Everyone tells you to “just start.” They never mention the bill. Not the financial one — the emotional, physical, and personal price you’ll pay. The world loves to romanticize founders: visionaries, hustlers, builders of the future. But behind the glossy pitch decks hides a harsher truth.
72% of founders develop mental health struggles. 43–48% end up divorced. 55% suffer chronic insomnia. 97% work every weekend. You don’t just build a company — you become the company. Your identity fuses with your product. Your self-worth depends on your metrics.
You start chasing freedom, only to find a prettier kind of prison. The startup doesn’t just drain your savings — it eats your peace, your health, your relationships. And the system calls it “grit.”
Startups don’t fail because founders quit. They fail because founders break.
So before you start one, ask yourself: is the dream worth the damage? read more and comment
Cant agree more. Founders story is often untold but full of - bankruptcies, betrayals, ridicule, stupidities, pivot, resilience, bounce backs, groundedness,clarity, death & depression