The realities of being an ADHD founder - risk taking, obsession, intensity & being misunderstood...
In this candid, off‑the‑cuff video, Matthew Kelly reflects on his late diagnosis of severe ADHD and how the condition has shaped his life as a founder. He describes the moment of diagnosis, the relief of having a label, and the ways ADHD manifests in his behavior—risk‑taking, erratic decision‑making, intense periods of creative obsession, chronic over‑thinking, burnout, and shiny‑object syndrome. Kelly links these traits to his entrepreneurial journey, citing specific anecdotes such as impulsively flying to Australia, buying multiple cars, launching brands like SpaceGoods, Rainbow Dust, and SpaceKits, and undertaking extreme personal challenges (weight loss, marathon, rapid product launches). He contrasts his experience with his non‑ADHD twin brother, highlighting differences in lifestyle stability and happiness. Kelly also discusses how he leverages AI tools (Claude, Whisper Flow, Arc browser) to capture and organize his chaotic ideas, turning his neurodivergent brain into a productive workflow. He notes the double‑edged nature of his intensity: it fuels creativity and rapid execution but also leads to burnout, decision rumination, and frustration with mundane processes. Throughout, he argues that many founders are neurodiverse, that ADHD can be a super‑power when managed, and that understanding these traits can reduce misunderstanding of founder behavior. The video ends with a call to subscribe and an invitation for further discussion.
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I'm a severely ADHD founder that probably didn't admit it to myself until I was in my mid to late 20s, and then I went down a deep AI-assisted rabbit hole. This might have actually been pre-AI, and it was like, oh yeah, shit. And then I went to see a specialist and they're like, yeah, you're fucking severely ADHD. I was like, oh, a lot of things make sense, and I now have an excuse to why I don't let my girlfriend finish a single sentence half the time. And it's not personal, that's not all the time, I do make more of an effort on that, but I do get called out on that a lot, as do probably a lot of founders. I think it probably runs in probably comes with the territory of being a founder. And I think, yeah, like, to be honest, SpaceGoods— maybe not weirdly, but it was never the plan at the start— but like, our most passionate customers for the brand in general, but particularly for Rainbow Dust, which is, you know, a large chunk of the business, are people that have ADHD, or at least think they do. And, you know, it's not, not always the same thing, but generally there's an epidemic of that. I think there's maybe two parts without being too controversial. I think, you know, if you're self-diagnosed because you scroll on TikTok all day and don't do any exercise and stuff, that's probably not pure ADHD. I think there also is like the clinical side, right? I'm probably on the more extreme side, and that's not a flex. But, um, yeah, it's weird that I've built a business around that— well, not around that, but there's a core cohort of customers that are super passionate about the fact that Raymodust has really helped them. And that's why I built it for me, because I found that coffee just made me erratic. But I never put a label on it as ADHD when I started the brand, and then I kind of found over the past few years. Obviously we're not an entirely ADHD brand, but like I said, a very strong, deep, passionate cohort of customers is that. And yeah, it's quite funny because I never even really thought about it. So yeah, I feel like it's probably— I don't know, I just want to talk about it because a lot of people ask me about it. I think a lot of my team probably don't. I feel like these things are only as big of a deal if you make them big deals. But for me, I've been very open about challenges with my brain, shall we say, more in like the kind of depressive side over the years. And people have definitely seen that on the YouTube. But the more I went down this rabbit hole, I think the two go hand in hand, right? Like being neurodiverse, whatever. I think entrepreneurship, there's like a genetic baseline of whatever, and everyone has a version of that. And some people are genetically more challenged by their minds than others. And like me and my twin brother are great examples because he's never dealt with any of that. And he'll say that himself, but I have. There's pros and cons to that. But I think ADHD, and I almost hate to fucking say it because it's become cliché, but like, it is a thing, and I definitely fucking have it, and I've taken medication for it many, many times. Um, currently still do, which is ironic given I created this product. But, you know, very small dose. And I've got mates that, you know, recently found out about having that sort of stuff and had help with it and all this. The fact I've lost my train of thought is probably a key symptom of it, ironically. Um, but yeah, when I went down this rabbit hole, I haven't spent too much time on it, you know. I went to get— went to see a psychiatrist for a while and kind of got an assessment and all this, just to kind of— I kind of wanted to put a label on it, just personally, so I could explain myself a lot. I think it's the root cause of a lot of other things I've dealt with, like, you know, the whole bipolar stuff. I was diagnosed with that and whatever, and that really for me is just like these low periods