You know, my professional network is partly based on me listening to people angry enough at their startups (which they didn't found) that they're starting their

You know, my professional network is partly based on me listening to people angry enough at their startups (which they didn't found) that they're starting their own. :) I listen to them like I've wanted to be listened to, offer validation if they seem to want it. ("Yeah, that level of 'insanity' is completely normal, I've seen it. Fear of financial doom changes people, brings out the worst in them. You've clearly gone out of your way change things, and they just insult you, so you don't owe them. And their strategy sounds fucked to me too.") Then I ask my network to help them at trouble-points. Worried your investor's pulling out because your great CTO's legally tied up for a couple months and can only work nights? I'm emailing people that night, and we're meeting that insightful contractor together tomorrow. (And my network is pretty small, but it's increasingly getting get the job done.) And I'll remember that you know an effective lawyer, and will probably want to find good people with domain experience in X in a few months... There are just so many open connections left hanging in the universe, and it takes so little effort to nudge them together. So basically, sympathy helps everyone. I don't care if people dismiss complex internal forces as "self-pity." I don't buy into that hyperindividualism that we just need to tough it out without help.