By November 2025, I noticed I was exhibiting Founder Burnout. I’ve been running AgroCenta for close to 10 years now and this was something I dreaded.
Founder Burnout is a state of chronic physical, mental and emotional exhaustion resulting from intense, long hours and identity-driven stress of running a startup. It typically manifests as emotional numbness, cynicism, reduced effectiveness and decision fatigue. Mine manifested as loss of joy where certain wins brought me no excitement, emotional numbness, fatigue and insomnia. By January, I needed some pills to help me sleep at night. My blood pressure was hovering above the normal numbers.
The entire 2025 was a pressure-oven one. We had been engaged in some intense fundraising activities from more than 8 investors. Each came with their own requirements. All were extremely intense. In one of the in-person meeting I noticed I blanked out. My mind went as blank as a sheet. Then came the question time which felt like chemical interrogation. I snapped. The meeting had to be postponed.
It was time I took some drastic recovery process. I deleted the email app from my phone. I only checked emails on my laptop. By 9pm my phone goes in sleep mode. All notifications silenced.
I started speaking to other founder friends. I knew their usual “I am fine” was just a cover up. A lot of them had insomnia. Few fatty liver issues here and there. One consultant friend who is in Germany told me one founder he was advising took her own life. Business struggles.
Then an idea hit me; why don’t you document your decade journey through vlogging. No hold backs. No romanticizing entrepreneurship and letting wanna be own bosses know the dangers the “be your own boss” wields. I have a production team but I didn’t want any one of them on this. I was going to speak to myself. This was part of the “recovery” process. I call it Blaqq Qouphy’s “Method in Madness”. I intend to do a 10 part series. I’ve done 6 so far.
Hopefully more founders speak up and tell people about their struggles. There’s no badge of honor in suffering in silence.
And to the politicians, entrepreneurship is not a solution to unemployment; not everyone is mentally strong to survive in this space…
Credit: Blaqq Qouphy / Facebook
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