Zach Ware

Founder Health

A journalist emailed me a question about our view that founder health is as if not more important than anything else.

From Our View:

Healthy people build healthy companies.

A healthy body creates a healthy mind. Healthy minds build better companies. If you’re eating a microwave burrito at your desk at 2am on a Saturday you’re doing something wrong. We prioritize our physical, mental and emotional health over everything else and push our companies to do the same. Unfortunately, sometimes a healthy body isn’t enough for a healthy mind. Being a founder is hard and lonely and can bring you to a dark place. We’ve experienced some of these demons personally and with our friends and companies. It’s not a taboo topic to talk about with us. We’ve been there.

The journalist’s question:

Did any founders/funds inspire you in your new outlook/rebrand? Is there any data out there that shows healthy entrepreneurs <> healthy returns? Or how investor/entrepreneur relationships built on open and honest communication leads to higher returns? I imagine that sort of data is hard to quantify, as so many factors, internal and external, affect whether a company succeeds or not.

It took me a while to formulate a response. In all things I am quantitative but in this area I have a binary, unshakeable view. It’s a sacred cow. Sacred cows are difficult to justify. They are visceral in nature. That’s what makes them sacred and often dangerous.

Here was my response (which I also emailed to our portfolio founders):

Thanks for the question. We didn't consult any data sets to arrive at our strong position that the health and balance of founders & teams is of the utmost importance. It is simply clear that it is the right way to do business as a human.
It is often difficult for founders to remember that the world is not a better place if you build a billion dollar company that kills you.
As for triggers or inspirations for this view, it was most directly triggered by my personal founding journey during which I did not give any attention to health. And I experienced two hospital stays, was on prescriptions for high blood pressure, anxiety, and depression, developed a coping mechanism dependency and finally received wake up call from my doctors that I had a high probability of dying within a few years if I did not take corrective physical and mental action. As an investor I want to do everything in my power to minimize the probability another founder will have my experience.
By elevating our belief in focusing on health and wellness and being transparent about our personal experience, we've found that our founders are more comfortable discussing their challenges. And we are aggressive in holding our leaders accountable to this standard.
I do not yet have a body of data to establish a positive correlation between health and authentic relationships with founders and company performance. And honestly I'm not seeking it. It's just the right way to do business.
Thanks,
Zach

First published on August 31, 2016