I've been through, which I've been very honest about on YouTube, probably far too much. But I think the two go hand in hand. Anyway, looking back, it explained a lot for me because for me, my assessment of myself, whether it's fucking ADHD or whatever, I'm a bit unusual in my mind. But I think a lot of founders are like that. And what I mean specifically by that, and the fact that I have a twin brother, non-identical twin, who's not the complete opposite to me but very, very different. And I don't say that in a rude way. He's very much happier than me. He has, you know, more traditional life. Has like 3 degrees, super smart, but it's never been a founder. It's not typically been a risk-taker. He said that himself. Much more settled, you know, bought a house like, I don't know, 3 years ago. I've never bought a house. I've fucking lived in different places every 6 months for like the past 5 years of my life, which is a bit chaotic and hasn't fully gone away. But it does make a lot of sense as well, looking back. Like, when I was younger— I'm already losing my train of thought, which is actually so ironic and funny in this context— but, um, We take a lot of risks as a founder, right? And you do. And I was very, very erratic with that. But also, I feel like the high-level features for me are very erratic. You can be very quick but also go through periods of being crazy and not getting much done. You can be extremely creative. Um, you can be risk-taking. You would do things that other people would question as like, oh, that's— you wouldn't do that, but you just do it anyway. An example of that for me when I was younger, like, I I got on a plane to Australia with like 1 hour's notice. I was like, I'll just fucking go to the airport and go because I was just like bored and no one else would come with me. Traditionally, that's an unusual thing to do. And then when I had my first business and I had some like cash flow, like quite a lot before it all crashed and burned in 2020, long story, I had like 5 cars in 3 months. They're all like outrageous and heavily financed and you're just like, stupid decisions. But because I had the resources to do it and no one to tell me not to at the time, Well, just in general, because I was an adult, but I was like 21, 22, but I was severely all over the place mentally. I would just go and do it. And looking back on those things, there were definitely symptoms of this. And then I think the most like positive side of it for me historically was like probably the long periods of like 6 months where I'd just be extremely creative, come up with something. Like even SpaceKits, when I launched it, I look back at 2022, a certain period where I broke up my ex-girlfriend, went from being the absolute lowest ever been really fat, well, by my standards, got like 102 kilograms, lost 14 kilos, ran a sub-3 marathon which everyone said I couldn't do, and launched a new brand in like 4 months. And it was just through obsession. And I think that's the other word that comes to mind with the whole ADHD thing. And again, it's probably like fucking 98% of founders, so anyone watching this can probably relate to obviously different degrees, but I'm not saying this is unique or makes me fucking special or anything, it's just reality. But yeah, it gives you an obsession with things, and that can be good and bad. And the good part of that for me has been, you know, once you're committed to a concept or idea, of which there are often too many, but like whether it was building Space Good, starting the podcast originally, especially the podcast, a good example, I was very obsessed with it for like a year and a half, and then it fully fell off because, ah, fuck, I don't like this anymore, which is probably in itself a symptom, right? You build something good, but then the novelty by default wears off because it's not new anymore. Um, the obsession to like want to work 7 days a week because you get bored by like, I don't know, watching Netflix. Although I do fucking love a horror film now and then, I'm not saying I never do that. But you know, normal people, including my brother, due to the nature of their environment— I either got a job— would just like switch off. But like, also, even if he didn't have to switch off through his job, he probably would choose to, whereas I wouldn't. As much. The downside of that is you're probably prone to like just frying your nervous system and brain at some point. I like burnout, which I've spoken about before. Never really used to get that when I was younger, probably because my dopamine baseline was more like topped up before years and years of the same like level of intensity. Um, but it definitely has been true for me, and I've had to be more conscious of it. Um, and yeah, I think the other downside for me has been probably some— well, two things I'd say. An extreme obsession with ruminating on decisions and like overthinking things to an obsessive, painful level. To give a specific example of that, I mean, like, I'll make a decision in the business, like, on the more negative side, like getting rid of a team member. Like, a few months ago, it was a whole big thing. I was debating it for months, and I did it. Second I've done it, I think, fuck, have I made the right decision there? You start to doubt yourself, and it can be extremely clear one moment. Maybe this is bipolar or whatever, but this is my experience of the general blended thing, um, can be extremely clear one moment and think, I need to do this, I'm going