Why most startup founders burn out — and the surprising practices that build resilience, spark creativity, and keep you ahead of the game.
“Let’s create a limited, write a pitch deck, and then run for investors,” my friend grinned, fresh out of an incubation program and armed with advice that seemed to boil down to one thing:
“Pitch to investors.”
Two decades ago, this wasn’t the norm.
Back then, building a business meant finding customers fast, creating stable cashflows, and perfecting a high-performing system over time.
Only when the first pillar ran on autopilot did founders think about their next big idea.
Today?
The next big thing becomes the first thing.
Investors and public funds have replaced the grind of “finding customers” in many European startups. Some companies evolve into successful ventures, but when it’s time to scale, cracks often appear.
Leadership advice floods the market when it comes to blitzscaling.