In today’s Startup Therapy Podcast, Wil and Ryan talk about what happiness means for a founder. In most cases, founders find happiness when they feel safe, when their efforts are validated, and when people appreciate their accomplishments. It doesn’t require much, yet the effort put forth to achieve happiness is basically blood, sweat, tears, and years of hard work.

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What to Listen For

• 00:00 Intro
• 00:29 What does it take to be happy as a founder?
• 06:47 When you don’t feel safe, it’s hard to behave rationally
• 11:00 Safety is knowing that you can whether the next storm
• 15:19 Why do founders always seek validation?
• 22:22 The next struggle is the preamble to the next validation
• 25:24 Feeling proud of what you do
• 32:30 Appreciating people’s accomplishments  
• 36:22 When you feel safe, you can thrive
• 37:25 Can you use not feeling safe as a positive?
• 39:50 You learn more about things in the downtime
• 41:43 The most impactful validations
• 45:28 Just have fun and follow your happiness
• 46:43 When you’re juggling too many things all at once
• 51:00 The goal is what matters
• 56:14 We are the damn business so let’s take care of ourselves