{"id":1642,"date":"2018-10-19T00:09:49","date_gmt":"2018-10-19T00:09:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mystartupcfo.com\/blog\/?p=1642"},"modified":"2018-10-24T14:35:51","modified_gmt":"2018-10-24T14:35:51","slug":"startup-burnout-is-real-here-are-3-innovative-steps-to-avoid-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mystartupcfo.com\/blog\/startup-burnout-is-real-here-are-3-innovative-steps-to-avoid-it\/","title":{"rendered":"Startup Founder Burnout is real &#8211; Here are 3 innovative steps to win against it"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Startup founder burnout is real.<br \/>\n<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Most founders ignore it. Even less talk about it. The results are disastrous &#8211; because <strong>no startup can outlive its founder\u2019s burnout<\/strong>. It is like cutting off the head of a snake.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong><em>Acknowledge your burnout<\/em>!<\/strong> Once you\u2019ve done this, you can get back on the road to recovery.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Last month, I sat in on a <span style=\"color: #3366ff;\"><a style=\"color: #3366ff;\" href=\"https:\/\/mystartupcfo.com\/founder-burnout.html\">webinar<\/a><\/span> with two other founders to discuss this topic. Many who have watched the webinar have written back asking me to elaborate on how to win against burnout.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">In this article, I will illustrate three <span style=\"color: #3366ff;\"><a style=\"color: #3366ff;\" href=\"https:\/\/mystartupcfo.com\/founder-burnout.html#6\">concepts<\/a><\/span>:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Reframe Time (<em>which is not about time management<\/em>)<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Join a \u201cFailure Gym\u201d (<em>which is not about going to a gym<\/em>)<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Feed Your \u201cSocial Flywheel\u201d (<em>which is not about socializing<\/em>)<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong>Reframe Time<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><em>\u201cEntrepreneurs have a difficult relationship with time\u201d<\/em><\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #000000;\"><em>~ Beerud Sheth, Founder of Elance and Gupshup<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-1646\" src=\"http:\/\/mystartupcfo.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/image3-300x200.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" srcset=\"https:\/\/mystartupcfo.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/image3-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/mystartupcfo.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/image3.jpg 640w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Beerud Sheth is absolutely right. Sheth founded Elance in 1999 (now Upwork). Just the previous month, Upwork filed for an IPO, 20 years after the company was founded. Today, it is a unicorn.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Is this overnight success? Certainly not.<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #000000;\">Is overnight success overrated in the Valley? Yes.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">The key takeaway from Sheth\u2019s journey is that, as a founder, you need to be in for the long haul. Success rarely comes overnight.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Setting unrealistically short timelines is a recipe for stress and anxiety &#8211; not productivity. This pressure pushes you to work harder for lesser results, and almost invariably leads to a burnout.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">You need Time to be your friend. Set timelines and estimates that are<em> realistic<\/em> and <em>achievable<\/em>. For example, If you\u2019re aiming at a 3-month window for getting your next round of investments &#8211; you\u2019re setting yourself up for a world of <\/span>headache<span style=\"color: #000000;\">.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong>Join a Failure Gym<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><em>\u201cFailure is simply the opportunity to begin again, this time more intelligently.\u201d &#8211; Henry Ford.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-1648\" src=\"http:\/\/mystartupcfo.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/image1-300x200.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" srcset=\"https:\/\/mystartupcfo.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/image1-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/mystartupcfo.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/image1.jpg 640w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">You already know this &#8211; failure teaches you far more than success ever could. It forces you to introspect, learn, and finally &#8211; create value out of it.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">That is why I equate failure with going to a gym. Failures are similar to your aching muscles after the first day of workout &#8211; the sheer soreness almost makes you give up. But you keep pushing yourself and a few months down the line &#8211; you stop worrying about the pain, and come out of it with a healthier state of body and mind.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">It\u2019s the same way with failure. Getting things right gives validation, but keeps you snugly in your comfort zone. Keeping in mind the pace at which things are changing &#8211; being comfortable is being asleep.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Success never comes through safe ideas. The ability to take risks &#8211; that\u2019s the greatest superpower a founder can have!<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Learn from your mistakes. Join a failure gym.