Entrepreneurial Vulnerabilities

"We all know that the tech profession tears you away from family far too much."
Chris Albinson, managing director, Panorama Capital

"The majority of the time, patients with bipolar disorder will be in  he depressive phase, not the manic."
"We also look for evidence of atypical behaviour [in diagnosing the condition]."
"A true bipolar condition affects patients' ability to function well on the job."
"I would also look for changes in moods that occur in distinct phases during the year, not a day-to-day thing."
Dr. Sanjay Aro, psychiatrist, clinical leader in cognitive behavioural therapy, The Royal Ottawa

  ‘What began as a journey for work-life balance has descended into the rat race most were aiming to avoid.’ Photograph: Maximilian Weinzierl/Alamy

It's fairly well accepted that people who work in IT are very often more reclusive temperamentally, inclined to introversion as a personal characteristic, though obviously not everyone falls into that type of category, just as not everyone who becomes a leader in innovative IT technology will end up in a struggle with psychological imbalance in their lives, through an innate propensity brought closer to the surface by the very stressors that they must surmount in their efforts to succeed in a crowded field of other like entrepreneurs, all anxious to become the next big success story through the genius of their vision and accomplishments.

Sheer dogged devotion to interpreting a problem in a way others fail to recognize, and adapting one's technical abilities to introduce new concepts advancing technology to bring the world of the Internet and Artificial Intelligence to a new gradient in its steeply rising capabilities takes exhaustive effort and a firm belief in one's own capacity to visualize and develop solutions evading others. That firm belief leads to a sense of inner invincibility, a requirement for success. These are entrepreneurs whose case studies of success in their field set them apart and above their colleagues.

Perhaps it shouldn't be surprising that according to a psychiatrist working out of the University of California San Francisco School of Medicine, one in two entrepreneurs in IT reflect a lifetime of coping with at least one mental health condition. But that's not all that Dr. Michael Freeman, in his study -- Are Entrepreneurs Touched with Fire -- concludes. His survey of 242 entrepreneurs alongside 93 non-entrepreneurs of similar age revealed that 32 percent struggle with multiple mental health conditions.

Of those surveyed, 30 percent of the entrepreneurs under survey had their experiences with depression, while half that number, 15 percent of the control group, had similar experiences with depression. Moreover, 11 percent of the entrepreneurs reported bipolar disorder, while only one percent of the non-entrepreneurs allowed to having bipolar disorder. So are people who become entrepreneurs inclined through predisposition to mental disorders, or is exposure to the high-tech industry responsible for leading them toward mental illness?

One-time Intel chief executive Andy Grove touched on this issue when he wrote his opinion that in the industry of high-tech "only the paranoid survive", the rigours and expectations, disappointments and mental stresses that come with the territory. It takes a special kind of self-confidence in one's ability and foresight and capability to produce that essential break-through to ensure that a startup succeeds -- where so many fail and are soon forgotten, falling by the wayside. Alternately, struggle to exist among competitors doing the same, while a minuscule number make the grade and the big time.

The very pressures creating psychic highs and lows are dramatic and veer between being emotionally fulfilling when they succeed -- and devastating when failure occurs. When equity investment becomes a reality alongside recognition and the influx of orders, it's stimulating and supreme validation. But when deals fall through and orders begin to dry up spelling the inexorability of oblivion, the low that's felt is as mind-boggling in the wrong direction as its opposite of exaltation.

All of these signals and manifestations taking place in the human brain, an instrument of unimaginable power yet also when the wrong/right conditions are present, a delicate instrument whose equilibrium can fail catastrophically, compromise normalcy.

"Most people in startups feel they have nowhere to turn and nobody to talk to, they feel isolated. Even with all the love in the world, their close friends and family “just don’t get it” and struggle to understand their motivations. They often bottle up their mental battles and the pressure can lead to stress, anxiety and depression."
"Startups can be a lonely place, where guidance is rare. New entrepreneurs present a brave face; a reticence towards staff, investors and customers hides any mental torment and projects an air of certainty, an aura that they have it all worked out. Despite the inherent vulnerability in most young companies, it’s rare to see their true colours, we mainly see a poker face."
"Particularly in technology, the spirit of entrepreneurship is fast becoming one of toil, long hours and self-sacrifice. Angel investors, accelerators and venture capitalists (VCs) encourage startups to work harder, move faster and, in some cases, 'sleep faster'. The yardstick has seemingly become hours worked, who can leave the office the latest. What began as a journey for work-life balance has descended into the rat race most were aiming to avoid"
James Rutledge, The Guardian