‘It would not must be this difficult’: Over 80% of startup founders really feel alone – and it slows them down 

Greater than 80 per cent of startup founders expertise isolation some or the entire time, and those that do are 50 per cent extra more likely to postpone vital choices, in response to a brand new survey.

The ballot of 120 founders, carried out by The Founder’s Sanctuary, cites three sensible limitations to getting assist: 52 per cent mentioned lack of time blocks entry to help; 41 per cent cited value; and 36 per cent juggle caregiving alongside constructing their companies, limiting participation in accelerators, teaching or mentorship teams. Practically two-thirds (64 per cent) mentioned stress and overwork are already denting efficiency by impairing judgement and slowing startup progress.

“Entrepreneurship doesn’t must be this difficult,” mentioned Helen McGuire, founding father of The Founder’s Sanctuary. “We have to cease glorifying ‘struggling by it’ and begin making help extra accessible and versatile, placing the founder first.”

McGuire described isolation as “decision-making in a vacuum – nobody to sense-check technique, no time or solution to search real recommendation,” usually compounded by caregiving. She mentioned “always-on” management norms worsen time stress, and one-size-fits-all programmes can amplify value limitations. Peer teams ship the quickest payoff, she added, measured by faster choices and better confidence within the organisation’s April 2025 cohort.

“Help has to satisfy folks the place they’re, even bearing in mind seasonal time period occasions for these with youngsters,” she added.

Launched in April this yr, The Founder’s Sanctuary is a nine-week programme that mixes entry to advisors, technique periods and wellness sources in a peer-led format. It’s positioned as a lower-cost, extra versatile various to conventional accelerators and training. McGuire – whom the organisation says is among the many 0.5 per cent of ladies to have efficiently exited a enterprise – argues that defending time for founder-to-founder alternate reduces isolation, whereas “overworking in silence” makes it worse.

The broader proof

Impartial analysis factors to a broader loneliness downside at work and to clear efficiency dangers.

Office loneliness stays widespread. Gallup’s State of the World Office 2024 discovered that one in 5 workers mentioned they felt lonely “lots of the day gone by,” with larger charges amongst workers underneath 35 and amongst absolutely distant employees (25 per cent distant vs 16 per cent on-site).

The World Well being Organisation has elevated social connection to a worldwide well being precedence. Its Fee on Social Connection estimates about one in six folks worldwide expertise loneliness; in Could 2025, Member States adopted the first-ever World Well being Meeting decision urging insurance policies and programmes to foster social connection.

Public-health steerage additionally hyperlinks loneliness to enterprise efficiency. The US Surgeon Common’s 2023 advisory warns that loneliness and social isolation are related to decrease productiveness and engagement at work and requires employer motion to rebuild connection.

Educational literature connects stress and burnout with resolution high quality. Peer-reviewed work associates burnout with executive-function deficits, whereas critiques present stress alters how folks make high-pressure decisions – patterns in step with delayed or extra conservative decision-making.

Founder-specific knowledge mirror the pattern. Startup Snapshot’s The Untold Toll (2023) reported 72 per cent of founders mentioned entrepreneurship affected their psychological well being and 37 per cent reported anxiousness; separate reporting notes solely about 10 per cent really feel comfy discussing stress with buyers.

“Entrepreneurship doesn’t must be a lonely endurance check. With the correct mix of knowledgeable enter, peer accountability, and well-being help, founders construct not solely stronger firms however extra sustainable lives,” mentioned McGuire.