You have 7 years of experience now running a company with limited resources. The alternative is you worked 7 years in middle management somewhere. You picked up

You have 7 years of experience now running a company with limited resources. The alternative is you worked 7 years in middle management somewhere. You picked up a very rare skillset here and have more opportunities than if you hadn't. I think what hurts is that it's a form of death. It feels like actually losing someone, because you have lost a part of yourself. Companies grow faster than babies, and losing a company of 7 years could feel like losing a child. Even if you go on to start another company, it isn't the same. It's like having another child or another spouse. It doesn't replace the first. Whatever it is, you have to make peace with that. Go through the stages of grief. Do all the rituals necessary, which may be crying on the sofa watching TV. Just avoid hazardous coping mechanisms like alcohol and drugs. Death of an identity is necessary for the metamorphosis of a new identity. Don't try to figure out that new identity yet, but allow your startup founder identity to die sufficiently that it doesn't hold you back. Your next identity might well be another startup CEO. But remove the old identity and commit to the new one. You want to be "Steve Jobs, CEO of Pixar" and not "Steve Jobs, former cofounder of Apple Inc"