Bonobos founder Andy Dunn is again within the builder’s seat, engaged on an in-person social media platform referred to as Pie. However the largest classes he realized from his $310 million Bonobos exit don’t have as a lot to do with entrepreneurship as they do with staying sane.
When Dunn was in school, he was identified with bipolar dysfunction, however he didn’t get ample therapy till 2016, when he was hospitalized throughout a manic episode for the second time.
“The manic state is only a catastrophe — that’s like being in psychosis, you recognize, messianic delusions. … You may’t accomplish something in that state,” Dunn stated onstage at TechCrunch Disrupt 2024. The incident was sufficient of a wakeup name that 16 years after his preliminary analysis, he lastly took his situation significantly and began going to remedy, taking treatment, and monitoring his sleep.
Dunn wrote a ebook referred to as “Burn Price: Launching a Startup and Dropping My Thoughts,” documenting the parallel processes of constructing Bonobos and determining tips on how to settle for after which handle his bipolar dysfunction. However the classes from the ebook are relevant for entrepreneurs past these with Dunn’s analysis.
“All of us have psychological well being, proper? It doesn’t take a analysis to endure or battle,” he stated.
Nonetheless, entrepreneurs are inclined to report a better incidence of psychological well being points all through their lives than the typical individual.
“There’s positively a correlation between neurodivergence and creativity,” he stated. “I don’t know if entrepreneurship attracts people who find themselves neurodivergent, or it makes them extra neurodivergent, however there’s actually some form of a virtuous and generally unvirtuous cycle there.”
That interaction between psychological sickness and entrepreneurship is much more palpable for Dunn, who says that the state of hypomania — the excessive of bipolar dysfunction, versus the crushing depressive durations — may very well be conducive to operating a startup.
“Listed below are the DSM standards for [hypomania]: fast speech, elevated ideation, grandiosity, decreased want for sleep, capacity to be extra inventive … roughly the central casting traits of an entrepreneur having an excellent day,” he stated. “I used to be capable of profit from that, however the value that I paid was finally too excessive. I used to be depressed with suicidal ideation for between two to a few months a yr, after which finally, the complete mania and psychosis got here raging again, which was catastrophic.”
However even in an astonishingly productive hypomanic state, Dunn doesn’t assume he was the best boss or colleague. He stated that one of many unintended effects of hypomania is turning into irritable when folks disagree with you, which is crucial to operating a collaborative firm. Now, operating Pie, Dunn welcomes this debate.
“After we disagree, let’s go, let’s disagree much more, as a result of we’re going to have the ability to make a greater determination popping out of it,” he stated.
Whereas discussions about psychological well being have turn into extra mainstream, founders nonetheless fear concerning the stigma of unveiling a analysis to colleagues and buyers. Dunn is an adviser to the Founder Psychological Well being Pledge, which asks buyers to advocate for the psychological well being of the founders they spend money on. However he’s not naive that the stigma remains to be current — when founders ask for his recommendation about when to reveal a psychological well being concern to buyers, he says to attend six weeks till after the deal closes.
“We raised $125 million at Bonobos — would you give $125 million to somebody who can both be psychotic or catatonically depressed?” Dunn stated. “But additionally, you shouldn’t do what I did and conceal it, as a result of then, you recognize, when there’s a disaster, it’s a shock.”
Dunn’s dialogue of his expertise with bipolar dysfunction doesn’t appear to have harm his capacity to fundraise, although — Pie simply raised a $11.5 million Collection A. As public as he’s concerning the severity of bipolar dysfunction, he’s additionally open about how his routine of remedy and medicine have helped him reside a secure life.
“I deal with bipolar as my Olympic routine. For Simone Biles, it’s tips on how to navigate and win the gold,” he stated. “For me, the gold medal is to die of one thing else, proper? As a result of the horrible factor about bipolar is the suicide price.”
Now, the subsequent take a look at for Dunn is to do the work it takes to make Pie successful with out sacrificing his stability.
“Right here’s the problem,” Dunn stated. “We need to have good psychological well being, and we wish our groups to have stability in psychological well being, and but a 40-hour workweek doesn’t reduce it. You may’t change the world with a bunch of individuals working 40 hours per week.”
A technique Dunn has navigated this advantageous line is to be open with job candidates about what the work will entail, in addition to how he’ll help them with firm advantages.
“I’ve a brand new spiel I give when recruiting, which is, this can be a 50- to 60-hour-per-week job, and in return, you’re going to get two superior issues. One, you’re going to study extra and develop extra and develop extra. Two, you’ve received fairness,” he stated.
Like all startup chief, Dunn needs his group to work laborious, however he believes there’s a method to do this with out it backfiring. In describing his time at Bonobos in “Burn Price,” Dunn writes, “I got here to a traditional mistaken conclusion of an immature startup founder: if the enterprise isn’t working, then we should not be working laborious sufficient.”
There’s no denying that founders must work laborious — however caring for oneself is a part of that onerous work.
