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Routledge built and wound down Sanctus, then wrote the piece almost nobody writes: the one that treats the end of a company as a real bereavement, not a LinkedIn lesson. His line 'you will need to grieve, lean into the sadness' and his warning about founders who 'skip the funeral' and pay for it later is exactly the permission this question is about. He also gives you the how: ending conversations on purpose, a transition ritual, celebrating the thing before you move on.
Founder Startup Grief
From James Routledge (founder of Sanctus) by James Routledge 6 min read
- A dead company is a genuine loss of identity and relationships, so grief is the correct response, not weakness
- Founders who skip the mourning ('skip the funeral') carry the unprocessed loss straight into the next attempt
- Do it deliberately: intentional ending conversations, a transition ritual, and celebrating what you built before you move
