In this candid conversation, two startup founders share their personal struggles with mental health amid the pressures of building a company in a disruptive environment. Speaker A highlights the dangers of isolation, noting team members who self‑isolate despite being able to safely get outside, and stresses the importance of staying hyper‑aware of one’s emotional state and maintaining social connections. He emphasizes that talking about mental health, sharing stories, and breaking the monotony—such as biking to a nearby bungalow—are essential to preserve sanity. Speaker B reflects on his own journey of recognizing depression, admitting that past “macho” attitudes prevented him from acknowledging his struggles. He describes cyclical mood patterns and how denial can drag the whole team down, while openness allows his compassionate team to support him. Both underline the value of human interaction, the role of mental‑health awareness initiatives like Mental Health Month, and practical coping tactics to sustain well‑being while leading a startup.
Chapters
We all desperately need to keep our sanity. This is a whole new world. You know, we've got, we've got a couple of team members that have completely locked themselves down even though they can safely get out, kind of stroll in the park, be out, you know, away from other people. And it's just like, just be sensitive to what you're experiencing and be, you know, hyper alert to, okay, I think I'm about to snap. And this is where the social connection really needs to take hold, you do have a support system. So before you go off that deep end— and we've had business leaders, you know, on several calls that have been very open in saying that, geez, I don't know what's next. I'm going, wow, you're a partner of a really big law firm and, you know, you're, you know, awake in the middle of the night losing sleep. I said, that's kind of very telling, but it's good to share. So a big part of mental health, and trust me, I've had my ups and I've had my downs, but a big part of mental health is talk about it. So there's all sorts of stories. I bike to our bungalow. I'm in our lease cake, LCB, lease cake bungalow right now. It's about 10, 15 minutes away from the house and I get out and about. So you just kind of have to do what you can to mix up your day and not be stuck in that monotony. 'cause it can drive you crazy.
Yeah, I agree with that. Part of mental health awareness for me has been finally acknowledging to myself that I actually do struggle with things like depression. And I think in the past, I was maybe too macho to admit it to myself. And I realized that that just wasn't gonna fly as a founder with people depending on me. I finally kind of ripped that Band-Aid off and started to acknowledge that, like, I go in cycles of a couple of days down, a couple of days up. And if I'm not acknowledging that, then I'm dragging my whole team through that. It turns out my team is actually really kind and sweet and they want to help me and understand that I'm not perfect, but they can't really help me if I'm in denial myself. Right. So I appreciate bringing up the mental mental, like, health month of May. And then another thing is just where you can possibly interact with another human being, appreciate that.
