Managing Startup Burnout: Key Advice for Founders’ Resilience

"Startups die when founders burn out not when users churn.” Garry Tan (CEO of YCombinator) gave me this advice when I felt like I was barely holding it together in the early stages of building my own startup. This really changed my perspective. It's hard to express how brutal those few months were, but we got a lot of great advice that I summarized and often refer to: 1️⃣ Your startup will only go as far as your mental clarity and strength. Your mind is your startup’s operating system. Protect it. It sounds simple. But in chaos, thinking clearly is a superpower. 2️⃣ Don’t tie your self-worth to your startup’s progress. Your ARR, your burn rate, your last investor call—none of that defines your value as a human. Too many founders spiral because they treat every metric as a personal scoreboard. YC’s take? Detach your identity from the dashboard. 3️⃣ Startups die when founders burn out—not when users churn. Garry has said this in different ways during the retreat, but the core point is that it always comes back to survival. Most startups die because the founder burns out, gives up, or breaks down. The game rewards persistence, not perfection. 4️⃣ You’re not weak for needing help. You’re smart. Michael Seibel’s been vocal about this: the best founders ask for help early. Whether it's therapy, coaching, or just talking to someone—getting support is a strength, not a failure. 5️⃣ You don’t need to feel good to do good work. Startups are emotional rollercoasters. If you wait until you're motivated or calm or confident, you’ll never ship. Sometimes you just have to accept that it will feel like shit but you still have to move the ball forward. Burnout is a big issue in our world and I wish that each of us can work towards managing it. It is highly prevalant in many functions and, in some small way,