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I don't think it's a topic we need to tiptoe around. This is one of the few places where it should be normal to write about it casually. Describing it as 'deter

I don't think it's a topic we need to tiptoe around. This is one of the few places where it should be normal to write about it casually. Describing it as 'deteriorating mental health' makes it sound like something to be ashamed of. Like burning out means you've gone bonkers. That attitude probably deters many founders from wanting to talk about it.

delecti 11y ago
Maybe deteriorating mental health shouldn't be equated to "going bonkers", and then we won't be discouraging people from talking about something so common.
DanBC 11y ago
I agree that burnout is serious. That's why I think it's weird to see it so casually dismissed - this guy burntout but that's okay because we got some cash and we were able to keep going. I don't think it's okay to allow people to burnout; and if their job is causing burnout something about the job needs to change. It's odd that you call for people to discuss their mental health problems while simultaneously using deeply stigmatising language.
- JoeAltmaier 11y ago
  Wow you guys read a lot into a few words. Lets reset. He burned out on pitching several times a day, took a break of a few weeks, moved up the food chain to more qualified investors (> $200K) so he didn't have to pitch but once or twice a day. Doing fine now. Lots of people burn out on lots of things. Its not always a complete mental meltdown. Sometimes its just "I can't do this any more; lets find a new way"
  - tripzilch 11y ago
    Seems to me we have some conflation of the term "burnout" versus the verb "to burn out". The other people in this subthread were talking about this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burnout_%28psychology%29 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burnout_%28psychology%29
- eonw 11y ago
  i disagree, sometimes burnout just happens, its not the job, its the person. maybe they just don't want that much stress or aren't cut from the right cloth... don't auto-blame the job.

delecti 11y ago

Maybe deteriorating mental health shouldn't be equated to "going bonkers", and then we won't be discouraging people from talking about something so common.

DanBC 11y ago

I agree that burnout is serious. That's why I think it's weird to see it so casually dismissed - this guy burntout but that's okay because we got some cash and we were able to keep going. I don't think it's okay to allow people to burnout; and if their job is causing burnout something about the job needs to change. It's odd that you call for people to discuss their mental health problems while simultaneously using deeply stigmatising language.

JoeAltmaier 11y ago
Wow you guys read a lot into a few words. Lets reset. He burned out on pitching several times a day, took a break of a few weeks, moved up the food chain to more qualified investors (> $200K) so he didn't have to pitch but once or twice a day. Doing fine now. Lots of people burn out on lots of things. Its not always a complete mental meltdown. Sometimes its just "I can't do this any more; lets find a new way"
- tripzilch 11y ago
  Seems to me we have some conflation of the term "burnout" versus the verb "to burn out". The other people in this subthread were talking about this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burnout_%28psychology%29 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burnout_%28psychology%29
eonw 11y ago
i disagree, sometimes burnout just happens, its not the job, its the person. maybe they just don't want that much stress or aren't cut from the right cloth... don't auto-blame the job.