1/ Recently, I learned about the concept of ‘struggle porn’. This refers to the fetish of sacrificing nearly everything (health, relationships, time) for your startup. I fear that this label is creating more harm than good.
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1/ Tuesday was my last day as CEO of @CircleUp. I’ve been CEO since starting the co. in 2011 with my co-founder @roryeakin.
This is a thread about what happened, why and my emotions about it. For more detail:
https://t.co/vYImcm1bTM
Much of this I have never talked about.
2/ My goals: I hope it helps founders feel less lonely than I did. Little public content about the challenges of transitioning exists, but I longed for it. I’m not here to provide a playbook- just to share my experience. Hope it might build greater empathy.
Here goes….
3/ Why: When I tell people that I’m transitioning to an Exec Chairman role their first question is always: “why?” Short answer: co. pivot + fertility issues + health issues + a false sense that grit was always the answer = burnout. Long answer: is longer so hang in there with me
4/ Over a 12-18 month period that ended in late 2017 I ran my tank far beyond empty for far too long. You know that sound your car makes when it’s sputtering for more gas? It was like that. Worst year of my life. Since then it has felt like bone on bone.
5/ Here is what happened:
Professionally: pivoting a Series C company was a living hell in and of itself, as I’ve talked about before.
This is a thread about what happened, why and my emotions about it. For more detail:
https://t.co/vYImcm1bTM
Much of this I have never talked about.
2/ My goals: I hope it helps founders feel less lonely than I did. Little public content about the challenges of transitioning exists, but I longed for it. I’m not here to provide a playbook- just to share my experience. Hope it might build greater empathy.
Here goes….
3/ Why: When I tell people that I’m transitioning to an Exec Chairman role their first question is always: “why?” Short answer: co. pivot + fertility issues + health issues + a false sense that grit was always the answer = burnout. Long answer: is longer so hang in there with me
4/ Over a 12-18 month period that ended in late 2017 I ran my tank far beyond empty for far too long. You know that sound your car makes when it’s sputtering for more gas? It was like that. Worst year of my life. Since then it has felt like bone on bone.
5/ Here is what happened:
Professionally: pivoting a Series C company was a living hell in and of itself, as I’ve talked about before.
1/ We Pivoted a few yrs ago. This is the story- mostly my feelings. It has never been told publicly.
— Ryan Caldbeck (@ryan_caldbeck) April 16, 2019
This will be rambly and represents the chaos in my head at the time. There is [hopefully] no advice here. I don\u2019t know if we did it right.
20 years ago, I created the Danish gaming site Daily Rush with @mwittrock – inside a startup accelerator called Prey4, complete with fantastical projections of world domination 😂 – but now it's the end, after the proprietor of many years died in 2018.
Daily Rush was the culmination of years of using the web to do gaming journalism. I started Konsollen all the way back in 1995, then ran https://t.co/zsT3ykQcVk for years in anticipation of Id's shooter, then worked at a web portal, then Daily Rush.
This was how I got into web development, project management, organizing, writing, publishing, and how I met lifelong friends. What a wonderful time. But most good things come to an end. We should all be so lucky to see something we help set in the sea brave the waves for 20 yrs!
It's awesome to see the Internet Archive snapshots from all the way back to the early months of the site. Web design anno 2000 😍
The memory lane trip on the Internet Archive goes all the way back to the precursor to Daily Rush, that https://t.co/zsT3ykQcVk site. Here's a snapshot from 1999! Complete with all the news written by yours truly 😄
Daily Rush was the culmination of years of using the web to do gaming journalism. I started Konsollen all the way back in 1995, then ran https://t.co/zsT3ykQcVk for years in anticipation of Id's shooter, then worked at a web portal, then Daily Rush.
This was how I got into web development, project management, organizing, writing, publishing, and how I met lifelong friends. What a wonderful time. But most good things come to an end. We should all be so lucky to see something we help set in the sea brave the waves for 20 yrs!
It's awesome to see the Internet Archive snapshots from all the way back to the early months of the site. Web design anno 2000 😍
The memory lane trip on the Internet Archive goes all the way back to the precursor to Daily Rush, that https://t.co/zsT3ykQcVk site. Here's a snapshot from 1999! Complete with all the news written by yours truly 😄
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Following @BAUDEGS I have experienced hateful and propagandist tweets time after time. I have been shocked that an academic community would be so reckless with their publications. So I did some research.
The question is:
Is this an official account for Bahcesehir Uni (Bau)?
Bahcesehir Uni, BAU has an official website https://t.co/ztzX6uj34V which links to their social media, leading to their Twitter account @Bahcesehir
BAU’s official Twitter account
BAU has many departments, which all have separate accounts. Nowhere among them did I find @BAUDEGS
@BAUOrganization @ApplyBAU @adayBAU @BAUAlumniCenter @bahcesehirfbe @baufens @CyprusBau @bauiisbf @bauglobal @bahcesehirebe @BAUintBatumi @BAUiletisim @BAUSaglik @bauebf @TIPBAU
Nowhere among them was @BAUDEGS to find
The question is:
Is this an official account for Bahcesehir Uni (Bau)?
Bahcesehir Uni, BAU has an official website https://t.co/ztzX6uj34V which links to their social media, leading to their Twitter account @Bahcesehir
BAU’s official Twitter account
BAU has many departments, which all have separate accounts. Nowhere among them did I find @BAUDEGS
@BAUOrganization @ApplyBAU @adayBAU @BAUAlumniCenter @bahcesehirfbe @baufens @CyprusBau @bauiisbf @bauglobal @bahcesehirebe @BAUintBatumi @BAUiletisim @BAUSaglik @bauebf @TIPBAU
Nowhere among them was @BAUDEGS to find