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Founder Depression

blog.samaltman.com

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Re: Founder Depression

#41

Post by hippich »

norswap wrote: post #37
hippich wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

wtf is that? yes, depression is bad, but YC should compensate treatment? Entrepreneurship is hard, everyone says that. So you should either expect to deal with consequences or not even get started. What kinda entrepreneur will graduate from YC if they have to be kinder-gardened?

Maybe the well-adjusted kind. But to be honest, this is a false dichotomy. One shouldn't have to choose between being an hardened veteran or going through therapy. There should be (there is?) a path to entrepreneurship that does not involve unnecessary suffering. Maybe it's a question of outlook.

Not everybody make a fortune doing entrepreneurship and that's why it is hard. If you are psychologically weak and can't man it up - make adjustments and put some cash aside for therapy or living without job for few months.

Re: Founder Depression

#42

Post by daveslash »

joshdance wrote: post #7

Feel like I should offer this as well. If anyone feels like they need someone to talk to, send me an email (in my profile). If you are in Utah, we can grab food.

That's very kind of you. I used to live in Utah, and still have many connections there. If you don't mind, I'll drop your name if any friends there could benefit from a quick chat with a real person. I'm in San Diego and the reverse offer stands.

Re: Founder Depression

#44

Post by cgriswald »

sinak wrote: post #13

Great post. I wonder whether organizations like YC might consider offering compensation for seeing a therapist during and after their batch, and even perhaps going as far as recommending a particular local therapist. I've experienced depression while running a startup, and seeing a therapist was immensely helpful. A therapist who regularly sees founders as clients would have a stronger-than-usual feedback loop on wha…

In the particular case of founders it may be that simply having others (outside their fellow founders) to talk to about their problems might stem off the depression in the first place. Isolation is great for causing depression, especially in the presence of all kinds of stresses and pressures.

Once it passes into depression it simply doesn't matter whether it is "founder depression" or any other kind of depression. For true, major depression, therapy is an absolute must. Pharmaceuticals may also help in the short term. Anything else, including all the awesome people offering an ear in this thread, need to be in support of the professional help.

Re: Founder Depression

#46

Post by mchusma »

hippich wrote: post #31
sinak wrote: post #13

Great post. I wonder whether organizations like YC might consider offering compensation for seeing a therapist during and after their batch, and even perhaps going as far as recommending a particular local therapist. I've experienced depression while running a startup, and seeing a therapist was immensely helpful. A therapist who regularly sees founders as clients would have a stronger-than-usual feedback loop on wha…

wtf is that? yes, depression is bad, but YC should compensate treatment? Entrepreneurship is hard, everyone says that. So you should either expect to deal with consequences or not even get started. What kinda entrepreneur will graduate from YC if they have to be kinder-gardened?

I think maybe your response was more to the term "compensate". "Compensate" sort of implied to me that YC would be somehow liable for mental damages.

I think what he/she meant to say was "provide therapy/counseling services at no charge to entreprenuership."

Re: Founder Depression

#47

Post by hippich »

sillysaurus3 wrote: post #40
hippich wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Kinda in this case. What people ask next? Guaranteed employment if their super new idea fail?

You have obviously never dealt with depression. Harsher words are unnecessary, so I'll leave them out. Anyone who's reading this: If you're feeling depressed, do not feel any shame whatsoever in seeking a counsellor. Having someone external to your life to talk to is vital.

sillysaurus3, two things: - if you are so sensitive (especially to random comment on interwebs), you should see specialist BEFORE you even start thinking about entrepreneurship. And make sure your doctor says "yes, you are good to go". - Yes, i never been through awful depressions. But I been in situation which probably could trigger it. I knew what I am doing, what I am capable of and that I can man it up. It is ok to seek specialist attention, but then you are not ready for real world yet. It is like 300lbs fat kid will seek counseling because he can't withstand failures on a track. C'mon. You guys too spoiled here in USA.

Re: Founder Depression

#48

Post by mindcrime »

I can definitely relate to this. There are definitely times when it's hard to talk to anybody... and I don't know about you guys, but with some topics I actually find it harder to talk to someone I know, than, say, a random stranger at a bar. Luckily I have at least one or two friends, who, for whatever reason, I can talk to about "founder depression" issues more easily than other people. Strangely enough, it's not even that they're my closer friends, they're just people where the nature of the relationship feels "different" in some subtle way.

I also find that being more frank, than is probably expected, on forums like this is somewhat cathartic. If you were to dig through my old posts (don't waste your time, it's not actually that interesting) you'll find my admitting to suicidal ideation, and talking openly about how I think I'd off myself in the "doomsday" scenario. I hope it never comes to that, and I doubt it will, but something about this almost pseudonymous forum leaves me feeling more comfortable about saying certain things. This is true even though my "real life" identity is clearly spelled out in my profile and is trivially easy to find. shrug

Anyway, I'm no mental health expert, but if anybody just needs a friendly ear to listen to them vent, feel free to give me a shout. If you're in the RTP, NC area, I'm happy to meet for coffee/food/drinks or whatever. Email and contact info in profile.

Re: Founder Depression

#49

Post by gsibble »

njloof wrote: post #39

My first thought on reading this: "Great, but who shouldn't I talk to?" I've known founders whose VCs took their "down" moments as weakness. They "helped" them dilute to pave the way for future takeover. They exploited founders' weakness and talked about them behind their backs. Who can you really trust when you and your company are at their weakest?

Thanks for bringing this up. Even worse is trying to raise a round of funding when you can barely raise yourself out of bed in the morning. VC/Investors are probably the last people I would ever talk to about the low feelings during dark startup days.

Re: Founder Depression

#50

Post by derwiki »

When I went solo-fulltime on my startup, I started a Mailchimp newsletter and asked all my friends who I thought cared about the startup to join (I'm just shy of 100 subscribers now). It's been incredibly useful for battling loneliness; every few weeks I talk about a success, a failure, or maybe just something random. It's helped make the whole process less isolating; I always get personal replies after I send one.
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