Why Founders Need Leadership Support—Beyond Product and Sales
The Data Doesn’t Lie: Startups Fail—and Founders Burn Out
While the exact numbers can be debated and speculated, we know that startup failure rate is high, estimates of 65% - from the legendary Noam Wassermans' Founder's Dilemmnas and upwards of 90% cited from the Startup Genome Project.
The top reasons? Lack of product-market fit (34%), marketing challenges (22%), and people or team issues (18%). When it comes to scale, more and more issues relates to people problems.
And while we often obsess over product-market fit and capital, and the many positives that come with founding a company that is successful, research out of UC Berkley and many other studies, sheds light on some of the perils of foundership -- 72% of founders experience mental health challenges; 30% report depression, 26.9% feel isolated, and over 21% struggle with sleep disorders. The Female Founder's Alliance, operated by Graham & Walker, latest report highlights some of these same challenges for women founders, where 75% of female founders are experiencing burnout.
The Missing Link: Leadership Support
It's well-known how VCs typically provide post-investment support—strategic guidance (87%) and investor connections (72%)—but structured leadership development is rare.
That said, a few are leading the charge, for example:
Capita3: provides a 21 day leadership development program to support personal development alongside the founder technical fundamentals
Felicis Ventures: adds 1% of every check in non-dilutive capital toward founder development, coaching, and mental health.
Crosscut Ventures: partners with coaching firms to support founders’ leadership and well-being
But these are the exception, not the rule. Most VCs still treat leadership development—and founder mental health—as optional. Even in community resources, the majority that exist are still on-demand learning focused on 'perfecting the pitch' and other strategic guidance - not strategic leadership guidance on managing self and others.
My POV: It’s Not a Line Item—it’s a Multiplier
Here’s what startup success actually needs:
A leadership foundation that helps founders set clear boundaries, maintain energy, and nurture strong internal teams - regardless of exit strategy.
Support that addresses the people side of early growth and scaling: resilience, decision clarity, sustainable habits.
A shift in how we define investor support—from just transactional (money + strategy) to transformational (mindset + capacity).
Because when founders lead sustainably, the upside compounds.
What’s at Stake if We Don’t Change
Founders remain isolated—often one breakdown away from burnout-driven exits or impaired decision-making.
Teams suffer, culture erodes, momentum stalls.
VCs risk lower ROI as leadership gaps manifest in team churn, strategic misfires, and founder dropout.
Your ultimate investment isn’t the product or the idea—it’s the founder and founding team. If they aren’t sustainable enough to weather the headwinds, make the hard pivots, and keep leading through the storm, your capital won’t scale—it will stall.
My Vision
Every VC embeds leadership capacity-building—via coaching, mental health support, or cohort-based founder development. It doesn't need to cost you a lot.
Founder support: reframed as resilience engineering, not just tactical enablement.
Founders gaining tools for sustainable success, not just survival.
We’ve got the market metrics and the technical mentoring. What’s missing is the leadership architecture.
If we want founders—and our portfolios—to thrive, not just survive, we must invest in the humanness behind the hustle.
Article Photo by Natalie Pedigo on Unsplash