Cameron HeroldFounder of the COO Alliance & Invest In Your Leaders Training

Are Most Entrepreneurs Actually Bipolar?

24 Mar 2026 · 1 min

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1:19

Cameron Herold lists 11 traits common in entrepreneurs, from energy and restlessness to sleep deprivation and irritability, and notes they overlap significantly with bipolar disorder symptoms. His son was clinically diagnosed with bipolar disorder; Herold argues many entrepreneurs sit far along that spectrum and those with nine or more traits might meet clinical criteria.

Chapters

If you're the entrepreneur in the room, I'm going to list 11 traits of entrepreneurs. As soon as you hear 5 traits that describe you, I'd like you to stand up. So here are the 5 traits. Are you often filled with energy? Does your mind get flooded with ideas? Are you driven? Are you restless? Are you unable to keep still? That's 5. We're at 5 out of 5 with 70% of the room. Are you often working on little sleep? Do you get euphoric? Do you get easily irritated by minor obstacles? Do you burn out periodically? Do you act out sexually? A couple people standing up on their chairs. And do you feel persecuted by those who do not accept your vision? So take a look around the room right now because you all stood up to the traits of bipolar disorder. I'm not making fun of bipolar. My oldest son was clinically diagnosed with bipolar. They since removed the designation, but he spent some time in the psych ward in Vancouver with a hypomanic episode. Most entrepreneurs are very far off to the end of the spectrum on bipolar, but most entrepreneurs are very bipolar. If you said yes to 9, 10, or 11 of the traits, you would probably be clinically diagnosed as bipolar and often medicated for it.