Sad, Tired, and Alone: My Ongoing Battle With Startup Depression

I think it's an interesting site. But I'm not sure a subscription model is the way to go. I do know R&D teams are gonna have a hard time getting permission to use it. They have all the tools they need, their projects are secret, it's not going to fly with upper management.

I do like the fact that you can search for components and buy them. I'm sure there's some affiliate revenue in there. Although I have to say, it's probably not that easy, because companies usually have long-term agreements in place with suppliers, there's a lot of bureaucracy, you have to get a purchase order before you're allowed to buy something. I'm not saying that's good or bad, but that's usually the way it is. And it's a problem for Upverter.

Getting PCBs manufactured is a good idea as well, especially for people who use Kickstarter and want to build a prototype. The companies I know might be hesitant to use it. Especially for R&D projects, they will use their own equipment or outsource it to a local supplier they know they can trust. And this guy is going to say it's gonna cost you x, but I can do it cheaper if you let me manufacture the first 10,000 units. And it gets really tricky when you're working on a cutting edge product, because you can't always buy every component off the shelf. The manufacturer is gonna say ok, I'm gonna help you but I can't buy component x cheap enough, or I'm gonna help you but you have to ship me component a,b,c before day x.

The design of your site looks really good but you need photographs of products that have been build. You may not care about that but if you're going after the Kickstarter market, then you're in the business of making dreams come through. You need to appeal to the senses.

However, your statement about ‘underlying issues’ is confusing. You don't name these, yet claim that they can't be cured by certain methods. I wonder what, in your opinion, these issues are.

I think they often are just these—bad diet and physical shape, lack of social interaction. And bike rides can help that (especially considering mostly sedentary lifestyle).

Although there's another important thing that may be an issue, which you actually reminded me about. It's hard to communicate what it is—maybe it could be called ‘mental shape’.

My latest depression basically ended when I learned to allow my mind to rest, and gained some control over my thoughts. I often see studies now suggesting that our well-being inversely depends on how much we think. I have an impression at the moment that certain brain activity (which is related to abstract thinking and appears to happen somewhere in frontal lobe) does indeed contribute to feeling unhappy, that being in ‘flow’ reduces that activity, and that trying to do multiple things at once / frequent context switching increases that activity.

Anyway, since that depression I still experience difficult periods sometimes, but I think they are mostly health-induced. We shouldn't underestimate how physical problems can influence our thinking. E.g., you can eat food that you're unknowingly allergic to, it will make you feel constantly tired, therefore forcing you to spend most of your time at home, the consequences of which (lack of sunlight / movement, for two) can cause yet another host of problems, and so on.

To sum up, my supported by anecdotal evidence, layman speculations, and personal experience opinion is that depression is often caused by being, probably unknowingly, out-of-shape mentally (i.e., overthinking) and/or physically (bad diet, other health problems).

I hope OP will feel better soon. Being out to a coffee-shop is already good, keep it up!

Give it a try. Lift HEAVY weights for at least 4-5 days a week, and make it the absolute NUMBER ONE PRIORITY in your life for that month.

Closely monitor how you feel, and how your mind thinks during that month.

Try this ASAP Zak. It will IMPROVE YOUR LIFE.

P.S. Sorry if I come off as a spazz. I just really believe in what I'm saying.