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Telling the stories of startup founders and creators and their unique journey. Each episode features actionable tips, practical advice and inspirational insight.
00:00:00:00 - 00:00:26:01
I am Greg Moran from Evergreen Mountain Equity Partners in the Founders Collective. Today we're going to start a three part series on what I call the Founders Fallacy. What we're going to do is explore some of the challenges that founders face long after they've reached so-called success. However, you define that for yourself as a founder. It's a really personal series for me because it's something I've really struggled with over the years, and I'll talk about that a lot as we go through it.
00:00:26:01 - 00:00:51:11
So if you're a founder or you're an entrepreneur, you're probably going to know what I'm talking about. And that's the constant need for control, the anxiety, the feeling that everything depends on you. So today, as we start the series, I want to actually share my own story with you and how controlling anxiety can really linger even after you've exited the business.
00:00:51:16 - 00:01:22:08
And certainly, are there ever present when you're building the business? So when I sold my company, sold it back in 2020, I expected to feel relief. And it did, but it was brief. Almost immediately, I felt this growing sense of fear about the future and the question, what's next? Because it was really the first time in almost 20 years that there really wasn't something next.
00:01:22:09 - 00:01:44:14
I actually had the freedom to take some time and think about the next steps, but it turned out that that was really the most palpable fear of all. So I know it sounds strange, but exiting the business, it didn't bring the relief that I thought it would, or what relief there was was very momentary and was pretty much all financial related.
00:01:44:16 - 00:02:06:10
So I sold the company right as the Covid pandemic, we're starting we actually closed the transaction to sell the company on February 28th, 2020. So if you remember what, February 28th, 2020 looked like, it was when the world was shutting down. This only amplified the pressure that I was feeling. I was still the CEO. We had sold to a large private equity firm.
00:02:06:12 - 00:02:31:19
We had new large private equity owners who had big expectations. So looking back, I really realized that the need for control had really become so ingrained in me that stepping away felt just nearly impossible was never something I even contemplated. I was still the CEO, and if anything, the stress really intensified and we started doing a lot of acquisitions, which was always part of the plan.
00:02:31:22 - 00:02:55:13
Then Covid was in full swing. In addition to that, we were going through a series of Covid related layoffs. We were trying to shut down offices. You remember what this world looks like? It looked like at that point. It was a scary time to be living. And it was an even scarier time to be running a company, especially when that fear of what's next was really starting to creep in.
00:02:55:15 - 00:03:14:01
So there was no real ability to reflect on what just happened to me. We closed the transaction on a Friday and Monday I was back to work, but I was back to work in a whole new reality and that was the Covid pandemic. Not only couldn't I reflect on what happened, I was just the stress of what I was doing was starting to become overwhelming as well.
00:03:14:03 - 00:03:39:23
So instead of relief, what I was really hit with were new layers of responsibility. Stakes felt even higher. I was no longer just in charge for myself. I was responsible for these new stakeholders, and I felt like I couldn't let go of that need to control every single detail, because the expectations were so large, my employees were looking at me, or new owners were looking at me, and we had to we had to make this work.
00:03:40:01 - 00:04:08:09
So when I talk about the founders fallacy, it's the belief that your value as a founder comes from controlling every single aspect of your business. It's not true. You're the strategist, you're the manager, you're the problem solver. And that constant control becomes a habit that becomes really hard to break even after you exit. It doesn't go away. So this need for control, it lingers.
00:04:08:09 - 00:04:35:12
And for years I was in constant action. I'm sure every founder who's listening this today feels that same sense of that constant action. So whether I was building the business or training for triathlons, which I raced heavily, I stayed in motion. I really believed that that was the only way to manage my energy. Constant motion. So looking back, my pattern was action.
00:04:35:14 - 00:05:01:05
I applied constant massive energy toward goals, whether, you know, building the company or triathlon. And I realize now that this was that this was my way of dealing with that never ending nervous energy, that was building and building and building as the years went on. What I didn't realize it was also culminating as I exited the business. The truth is, this mindset comes at a really high cost.
00:05:01:06 - 00:05:33:01
It's the constant need to control and take action to feed your anxiety. And that's really what it is. It's a cycle. Even after leaving the business, I still felt stuck in that cycle of overwhelming stress and control. Except now it didn't actually have anything to control. What I didn't realize back then was that how much this need to control was actually affecting my health, of my relationships, the pressure, I'm sure, like just about all of you listening to this right now or feeling the pressure was nonstop.
00:05:33:03 - 00:05:56:12
Sleepless nights, constant mental rumination. I wasn't letting myself rest. Actually took pride in not resting, and it took a toll on my body and mind, but a toll that was building in small, incremental ways for many, many years. I started seeing signs that the anxiety was still present even after I'd left the company, I still couldn't sleep well.
00:05:56:14 - 00:06:25:00
My mind was still constantly running in completely disjointed and confusing directions. When I finally resigned as the CEO, that was about 18 months after we sold the anxiety still didn't leave. It just took a new form and that new form was intense fear. Feel like I'd never really felt before. I felt compelled to take action again. It was this, this torment of action that I had to be taken immediately.
00:06:25:00 - 00:06:50:17
But usually the action was completely impulsive, completely undirected. No, no, I'm not alone. Many founders feel like they're supposed to control everything. A thing that bleeds out of their business and into their personal life. You know, they believe that that ever present anxiety is totally normal. But that mindset leads to burnout, and it leads to deep mental health struggles.
00:06:50:21 - 00:07:15:15
And that's where it lead for me. We think we can't let go, but the belief becomes a prison that we build around ourselves. So if you're a founder, whether you're about to exit or just starting your journey, I really encourage you to take a moment to start to look for those signs. Look for those moments when you're unable to delegate, or when the fear and anxiety start taking control of your actions.
00:07:15:20 - 00:07:36:05
You start acting out of fear more than you're acting out of what's in your own best interests, and what's in the best interests of the company. These signs are there to tell us something, right? They're healthy and they're giving us the indicators that we need. There are signals that we need to step back, and we need to lean on others more.
00:07:36:07 - 00:07:59:09
Get involved in founder communities. Talk to other founders who are going through the same struggles. I guarantee you, if you open up on those struggles, you'll be amazed at how many founders are going through the exact same thing. Get involved in community. Share those experiences. Learned how others are dealing with it. One really small step you can take is identify a task that doesn't require your direct input.
00:07:59:15 - 00:08:35:23
Start practicing delegation even if it feels uncomfortable. Give yourself space to be without action and without the mental rumination. Scary. Practicing small steps of letting go is really where the process of breaking free from the founders fallacy really begins. So thanks for watching today in our next video, we're going to dive deeper into how control is tied to our identity as a founder, which is a really powerful thing that became very evident to me afterward, and why it's so hard to let go of that identity even after we exit.
00:08:36:01 - 00:08:59:02
So be sure to subscribe and like and most of all, leave comments below. Engage here and I really hope you will take a moment to to share this with somebody who may maybe going through those same struggles. Leave a comment if you've got questions or thoughts to share. As well. Thanks. We'll see you next time.