building from aliveness, not fear

something i've observed being in the startup bubble, on myself and on the people around me is, that most founders have an overstimulated nervous system. they're on edge most of the time, it's hard to calm down, sometimes racing thoughts in the middle of the night.

i might be wrong about this, but i'd say most build from a place of fear or ego (me included). not feeling good enough. wanting to be special. wanting to be rich. i think also many burn out sooner or later or lose motivation.

that's what i experienced over the last year.

in the beginning there was a lot of excitement, about the technology, about the whole journey, about building a team. but from the start, the underlying purpose of the business was to exit it at some point. i could notice how my motivation got less and less. i think because I realized in order to bring up the amount of energy it needs to drive a business forward, for me personally, money is not a big enough motivating factor. And it ended in me feeling really fucking exhausted and demotivated. Not aligned with the business.

the new wave

i feel like there is this new wave of founders right now. people like julian teicke or björn at acta talk about it: building from a regulated nervous system. building from a place of excitement, aliveness, and what one truly believes is important - not fear.

i think this is such an important shift.

founders are potentially more impactful than politicians.

and to fix the problems we're currently facing, be it environmental, mental health, ai, or wars, we need founders doing useful stuff. and by useful i don't mean another ai product or attention-extraction app. not random shit dressed up as innovation that mostly exists to make someone richer.

i mean things that actually are needed in this world.