Many people dream of being an entrepreneur, being their own boss and doing what they love every day, even becoming the next Steve Jobs or Mark Zuckerberg. Yet look past the business cards, conferences and company T-shirts, and the startup world can be brutal and harsh: 90% of startups fail.
We don’t consider the maxed out credit cards, the strained relationships and the sleepless nights many fledgling entrepreneurs experience. It’s an emotional rollercoaster that I’ve been on for the last three years and when I divulged my story in a blog post, I touched a nerve. I’d said something many had been struggling to say: that mental health issues in startups are prevalent, taboo, and need to be addressed. In fact, in startups there’s a concoction of stress, depression, anxiety and burnout that just isn’t talked about.
I know this from personal experience, but also because of the reaction to my story – 200-plus personal emails from people in startups saying thank you for opening up, 13,000 reads of the original blog post and non-stop notifications.
It’s estimated that one in four people in the UK will experience a mental health problem each year and that depression, specifically, is thought to be a leading cause of disability worldwide. Yet because of the stigma, these facts are not well known. Entrepreneurs can be prone to these problems due to their mindset. They are creative and ambitious, with their business intrinsically weaved into their identity – for many, a business failure is always a personal failure.
This is compounded by the gambler way of thinking of “all or nothing”, where every decision takes huge personal and emotional investment. Plus, the internal pressure to succeed means that self-deprecation and criticism are constant – nothing is ever good enough.
Most people in startups feel they have nowhere to turn and nobody to talk to, they feel isolated. Even with all the love in the world, their close friends and family “just don’t get it” and struggle to understand their motivations. They often bottle up their mental battles and the pressure can lead to stress, anxiety and depression.
Startups can be a lonely place, where guidance is rare. New entrepreneurs present a brave face; a reticence towards staff, investors and customers hides any mental torment and projects an air of certainty, an aura that they have it all worked out. Despite the inherent vulnerability in most young companies, it’s rare to see their true colours, we mainly see a poker face.
Particularly in technology, the spirit of entrepreneurship is fast becoming one of toil, long hours and self-sacrifice. Angel investors, accelerators and venture capitalists (VCs) encourage startups to work harder, move faster and, in some cases, “sleep faster”. The yardstick has seemingly become hours worked, who can leave the office the latest. What began as a journey for work-life balance has descended into the rat race most were aiming to avoid.
In an environment littered with big egos, the work-hard/play-hard mantra is hard to escape. Startups may not be competing for market share, but they compete for VC funding, for hype, and probably to make themselves feel better. There’s a competition for who’s “killing it”, who’s raised the most money and hired the most people.
This extreme environment compounds the pressure felt by many, sugarcoats the real issues and sweeps mental health under the rug. The result is individuals burning out and imploding, unable to take any more. Startups are always looking for how to make their operations scale, but right now, mental health in startups does not scale.
Mental health issues are pervasive in society and the stigma needs to be broken down. In startups they are spoken about only at private founder dinners and secret meet-ups where founders swear confidentiality. Yet, masonic-like focus groups aren’t enough; more must be done to raise awareness of these issues.
The first step is for us to be honest and open up, like I did. By making the first move I connected with people on an emotional level – it was therapeutic for me, but a huge relief for others. By giving first, people are able to relate and reciprocate, meaning those bottled-up issues get some well-needed airtime. Ask others how they’re feeling and don’t take a grimacing “fine” for an answer.
There is a dark side to startups, where many are putting their mental health at risk. These problems are widespread, but they’re intensified by an entrepreneurial mindset and the frenetic startup culture. Of course, there’s no clear answer, but talking openly is a start and can quickly make a tremendous difference.
In the UK, the Samaritans can be contacted on 116 123. In the US, the National Suicide Prevention Hotline is 1-800-273-8255. In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is on 13 11 14. Hotlines in other countries can be found here.
James Routledge is a partner at Potential VC. If you’d like to share your story on mentalhealthinstartups.com please contact James directly via email.
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