That’s fantastically depressing!

Limit your intake of positive startup news, or it could start making you feel something closer to depression.

HackerNews, TechCrunch, TheNextWeb, the list goes on— tech news sites are bursting at the seams with positive startup stories of raising millions, exiting for billions, expansions, acquisitions, and founders discussing their hockey stick figures.

They became part of my daily routine, I’d consume them with my morning coffee, at lunch with a sandwich, at night, even during a break — looking for inspiration, motivation, or maybe some recipes for success — something that would help change my startup for the better.

As I read them, I’d be dreaming of how one day this could be me, that one day my story would be featured on one of my beloved tech news sites, in front of thousands of readers worldwide — and this would bring my startup success.

One afternoon, just a few months ago, I’d finished reading another success story, I forget which one exactly, but instead of feeling any positive emotions, I was instead left with an emotion closer to depression. Ugh!

How have they managed it? What do i have to do to make it? They exited for $10m, really? Maybe I’m never going to reach my goal! — Questions that, as you can imagine, only lead to a day of wallowing in self pity.

Maybe it’s just me, perhaps it’s nothing to do with the success of these startups, but rather the lack of success in my own? But, one thing’s for sure, after distancing myself from these stories, I feel much better.

Give it a try if you resonate with the above, I still read lots of startup news, but I’ve become much more selective, I stick firmly away from startup success stories, and instead look for the one’s to learn from, the failures.

For me, so far, success has always been just beyond my grasp, with failure waiting in the shadows ready to pounce at any moment, I hope I’m not alone and that this is a feeling shared by other founders.

For me, there are two things that keep me going;

1. Hope — I’m hopeful that something will finally click, that i’ll see the illustrious hockey stick growth, and that I’ll finally achieve my goals.
2. Fear — I really fear failure, almost as much as I fear death, not failure of my startup per se, but failure to achieve success, and thus my goals.