A founder called me at midnight last month. Not about a fundraise or a product decision. He just wanted to say something out loud to someone who was not on his cap table or his team.
He had been “fine” in every meeting that week. Confident in the Board update. Decisive in the leadership sync. And for reasons he could not fully explain, he had not slept properly in nine days.
Nobody on his team would have guessed it. That is the part that stayed with me: not that he was struggling, but how well he had learned to hide it, because looking uncertain at that level does not feel like an option.
If this week has looked more like that call than you would say out loud in a meeting, message me. No pressure, just a conversation.