Avoiding Founderitis & Taking a Break

Tomorrow, I’ll be back after almost two weeks of being away from Voodoo. Not just the working-vacation kind of being away where you check emails and keep updated, but the cut-off-communication kind, where you set your voicemail to “I won’t be checking” and you’ve got thousands of emails piled up when you get back.

  • So, what did I learn? That I should do this more often.

As I was getting back into the swing yesterday I came across the great blog post by Steve at Startup Spark about Founderitis. I read the symptoms and self-diagnosed that I had a case coming on before my recent break. The treatment for founderitis is simple: step away from your company, watch what happens.

If you’ve done your job and have a great team (we do):

  • People fill your void and things more forward
  • New channels of communication emerge that used to have to run through you
  • Creativity is unleashed that you may have been stifling
  • People step up to the challenge and take on new responsibilities

So, first, a big shout out to Blake, Oleg, and our entire Flatsourcing team. I really appreciate everyone taking their games to the next level. I’m energized to get back and excited to see how my absence has changed things for everyone, and what permanent improvements this will yield.

Next time Founderitis sets in, put me on a plane to some far off destination with no cell phones or internet and you guys take over again. It does wonders for all of us.