Why Startup Founders are Always Unhappy

Why Startup Founders are Always Unhappy(jessyoko.com)

85 points by jesskah 13 years ago | 24 comments

diego 13 years ago |

If there is one thing I dislike more than self-help, it's self-help based on anecdotal evidence from one person with no background in psychology. Even more so when the title of a post states an extreme personal hypothesis as if it were a fact obvious to everyone.

If you want to know more about happiness from a scientific point of view, read or listen to experts like Daniel Kahneman. For example:

http://www.ted.com/talks/daniel_kahneman_the_riddle_of_exper...

wtvanhest 13 years ago | |

He says:

"My theory is that a founder’s happiness is tied to the rate of change of their startup’s success. In other words, your happiness graph is the first derivative of your success graph."

He is stating a theory, not a peer reviewed scientific journal. He isn't saying it is a fact, just a theory.

Personally I found his first derivative theory to be interesting and in many ways true of my life.

I know when things feel like they are about to go well, that is as enjoyable as when things are actually going well, but when they slow down I become unhappy.

If you have concrete evidence his theory is total garbage, by all means post it, but providing a random link and saying that anecdotal evidence is complete garbage is obnoxious.

Maybe someone who has the time to spend to prove the OP's theory or disproves it sees this post and it becomes a landmark paper you feel comfortable citing or reading.

It isn't the OP's job to prove it. His job is just to provide something interesting and insightful for people to read which helps get his startup's name out there. In my mind he accomplished both parts flawlessly.

geuis 13 years ago | | |

It's not a theory, it's a hypothesis. Something doesn't become a theory until it can be experimentally tested from which inferences and conclusions can be formed.

dgabriel 13 years ago | | |

I believe the author is a woman.

ricardobeat 13 years ago | | |

She.

mcormier 13 years ago | |

Yup, this is a good example of pseudoscience --> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pseudoscience

kloncks 13 years ago |

I never understand this. Where are all these unhappy founders?

I'm a startup founder myself and I naturally know many others. This is the best thing that could have ever happened to me. Yes, it's stressful. No, I don't know what will happen tomorrow. Yes, it's a lot of work.

But I can tell you one thing. I wake up every day wanting to do one thing: go to the office and work until midnight. Again, this is the best thing that has ever happened to me.

And every other startup founder that I know is the same way.

turoczy 13 years ago |

In addition to "Remember where you came from," I'd also add: track regular, incremental progress. Entrepreneurs have a tendency to move from big win to big win, while forgetting all of the little steps that got them to that point.

Keeping track of daily or weekly progress (even as simple as iDoneThis), can help minimize the amplitude of the downswing. It will still be there. It's inevitable. But this can help take some of the sting out of the low points.

rdl 13 years ago |

I've been a startup founder of one form or another for pretty much my whole adult life.

I have stress or anxiety when things are up in the air (positive or negative), but happiness or unhappiness has a lot more to do with factors other than the startup. Mostly because I believe in expected value and statistics -- there's a lot of randomness in everything, and you can do things which influence probabilities substantially, but if you've done that and there's an 80% chance of a good outcome, the actual result doesn't mean you're doing well or poorly as much as whether the odds were 80% or 30%.

My goal is to try to use skill, connections, effort, etc. to raise the expected returns as much as possible, then just take a lot of shots to get the right returns. Worry before things are resolved, not after.

radley 13 years ago |

I always thought it was tied to the creative's dilemma: what we can imagine is amazing, yet always just beyond what we actually produce. So by the time you produce something amazing it's "old news"... and your imagination has grown 10 steps ahead.

D_Alex 13 years ago |

"I'm generalizing from one example, here, but everyone generalizes from one example. At least, I do."

- Vladimir Taltos (http://dragaera.wikia.com/wiki/Vlad_Taltos, see also http://lesswrong.com/lw/dr/generalizing_from_one_example/)

ftwinnovations 13 years ago |

I enjoyed this little post as I really related to what he wrote, and the graphs were funny and accurate, but I think he put a bit too much emphasis on "unhappy", which I believe is not accurate. I, and other entrepreneurs I know, are not Always Unhappy. It's more like Never Happy For Long. During the upswing on the graph, I am extremely happy! Ecstatic! But then even though business (let's say) has doubled almost overnight, a month or so will go by with no new growth, and I'm just miserable, wondering how I can make something happen.

I would chalk this up to the human tendency to always want the next thing, or always want what one doesn't have. And that personality type I think is a perfect fit for a self driven risk taker entrepreneur types.

RVijay007 13 years ago |

First article I've seen approaching emotional state in this manner, so kudos to that. Back at MIT, I also came to this realization and my friends and I used to say "it's all about the ddt" whenever life got us down (or even up, as a cautionary tale to not get too excited and watch out). We were of course referring to d/dt of life, and how that had more influence on our states than the absolute position of our lives. Nothing proven, but an observation that held up very well in all our lives. We still have this saying amongst ourselves - glad to see others thinking along this path now.

josephagoss 13 years ago |

This can be applied to all life. Sorry but founders are now sounding like doctors, thinking they have a monopoly on stress and ups and downs.

pauljburke 13 years ago |

I don't think unhappy is the right word (and even the post doesn't claim the always part) but the first line of Derman's book springs to mind as a partial explanation.

"Ambition is a state of permanent dissatisfaction with the present - Emanuel Derman"

sardonicbryan 13 years ago |

As someone who was early stage at a startup, I appreciate the reminder to stop and smell the roses. As someone who's been grinding for four years now, it's easy to forget how far you've come.

mbesto 13 years ago |

I always never use the words 'always' and 'never'. They are always never true.

jonathantrevor 13 years ago |

Interesting observations about founder happiness (or lack thereof)

necrecious 13 years ago | |

Is there any poll that show that this founder unhappiness is real?

Are founders less happy than population as a whole? Or is it that we expect founders of successful companies to be happy?

Firehed 13 years ago | | |

I'll attest to the article's accuracy, but that's one data point. The highs from big wins are great, but the lows hit hard and often. Celebrating (even unreasonably so) small wins is particularly important to try to keep things in balance.

I have no idea how it averages out compared to non-founders and non-startup-employees, but it's a nasty roller-coaster to be sure.

psadri 13 years ago | | |

I am not sure if being a founder means that you will be unhappy. Personally I feel that that by being a founder you are constantly exposing yourself to circumstances that could cause you to be "unhappy" -- there is no end to the ups and downs.

rogerclark 13 years ago |

pretty sure it's because they're all mentally ill, delusional, narcissistic egomaniacs with technology addictions and nothing meaningful to live for besides Y Combinator

pauljburke 13 years ago | |

Up until the final clause of that sentence I didn't have a problem with it (well as a blanket statement it is pretty snarky but a touch of monomania combined with massive self belief isn't necessarily a bad thing when running a startup). All of that can work for you in the right environment.