Essay · 14 min read

My journey through founder depression

Matt Munson · Medium Free Beginner

A CEO writing honestly about depression across a multi-year founder run, including the days he couldn't get out of bed, and landing on two moves this answer leans on: tell someone (build a real support person or coach, don't isolate) and hold the basics (sleep, whole food, movement). It is the reflective counterpart to the Forbes crisis scene: what holding yourself together actually looks like day to day.

  • Isolation makes founder depression worse; naming it to one real person is the intervention, which is why telling one person the real numbers matters
  • 'The basics' (sleep, whole foods, movement, time off screens) are not optional self-care, they are how you stay functional enough to decide
  • Accepting the low state instead of fighting it, while you protect your body, is more sustainable than forcing yourself to 'crush it' through it
Open on mattmunson.medium.com ↗

The question it answers

  1. My startup is failing and I can't sleep or eat. How do I hold myself together while I decide whether to shut down?

Read with it

  1. Marqeta founder Jason Gardner describes, in his own words, being weeks from running out of cash while he 'struggled to sleep,'... Forbes Article · 12 min read Forget 'Crushing It,' Startup Founders Open Up About Mental Health Problems Jeff Kauflin
  2. A clinical, free, no-signup stabilization guide that maps directly onto the answer: controlled breathing to break a panic... NHS (nhs.uk) Article · 8 min read Anxiety, fear and panic: self-help and when to get urgent help NHS
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