5 years ago, fresh out of college, I co-founded a company with someone I had hardly known. Dumb and naive, I know. In those 5 years, it has been one crisis after another, in large part due to my co-founder's (CEO) poor management, unethical behavior, and irresponsible spending. Time and time again she has manipulated and exploited her relationships (including ours) to her advantage. She has wantonly spent large sums of company funds on personal activities. The culture she's created is more than toxic. Question anything she says, and she'll punish you until you're gone. She's surrounded herself with sycophants.

All this time I've put up with it, for the "sake of the business" and to "protect my reputation" amongst the board and investor community. I feel an intense obligation to stay as a co-founder. But I am burnt out, depressed, filled with anxiety, and have become at times suicidal. There's not a day that goes by where I don't feel as if my co-founder is calculating yet another way to exploit our relationship, or just push me out. I've seen some of the smartest, kindest, and most driven people come through here and ultimately leave, by choice or force, due to their desire to work in an honest and open environment.

My biggest fears with leaving: 1) that my co-founder tarnish my reputation with board/investors as she has done with past employees, 2) that since founding the company, I have not developed meaningfully given all of the chaos, stress, and crises, resulting in a stunted and unmarketable skillset, and 3) that I have no network to rely on as I moved to SF for this opportunity and have spent the past 5 years here giving my all to this company.

I feel stuck, miserable, unmarketable, and it's eating at me every day.

Any advice you may have would be hugely appreciated. Thank you.