The Practice of Self-Care
Graphic by Nicole Kelner
Many successful entrepreneurs are creative thinkers who can maintain intense, seemingly inexhaustible focus on their mission. They are willing to operate without assurances—and in fact seem to thrive despite uncertainty. But the traits that make these entrepreneurs extraordinary can also make them vulnerable. That’s especially true right now, as the uncertain economic outlook, combined with the failure of Silicon Valley Bank and other banks, puts even more pressure on founders.
With that in mind and in recognition of Mental Health Awareness Month, we are kicking off a series of posts focused on the intersection of entrepreneurship and mental health. Activate exists to find, foster, and celebrate the entrepreneurial spirit within mission-driven scientists. And key to that work is supporting our fellows’ wellness—and that of the wider entrepreneurial ecosystem.
We at Activate are not mental health practitioners, and the following is not medical advice. If you believe you are experiencing depression or another mental illness, seek medical help. If you are experiencing a suicidal crisis or mental health-related distress, please call 988, the suicide and crisis lifeline.
In mid-April, market research firm Startup Snapshot published the results of a survey of 400 entrepreneurs around the world. It shined a light on just how pressure-filled the role of entrepreneurship is, and how much of a toll that can take on a founder’s well-being. Nearly three-fourths of respondents said their entrepreneurial journey has negatively impacted their mental health. If that figure sounds familiar, that’s because a widely-cited 2015 study found that 72 percent of entrepreneurs struggle with mental health conditions compared to only 48 percent of non-entrepreneurs.
Yael Benjamin, founder and CEO of Startup Snapshot, says she hopes the new study will help advance conversations and transparency around mental health in the startup community. “In the end, the greatest asset of a startup is the well-being of its founder,” she told Activate.
Michael A. Freeman is a psychiatrist and executive coach. He led the 2015 study on founders’ mental health and says the focus, commitment, and other “superpower” traits that successful founders exhibit can also make them vulnerable to mental health conditions that can make effectively leading their companies difficult and in fact it can derail the organizations. A single-minded pursuit of success can lead straight to burnout, or erode relationships. It can turn a roadblock into a crisis.
So how can entrepreneurs foster those superpowers while also guarding and nurturing their mental health? And how can mentors, team members, advisors, funders, and other key startup partners best support founder well-being?
Graphic by Nicole Kelner
Entrepreneurs: Seek and Sustain Balance
For entrepreneurs, maintaining wellness requires building resilience and managing risk. Eating well and keeping caffeine and other stimulants in check are important first steps, but Freeman says prioritizing physical health means thinking holistically about well-being, and balancing work with other pursuits that support mental health.
His suggestions include:
Maintain a regular, full night’s sleep schedule.
Exercise every day.
Get outside and spend time in the natural world every day, including exposure to green space and blue space.
Maintain a social support network of people who are unrelated to your business.
Cultivate interests and activities unrelated to your work life.
“Keep an inventory of what went wrong so that you can identify patterns of derailment,” Freeman tells entrepreneurs. “And then don't be surprised if some of those patterns of derailment are related to underlying mental health conditions, such as ADHD, or anxiety, depression, mood swings, or addiction.”
Freeman says that seeking help to diagnose and treat mental health conditions is vital—and the sooner, the better. Fortunately, because there’s a growing discourse around mental health, entrepreneurship, and the workforce, some founders are starting to feel more comfortable talking about their mental well-being. Shedding light on this topic and normalizing it in the startup community can help remove further stigma and empower founders to address any concerns they have about their own, their partners, and their teams’ mental well-being.
That said, the Startup Snapshot survey results suggest that while founders admit that entrepreneurship harms their mental well-being, they’re largely failing to focus on self-care. In fact, only around 24 percent of women respondents and 24 percent of men said they seek help from a psychologist or coach. That might be because stigma around mental health is still a real hurdle for founders. More than half of the men who responded said they believe there is a stigma around going to a psychologist or seeking help, while around 30 percent of women acknowledge the stigma. And it’s worse for young founders. Nearly 60 percent of founders under the age of 35 reported a stigma, compared to just under half of founders over the age of 35.
The survey also found that nearly half of founders frequently share their stress and challenges with their significant others, with 41 percent occasionally sharing. What they’re not doing is letting their funders understand the real burden they’re under. Only 10 percent of respondents said they share their struggles with investors because they worry that transparency could affect their chances of securing additional funding.
“Investors say that they invest in founders, not ideas. Well, a founder is mind, body, and soul, and we believe [investors] should be investing in those things as well.”
Supporters: Invest Attention and Time in Founders’ Health
Based on how little entrepreneurs tend to disclose about their mental wellness, it’s important that their support networks show up for them and help normalize mental health discussions. If you have a professional or personal interest in supporting entrepreneurs’ mental well-being, one of the best ways to do that is by being open about our own struggles. Techstars, which invests in early-stage startups and supports founders though accelerator programs, developed a entrepreneurship and mental health toolkit, which includes a documentary series and resources. In the series, Techstars co-founder Brad Feld shares his experiences with depression and obsessive-compulsive disorder, discussing how these disorders have impacted his personal and professional life.
Freeman is working with other mental health advocates to build a tool, designed specifically for entrepreneurs, that could screen for emotional distress. The hope is that identifying high-risk entrepreneurs and helping them establish mental health conditions early in their careers, will help them in their endeavors as well as their lives. Freeman hopes that eventually this tool could be used by institutions that support small businesses, or a venture capital firm could distribute it across its portfolio companies. Freeman hopes that once the tool is validated, organizations such as Activate could also offer it to fellows.
The Founder Mental Health Pledge
Just like accounting or legal counsel, maintaining mental wellness should be considered a business expense for founders, says Naveed Lalani, an entrepreneur who, along with investor Brad Baum, recently launched The Founder Mental Health Pledge. (They’re holding an online conference on June 29, as well.)
“Investors say that they invest in founders, not ideas. Well, a founder is mind, body, and soul, and we believe [investors] should be investing in those things as well,” Lalani told clinical psychologist Sherry Walling on her Zen Founder podcast.
The hope is that the pledge, which has attracted around 350 signatories since it was launched in March, will help normalize mental health conversions among founders and investors.
“We want investors to be the cheerleaders here, because of how loud their voice is,” Baum told Walling.
“Succeeding as a founder is only possible when you take care of your whole self.”
Lalani stresses that for investors, making the pledge also just makes good sense. “We’re not saying don’t hustle—we’re encouraging people to hustle responsibly. We know mental health isn’t just a feel-good priority—research shows it tangibly improves business outcomes.”
Lalani’s startup, Pioneer Mind, surveyed more than 200 founders and executives who have sought therapy or executive coaching, either one-on-one or in group settings, and they reported that doing so led to a range of benefits, including reduced stress, better employee retention, and improved personal leadership.
In a LinkedIn post, Lalani wrote: “The better you are mentally, the better you can perform, the better your team will perform, and the better your business will do, the more jobs you will create. Everyone wins.”
Activate Anywhere’s managing director Hannah Murnen says mental wellness is also a community effort. “Succeeding as a founder is only possible when you take care of your whole self,” she says. “One of the amazing ways I see the Activate Fellows show up for each other is by being that accountability piece for each other and checking in on how each person is taking care of their mental health. It's a lot easier to be mindful of your mental health when you have a whole community of folks looking out for you and thinking about ways to support you.”