to do this, and obsess over that. But then the second I've done it, or even just before I'm about to do it, I'll doubt it. Um, and then also being quite erratic can also be bad sometimes. Like, even when I moved, um, to Dubai like 7 months ago, was one friend told me to come look at an area, and I just like chose to live in this place, in this house, and didn't really consider the fact that it was way too big and next to a building site and unfurnished and all this shit. It's not been a disaster, but like, had I thought that through a bit more, probably would have lived somewhere else that was more optimum for me. And now I'm paying the price, like, literally financially and just like, I guess, emotionally by not liking it as much as I could. Little things like that. Um, and then I guess the other thing is probably shiny object syndrome, right? I always need something novel, which is dangerous but also good. It's good because creating newness and zero to one, whether it's a new business or a new initiative or products inside a business, like I'm now doing with SpaceKits more specifically in my updated role, is good. But the tendency to need novelty and not enjoy just the normal getting shit done as much can be dangerous. But because you're obsessed, you're probably fucking more committed to doing that than normal people anyway. But your brain just, I don't know, processes it differently. Guess what's the point of this video? I don't know, I'm just reflecting on it. Um, I think all this is standard founder stuff, to be honest. But yeah, people probably don't speak about it that much. It's not a fucking flex. It's not even like a complaining about anything. It's just reality. But I suppose as I've got older, I've recognized that more myself, and you try and design your work and time around that. So for example, like, I don't know if this is ADHD, I'm probably exposing myself, but like quite honestly, very, very often I will, you know, go to the gym in the morning, have like 2 coffees, usually Rainbow Dust, but like an iced one as well, get locked in, and for like 4 hours I feel fucking amazing. I'm bumping loud tunes and being extremely productive, like aggressively, like fast, like getting annoyed if anything's slow. And then by like 3 PM, it's not that I've crashed energy-wise, I'm just not interested anymore. I'm like, fuck, it's like the dopamine's run out almost, and I need to work on something else. Or I don't work on something else generally, um, although that's where like the YouTube can be useful because then a different frame and environment and so on can be like the novel thing you need to feel good again. So that's one thing I've noticed. Um, yeah, I think like this is obvious stuff, it might sound fucking dumb, but since AI's got so good, that has really helped my The way my brain works, to be honest, because like, again, this might sound retarded because I'm also like really— I'm probably the perfect example of like potential brain rot from too much AI. Um, but on the flip side, like basically my standard workflow for anything, including like the outline of this video, which isn't even outlined, it's more just like a few things, but I've connected Claude to my Granola, which is transcripts for everything, um, my Slack, my email, my Google Drive, putting a lot of trust in Hopefully not being a major data breach for Claude, but whatever. I think that just comes to the territory. And I've synced it up to everything. I've given it loads of context. I'll use Whisper Flow. There's loads of these apps now, but it's when you speak to text. So if you're like speaking to an LLM— I use Claude mainly now— it can be more conversational. I don't mean you speak on voice mode, although I do do that in the car quite a lot because I always need stimulation about some topic or whatever. But I'll speak to it in, you know, the thread form, as in I'll voice to text, send it, whatever. And then I build up context on like a project. Like I've got a new product development thread, for example, that's got a shitload of historic context in it. I'm always using that. And what I mean by it works better for me is I'm not naturally— I'm actually probably quite organized, but I feel like I'm not because I always need to organize the organized thing. And then it— and that's again probably just a symptom of all of this. Like, I never used to be on Notion because I found it overly complicated and trying too hard. But then I decided to speak into Claude and said, make this for me, because I've got all the ideas. I'm very good at capturing Well, I don't know if I'm very good at that, but like, I have a lot of ideas. I don't know what I want to do, and I'm very clear on— and often my— say I'm in the gym and I'll get a shitload of ideas of things I need to do and I want to execute, but I capture them in Claude and then work on them later. So that sort of thing is very useful for me. So that's probably like the only system I've actually built that's genuinely useful. And I use this Arc internet tab as well, so internet browser rather than Google, because I used to have literally 120 tabs open just to remind me of things, even though I don't need to do that. But Arc like automatically closes them, sends me a reminder, whatever. So I think a lot of that stuff, and that's probably why I'm obsessed with ADHD, with AI, and I've gone super deep down that rabbit hole, is it makes me feel more powerful in like a more productive, I guess, in the sense that my chaotic brain can now be