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong>Feed Your Social Flywheel<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-1649\" src=\"http:\/\/mystartupcfo.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/image2-300x243.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"243\" srcset=\"https:\/\/mystartupcfo.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/image2-300x243.jpg 300w, https:\/\/mystartupcfo.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/image2.jpg 640w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #000000;\">Making money or becoming a unicorn is never the <strong>goal<\/strong> for a startup, it\u2019s just a result of doing what you set out to do.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">There has to be a purpose bigger than yourself &#8211; one through which your startup can make change something in the world (hopefully, for the better). Whatsapp\u2019s goal was that of connecting people &#8211; the $19 billion purchase back in 2014 was <em>simply<\/em> the result (and the subsequent fallout can serve as a good example of what happens when goals don\u2019t align).<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">If you\u2019re just aiming at increasing your bottom line, you\u2019re priming yourself for a long <span style=\"color: #3366ff;\"><a style=\"color: #3366ff;\" href=\"https:\/\/mystartupcfo.com\/founder-burnout.html#2\">trough of sorrow<\/a><\/span>, followed closely by a burnout.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">For example, myStartUpCFO\u2019s work culture is built around allowing women to work from home, at flexible hours, and without sacrificing their careers for work-life balance, or bringing up their kids the way they want to. I often tell my clients, \u201cBe prepared for barking dogs and crying children in the background.\u201d Today 72% of myStartUpCFO\u2019s employees are women working from home. This stat fills me with more pride than any of the big deals that my company closes.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">This is where the concept of the flywheel comes in. I derive immense satisfaction from how my company empowers women (and how they empower us!). In turn, they feel proud of working for a financial services company that gives them the flexibility to do so. The flywheel keeps receiving positive energy from all around, and spins like crazy!<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">This is the \u2018bigger purpose\u2019 that keeps me running, even when (or rather, <em>especially when<\/em>) business is slow. The motivation and energy that I draw from this purpose <\/span>keeps<span style=\"color: #000000;\"> me from burning out.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">These three pointers have consistently worked for us, as well as the dozens of founders I meet each week. Are there other techniques that have worked for you to win against burnout? Would love to hear your thoughts!\u00a0Feel free to reach out to me via LinkedIn or contact us at sshroff@mystartupcfo.com. I run myStartUpCFO, a finance and accounting services company that provides on-demand CFO services.<\/span><\/p>\n<div class='sfsi_Sicons' style='width: 100%; display: inline-block; vertical-align: middle; text-align:left'><div style='margin:0px 8px 0px 0px; line-height: 24px'><span><\/span><\/div><div class='sfsi_socialwpr'><div class='sf_fb' style='text-align:left;width:60px'><div class=\"fb-share-button\" href=\"https:\/\/mystartupcfo.com\/blog\/startup-burnout-is-real-here-are-3-innovative-steps-to-avoid-it\/\" width=\"180\" send=\"false\" data-layout=\"button\" ><\/div><\/div><div class='sf_twiter' style='text-align:left;float:left;width:auto'><a href=\"http:\/\/twitter.com\/share\" data-count=\"none\" class=\"sr-twitter-button twitter-share-button\" lang=\"en\" data-url=\"https:\/\/mystartupcfo.com\/blog\/startup-burnout-is-real-here-are-3-innovative-steps-to-avoid-it\/\" data-text=\"Startup Founder Burnout is real &#8211; Here are 3 innovative steps to win against it\" ><\/a><\/div><\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Startup founder burnout is real. Most founders ignore it. Even less talk about it. The results are disastrous &#8211; because no startup can outlive its founder\u2019s burnout. It is like cutting off the head of a snake. Acknowledge your burnout! Once you\u2019ve done this, you can get back on the road to recovery. Last month, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1644,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22,13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1642","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-startup-advice","category-startups"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mystartupcfo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1642","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mystartupcfo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mystartupcfo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mystartupcfo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mystartupcfo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1642"}],"version-history":[{"count":15,"href":"https:\/\/mystartupcfo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1642\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1722,"href":"https:\/\/mystartupcfo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1642\/revisions\/1722"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mystartupcfo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1644"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mystartupcfo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1642"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mystartupcfo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1642"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mystartupcfo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1642"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}