Fluorescent lights that softly hum. Magazines nobody reads. A television mounted in the corner playing cable news as a receptionist mispronounces my last name.
I am at my first of several doctors appointments intentionally scheduled during the winter holiday season.
Not because I’m sick. Because it’s the only week of the year when nothing work-related is fighting for my time. The office is closed. The investors aren’t emailing. The product update notifications have stopped. For seven days I can put my body first.
So I schedule the bloodwork. The dermatologist. The physical I’ve been postponing since March. The dentist I keep rescheduling because there’s always a board meeting or a customer call or a crisis that feels more important than my teeth.
I came to this ritual the hard way.
I spent my entire career building venture-backed technology companies while ignoring what my body was telling me. I did everything “right” by founder standards. Didn’t drink, didn’t smoke. Exercised when I could. I told myself the stress was temporary. I told myself I’d rest after the next milestone.
My kidneys failed anyway. Twice: once in 2016 and once in 2025. End-stage renal disease. Two transplants. A decade of dialysis and hospitals taught me something simple: your body doesn’t negotiate. Listen to it while it’s still whispering.
The culprit? Stress. Work-related stress that I knew was hurting me and still gave myself permission to ignore.
I got a second (and third) chance. Not everyone does.
I lost a close founder friend to suicide. He was brilliant and successful by every external measure. I noticed him pulling away. I gave him space, thinking that’s what he needed.
I was wrong.
We don’t talk enough about what this life actually costs. Research shows that founders are twice as likely to suffer from depression, three times more likely to struggle with substance abuse, and 72% report mental health issues.
We celebrate the wins and go quiet about everything else. The founder who sold and can’t get out of bed. The one who shut down and disappeared. The one still building but running on empty.
The physical toll hides in plain sight, too. Burnout isn’t exhaustion you recover from with a vacation. It’s an occupational phenomenon the World Health Organization recognized in 2019. For founders who delay or forgo health checks, it can show up as heart disease, autoimmune disorders, and a nervous system that forgets how to stand down.
And the damage doesn’t stay contained.
Research shows 57% of employees can read their founder’s stress through tone, energy, and body language. The same report shows teams led by highly stressed founders report lower well-being, higher burnout, and less psychological safety. When founders suffer, everyone around them absorbs it.
Taking care of your health
We defer our health because something always feels more urgent. If you’re a founder, this is a 15-minute exercise to start listening to your body while it’s still whispering this holiday season.
Minutes 0–5: List What’s Been Avoided
Write down every health-related item that’s been put off. Appointments postponed. Symptoms ignored. Checkups overdue. Include everything.
Minutes 5–10: Identify the Cost of Waiting
For each item ask: What’s the risk of continuing to defer? What would a friend say about ignoring it? Mark the ones where waiting feels the most like avoidance.
Minutes 10–15: Schedule One Thing
Pick the item that’s been waiting longest or carries the most risk. Open the calendar. Find a time in the next 30 days and book it. Not a reminder. The actual appointment.
Why This Works
We treat health as something we’ll get to when things calm down. Things don’t calm down. One appointment won’t fix everything. But it can break the pattern of deferral.
How a founder is doing is the leading indicator of how their company will do. Not the pitch deck. Not the cap table. The person. It’s a core driver of investment ROI.
Nobody talks about it that way.
Instead, investors scrutinize market size, competitive moats, and unit economics. But the biggest risk in any portfolio isn’t the market. It’s the founder who burns out and starts making questionable decisions. Or walks away entirely. If either of those happens, every dollar invested to back them is on the line.
Here’s the truth: wellness isn’t a reward founders claim after the exit. By then, relationships are broken, bodies are compromised, and purpose is lost. Wellness is the foundation that makes the hard work of being a founder possible.