Beware Founder Tourism and the Myth of Martyrdom

Founder Tourism June 12, 2025

Twenty years ago if you said you were leaving your perfectly well paid job to start a business, people assumed you were having a moment of madness or some kind of mini crisis. Family and friends were concerned. No one thought it was a glamorous or cool. People had heard of Steve Jobs but he hadn’t yet been lionised by Hollywood. Movies like The Founder or The Social Network didn’t exist and weren’t made. Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk weren’t feted in the media in the same way that they are now. The glamorisation of startups is recent phenomenon.

This is a good thing in some ways. The startup ecosystem is valuable and the products, support network and advice that it brings is all welcome. Importantly, it also encourages more people to back themselves and try and find solutions to problems in new and often unconventional ways, be it using new technology or just a different way of doing things.

However there is also a danger.

I came across the phrase ‘ founder tourism’ a while ago and this sums it up nicely. It refers to people who only see the glamour, dream of being famous or wealthy or both and see this as an easy alternative or short cut. This is a dangerous fallacy. The data is stark. 95% of businesses fail in their first 5 years. 50% fail between 5 and 10 years. That means you have a 97.5% chance of your business failing to make it to ten years. Some might argue that they’re looking to make as quick buck and they don’t need ten years as they’re fast moving disruptive tech business with investor backing. 80% of business that get Series A funding fail. 98% never get to Series C. Let’s be clear – there are hard yards ahead of you.

 Every founder I meet talks about the excitement, the buzz, the sense of fulfilment in doing work that you are proud of. They also all say how no one who hasn’t done it can begin to understand how all consuming it is. Successful three times founder Taryn Williams GAICD jokes about how with hindsight you’d have a more sane and a better life working at a fast food place and that’s even after she's had several successful exits. Josh Frith talks about how it consumes you’re every moment. Rupert Lee-Browne and Luke Janssen talk about how exciting it is and how everyone should try and do it and not just start a business but bootstrap it as well. Angus Stevens talks about how important and hard it is to get perspective but like Samantha Dybac also how hard that is as at the start you have to live your business to the exclusion of all else. I often joke about how most days it fees like not only is the whole world is against you but they’re throwing everything at you including the kitchen sink.

 So yes its exciting, its exhilarating and its frankly addictive but its also tremendously hard work. It not only makes you completely exhausted but it takes a  toll on your mental health. It’s never ending even when it’s going well.

Ned Phillips Ned talks about how nothing can prepare you for the hundred of decision you have to make each day and often there is now good option. Its just a decision between two bad choices- a bad one and an even worse one.

 So, it’s hard. It’s incredibly fulfilling when you are solving problems and doing work that you are really proud of but don’t jump in with your eyes not fully open. This is no place for the half-hearted. It requires commitment, determination and never-ending persistence. Nick Boucher compares it to playing golf (which he also does to help maintain a balance and keep perspective) playing endlessly frustrating shots of almost but not quite getting it and then hitting a shot of sweet and utter perfection – and in that moment knowing that the best golfer in the world couldn’t have done any better on that exact specific shot before once again going back to yet more endlessly frustrating almost shots.

The rewards will come when you do work you’re proud of and your customers are delighted by it. If you’re lucky you might also make some money as well but that should never be the goal.

On top of founder tourism there is the even more dangerous culture of martyrdom when of comes to working hours. I think this comes originally from the tech bro coding culture but it has permeated all startups. There is no  denying that when you get going  you have to hustle constantly and even when you’re growing and scaling it feels like never ending hustle.

But, counter intuitive as its sounds, it’s important that it is for a fixed period and that does not become the norm. I worked what felt like all hours 24/7 all days of the week for over fifteen years building my last business. I desperately tried to carve out time to spend with my family as my children grew. I became an expert at flexitime, juggling more spinning plates than I could handle, texting from playgrounds, doing conf calls while pushing the pram or while they were asleep in the early hours on holiday, but it’s almost impossible.  You have to wonder how effective you are being or how mentally present you are both at work and at home. Compromises have to be made but perspective is important. If you’re permanently exhausted, then you’re not going to be able to function at your best. If you’re working 100-hour weeks then you’re not being smart. Spending time with family and friends and on yourself is crucial but you have to fight for it.

As Angus Stevens says its about being efficient, about accepting that this is what you do and you are hopefully good at it but it is part of your life not your entire life. Samantha Dybac says she tries to work through 90 day chunks where each chunk has a different priority.

 Whatever it takes to compartmentalise you either learn to do it or you put yourself in an early grave. The macho culture of 100 hour weeks and having no life is not healthy. Running and building a start up is endlessly exhausting anyway without putting extreme work hours pressure on yourself as well.

Having said all that there a reason lots of founders do it again and again whether their last venture succeeded or failed. The sense of fulfillment of doing work you're proud of, of building a team and a culture and a business while hugely challenging is totally addictive. There’s also a good reason lots of them also do extreme high adrenalin sports. It’s a similar rush. So if you enjoy the downward spiral of the rollercoaster as the bottom drops out of your stomach and the wind is screaming through your hair and you’re willing to pull yourself inch by inch to the top in order to get it, then buckle up and away you go, it's an absolute blast – but you have been warned 😊 Now you need to know what you don't know..