Hi HN,

Using a throwaway account because there's a lot to lose from speaking about how I feel.

I founded a company several years ago. Fast forward to today and we're profitable, growing steadily, debt free and are about to be acquired (there are LOIs on the table). You may ask what the problem is? Well, the problem is that I'm supremely unhappy.

Each morning for the past couple months, my first thought has been "What could today be like if I didn't work here?". I drift off into exploring what it would be like to work at Wal Mart, or the construction site outside, or as a bagger at a grocery store. It seems so stress free. Then, my phone starts ringing for the day and I'm snapped back to reality. This morning, I locked myself in the bathroom with the shower running (don't want wife to know) and cried my eyes out. I haven't cried in many years. It felt great, but only for an hour.

So, from my (possibly skewed) point of view, I have 2 options:

- Quit, which effectively kills any acquisition and likely the company as well

- Suck it up and work on the same thing for 2-5 more years

I'd been mulling over a third option (hire someone to do my day-to-day), but don't know how to make it work. The product is just too complicated (tons of domain knowledge required) for someone to come in and take over. Additionally, the product just isn't that interesting (glorified CRUD app) and it's been hard to retain developers.

Please tell me I'm missing something! Maybe I'm just being ridiculous- it's getting hard to tell. Is it common for a Founder to go through this train of thought before an acquisition? Is there a trick to convince yourself you want to keep doing this? Maybe I'm suffering from some kind of depression and need drugs.

Any advice appreciated.

- A founder in pain

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user:	flaviusas
created:	November 11, 2015
karma:	0