What To Do If You Hate Your Job As A Startup CEO
Analysis of why running a venture-backed company can be less fun that it looks, plus four recommendations for CEOs who are suffering from founder malaise
“I want to quit and do something else. Yet I’m afraid I’ll let down the company, as there’s no obvious successor and I’m the only founder. Plus, it’ll be harder to keep raising. The last round happened only because I convinced investors I’m super-committed. Yet I hate my job, I don’t want to be a CEO, I’m fed up with constant stress, plus I want a career in a different field. It’d be easier if the company was failing but this bloody thing keeps growing up and to the right year-on-year, which doesn’t help.”
This was one of the anonymous messages that arrived last week at CEOhelpline.org, a new pro-bono initiative that gives founders a chance to raise questions that might not be wise to put to their VCs. Here’s how it continued:
“Realistically, if everything goes to plan, we’ll be ready to sell in about 2–3 years for a good amount of money. But when I think about doing that, and then about a possible earnout, I want to vomit. Is this how I want to spend my thirties? In front of a laptop, with something new being fucked up every day, as Brad Feld says?”
“When I think about doing this for three more years, I…
