a founder who struggles with mental health issues. How do I get away from my startup?

I’m a startup founder diagnosed with Bipolar II. I have been in a major depressive season since 2021 and it reached a fever pitch in 2023 when I was faced with suicidal ideation. I want to shut down my three-year-old startup as I’m losing my passion for it, even though it’s still promising. How can I prioritize my health without throwing out the baby with the bathwater?Christy

Hi Christy. Your mental health must come first. I’m proud of you for navigating these past three years. I know how hard it is and I am SO glad you are still with us.

If the startup is still promising and you’ve lost your passion, I recommend selling it even if it’s for a penny. At the end of the day, this will give you a narrative that you sold your business. Maybe your team members could get an offer, and while you and your investors will probably be wiped out, you’ll live to tell (literally) and start something new again. A merger with another startup where you don’t ask for much in return can also be a way to do it.

Meanwhile, for yourself, maybe take a break and look for a job for a while until your mental health is solid. You may need a year or two in a decompression chamber, to heal from the double-vicious grip of the stress you’ve endured.

If neither the sale to a larger company nor the merger approaches a rental acquisition job, close it. That’s all right. It happens all the time. Your investors are already rich. And you will rise again.

Just make sure you let everyone know you’re doing this and do it early so you have money for liquidation costs and no one on your team or investor pool is left blindsided. Do everything you can to get your team fired and be 100% transparent with your investors about your intentions and track record.

Don’t tell them you’ve lost your passion for it – tell them it’s not working and you can’t capitalize on it. For those with whom you feel close, reveal your suffering: team and investor. Or just lay a Combustion rate and go there, and tell everybody.

A frank conversation with your investors could revive the company. It will unlock their empathy and make them think creatively. There is more love for you than you know. If they are inclined and want to invest more money, you can work together to find a new CEO. This won’t be easy to do, but if some of your insiders want to continue, they’d probably rather take 5% to 20% dilution from a new CEO than see their investment reduced to zero.

Whatever path you choose, I am proud of you.

How do you think the growth rate of your startups when building a business centered on trust? You can’t buy trust.Shizu Okusa

It grows more slowly. Growth is overrated. Capitalism loves hyper growth. But company culture likes solid, compounded growth.

Think of it this way. When you reach $1 million in sales, which can take a minute, you don’t just have a potential company, you have a potential business. If you grow 75% annually, you’ll reach $50 million in eight years. That’s very good, and it didn’t require you to double or triple the way some impatient investors might wish.

After that, if the growth rate drops to 25% a year, you’ll still have a quarter of a billion in sales in ’15. That’s pretty impressive, and you’ll be able to operate at a multiple of revenue, most likely , if you are growing. so fast That means you’ve driven an exit from $100 million to $250 million in years 8-10. Not bad.

If you continue, even better. Sometimes big things take a long time. We need more Patagonia and less FTX.

If you are affected by hypergrowth, God bless you. Then you will learn an important lesson: you tin Buy employee retention, even if you can’t buy trust. And trust, if everyone is executing, can come over time.

A wise man once told me that culture takes a long time to kill a fast-growing company. Greed is a powerful thing. And growth is a lot of fun. People learn and grow a lot. Winning together is a great way to build trust. It’s hard not to trust each other if you’re on a winning team.

That said, there are very few overnight successes. Take your time and check your own internal compass.

I love the story of my friend Erik Allebests. He booted for more than a decade and built the first remote company starting in 2006. From him I learned that you can do things differently and in the future you might be glad you did done

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