synthesized or whatever, if that's the right word, through a very objective, not chaotic, tool to then make my chaotic ideas very coherent. And what that means is I probably use Claude more than anyone else in the business, but I also think— actually, maybe not more than two members of our team who are just wizards with like other stuff. But it actually improves output full stop, not just because I've got ADHD. But if I hadn't, I probably wouldn't have gone down that rabbit hole as much, to the point of being obsessed. Um, yeah, and it's probably got a bit extreme, but I do genuinely find it very useful. So Yeah, it's just managing that stuff really. Um, and I think, yeah, it's definitely made me more creative. And that's also why I don't generally enjoy like normal process things. Like, I get very frustrated like waiting at a hotel for 3 minutes when I feel like I could just press my finger on it. So like, in that sense, it might sound trivial, but I feel like Things that annoy me, and maybe that's just normal humans, but I haven't found it to be as much as maybe I would get annoyed by something like me versus my girlfriend on a hotel check-in. I think it's a great example because I've had that recently. Every hotel you go to takes at least 10 minutes. What are they doing on the system? They've got your details, why can't you just go in? I guess that in a way is an opportunity. Like, I'm not going to build a hotel check-in system, but in theory, that's a massive— that's got to be a massive value add to hotels to like improve reviews or whatever. But if I hadn't had that tendency to think like that and be very critical and probably overly logical as well. Now we're probably getting into like the autism spectrum area, which again probably just comes hand in hand. But again, my girlfriend always takes piss saying you're like overly stuck on these things, too logical, whatever. But I think it makes you question stuff that's become societally normal or acceptable but actually doesn't need to be. And that hotel check-in is one good example. What's another? I mean, like overly complicated paperwork or something that isn't just simple online. Like, why does it need to have— I don't know, you're trying to buy something and they want to— want you to WhatsApp them and fill out a form. So why can't I just do it online? You know, stuff like that. That's the general theme of what I'm saying. Um, even stuff more like practically than that, of like, you know, I've kind of argued with a team member recently— not argued, like debated with a team member recently around needing another hire for something, for example.. And my view is I'm pretty sure I can just do that with Claude. But their view is, yeah, but you can't do that. Like, we need, we need, you know, a generalist view of, of course we need people. But I'm like, well, no, but I've seen the evidence that we don't. So do you know what I mean? Like, things like that, that would be a very standard assumption that you would question because you're probably a bit fucking weird, is basically what I'm saying. Which I do think is an advantage, but also comes with challenges. So anyway, I got to wrap up soon, but Yeah, it's kind of just an introduction to how I'm thinking about this because I've never really spoke about it, and it's not— I don't fucking care. Like, I think everyone watching this probably has ADHD to some degree, or like, you know, founders are all— I genuinely think are all quite neurodiverse. Maybe not all of them to the same degree, but some of the best ones I know definitely are. And I think because of a lot of what I just said, it can be a superpower, but it definitely comes with challenges that are also what makes founders good, but also makes— I think, like, I joked about my brother being happier than me, but also that's genuinely true, partly because of his environment, which is a result of probably not having the same brain that caused him to go into a high-risk environment like being a founder, but also because he doesn't come with the— his brain doesn't come with the baggage of always thinking about things, ideas, wanting to progress, and so on. So yeah, anyway, I don't know, that's my intro to the reality of my brain, and Maybe it's relatable to some people. I didn't really plan this video, which is the ultimate irony, or I tried to plan it and then didn't and then started recording and realized midway through I didn't know what the fuck I was talking about and didn't follow a structure. So maybe I need a good YouTube scriptwriter or something, but the problem is when I try and follow a script, I can't follow it, which ironically is also maybe a symptom of all this stuff. But I can just talk shit off the cuff for 20 minutes if I need to. But hopefully that's relatable to some people. Maybe there's a whole podcast or a Q&A going down that whole world. Because I do think the whole psychology and brain stuff's pretty interesting. I think a lot of founders are misunderstood, as I think I tweeted the other day. And I just genuinely think that's probably because their brains are wired differently, and people often think of being rude or dismissive or whatever, or too intense or too passionate. But I think they're sometimes misinterpreting something very positive and useful into something that's like annoying, or, you know, just interpreting it wrong. But Anyway, my time's up on this. Subscribe to the pod. This is a completely off-the-cuff video, and I'll see you in the next one. Cheers for watching.
