The Vulnerable Entrepreneurs 6 Week Program

Don’t do it for you, do it for your employees! 

My hope is that as a leader you will transfer the energy that you create during this program to your organization towards positive change.

I believe that burnout culture is propagated by most of us in the industry without us fully realizing it and without anyone benefiting from it. VCs stress founders out who stress out their employees who take it out on their friends and partners. 

As a founder, I lived my experience with extreme curiosity and joy and at the same stress and trauma. While stress will of course not disappear from our lives, I have now set to explore whether the same success can be achieved with a lesser toll on our mental health.

Initially I called this a “course” for lack of a better name. But this is not my intention at all. I do not intend to teach anyone.

A better description would be a group process or circle but I am not a therapist to claim legitimacy of such words. So, I called it a program. In Greek the same word is used for the words program and schedule, and, indeed, I regard this a little more than a glorified schedule. 

I will gather a group of 10-15 relevant participants making sure that no business conflicts of interest will arise (e.g., avoiding co-founders at the same cohort). I aim to provide a set schedule of meetings where everyone is present and create a safe atmosphere where everyone feels comfortable to share their experiences as much as they desire, and at the same time feels comfortable to set their own limits. I will share my experiences to the group and also share some readings that have made me think more deeply about the topics we cover.

However, I expect the outcome of the program to be created by the whole team. At the meetings, every participant will be encouraged to actively share their experiences and the effect those had on their mental health. We may get upset, we may cry, we may even have a laugh as we discover that many of us go through similar issues. 

I understand that this can become cringey and I regard it as my responsibility to find the right balance between a networking event and a feel-good circle. I truly believe that we can do better and I have experienced this in similar workshops that I have attended and organized in the past.

The program is structured over 6 weeks. 

We will meet online each week and explore a specific topic together for about 2 hours. After that, we will have some material to optionally read/watch and discuss the following week. 

The topics we will explore include: 

• Feeling and expressing vulnerability in leadership positions

• Attachment and identification of self worth with company worth 

• Relationships with co-founders, investors, employees, customers, and other shareholders

• Impostor syndrome 

• What is success and what is failure,

The dates for the next instalment are January 15 - February 26, 2024