The entrepreneur pressure and founder wellbeing report

The

UK Entrepreneur Pressure & Wellbeing Report

2019

Why founder wellbeing is the new metric for startup success

In 2019, we launched the UK’s Entrepreneur Pressure and Wellbeing Report which lifted the lid on entrepreneur mental health and it did not make for light reading.

Over 270 founders from all across the UK shared their experiences and expectations of what it is like to build a company from the ground up, highlighting the unique advantages and disadvantages of entrepreneurship.

Entrepreneurs and SME founders are often celebrated as UK growth-heroes – where the intrepid entrepreneur risks it all, with a drive to make a difference and the promise of financial reward at the end. Success is championed in magazines, on stages and all over social media, fuelling a glossy, heroic image of entrepreneurship. But behind the gloss lies a very different reality. As demonstrated by the results of this study, startup life is far more complex.

The UK Entrepreneur Pressure & Wellbeing Study

In the study, founders…

say running a business has affected their mental health

77%

say running a business has affected their physical health

70%

say running a business is lonely

77%

are struggling with their sleep

68%

The entrepreneurial route is paved with exhilarating highs and anxiety-inducing lows with conditions that do not lead to sustainable performance – and that doesn’t pay off for our founders or our startups.

The original 2019 report has been a stark wake up call to all of us across the startup ecosystem. As founders, venture-builders, investors and influencers, we have made changes since, to shift the dial on this problem. The report kick started the Foundology mission, and now we have hundreds of founders uniting in safe group-coaching FounderCircles every month. But this is just beginning. Want to help? Dive into the report and see what we can all do to fuel founders together.

As featured by

"Near-permanent, chronically high levels of stress, crippling
isolation, too little sleep, virtually no headspace or time away from work… it took a major toll on both my physical and mental health. I couldn’t get away from it — I was the company, I was a poster child, and role model."
Award-winning venture backed founder

92%

of founders name RESILIENCE as the number one attribute or skill needed by a founder

more lonely than the national average, affecting confidence, decision-making and health

In the report

Stress and pressure in the entrepreneurship life
Prevalence and frequency of strained mental health
The most significant contributors to pressure as a founder
Loneliness and its impact on founder life
Recommendations for founder support

“You can’t talk to your team when things are tough, which leaves you feeling very alone. Being able to bounce ideas off other founders and hear how they’ve overcome challenges makes a huge difference”

"When it all started to go wrong there was this constant gnawing fear that it was all about to fall apart and I was going to let everyone down. More than that, I had a clause in my employment contract and shareholder agreement that meant I could be removed and lose a proportion of my shares due to any mental health issues, which is hardly conducive to seeking help"

“We believe that to build resilient, scalable and successful missiondriven companies we need to find, attract, invest in and support the most ambitious and talented founders. Such support cannot be limited to product or operational excellence, it needs to ensure that the most precious resource we invest in - the founders - are empowered to perform at their best, and can develop the resilience, the tools and coping techniques to build high growth ventures.”

“It’s easy to start believing you’re the only one struggling with a challenge. Talking to other founders immediately removes this barrier and lets me make faster, more informed decisions.”

"We push our founders to pay close attention to their mental wellbeing because ultimately, building a high growth startup is a marathon not a sprint. It requires much stamina, focus and dedication. Founders therefore need to prioritise and safeguard their energy and wellbeing, and build this into the culture of the company - making it okay for their teams to follow suit - if they’re to successfully run (and ultimately win), the race."

Be part of future research and solution-building

This report is just the start. We welcome your participation and call on the entire startup ecosystem to join us in building a better understanding and more collaborative environment to enable entrepreneurs to perform to their highest potential.

Get in touch with us here.

Brought to you by

Created to fuel the humans behind the world’s startups and scaleups, Foundology’s mission is to ensure every founder in the startup ecosystem has the fuel to thrive in their life of founderhood. Now hundreds of founders meet every month for coaching, peer-learning and cathartic community support. By combining powerful coaching with an epic community of founders, we are cracking real-time problems together, learning from each other and supporting each other through the life of founderhood. Ultimately, it’s about being able to make faster, more informed decisions, with a healthy boost of confidence and resilience along the way. If that sounds like the kind of family you need, join in…