From the point of view of an entrepreneur, a startup accelerator founder and an investor, Ian has seen and been through a lot, and if there’s one thing he’s learned along the way it’s that mental health trumps everything. Now in his 40’s with a wife and two kids, Ian is focused on his recently launched InsurTech startup. In this talk, he’ll be exploring how to manage the wild startup ride and how, above all, it’s crucial to focus on the health and wellness or yourself and your team.

1. THE STARTUP
Rollercoaster

2. Who am I?
● 41, married with two young boys
● Entrepreneur, growth and investor
● My first business was at age 12
● Last year I launched Breathe Life
● A recovering workaholic

3. Instead of going over stats about
entrepreneur burnout or depression
I want to talk about concrete
examples that I’ve seen and lived.
The Startup Rollercoaster

4. Why me?
● I’ve started businesses
● I’ve been through 2 acquisitions
● I co-founded an accelerator
● I’ve been a VC
● I’m an angel investor

5. I’ve seen & learned a lot

6. ● 5 am wake-up
● 15 minute ice bath
● 1 hour of meditation
● 1 meal a day as it’s a distraction
A day in my life

7. ● But that is a day in the life of Jack Dorsey
● In reality
○ 6:30 am wake up
○ Get the kids off to school
○ Eat a healthy breakfast
○ Workout twice a week
○ Bike 20 km to work daily
○ Work from 9:30 am to 5:30 pm
○ Off from 6:00 pm to 9:00 pm for family time
…. Not really

8. And guess what?
I can still be a great
leader and scale a
company.

9. ● High School
○ Completed 10 additional classes on
my own and graduated with honours
● College
○ Worked 30 hours a week, hosted a
radio show and went to school full
time
● University
○ Managed a restaurant full time while
in school and TA’s 2 courses
Although I wasn’t always like this…
The early signs of my addiction

10. ● Worked 7 days a week 10+ hours a day
● Never took vacation
● Had no family time
● My son was born on a Saturday and I was back at
work on Monday - business as usual
● The average San Franciscan has less than 6
personal hours a day!
I Moved to San Francisco in 2006

11. I moved back to Montreal to be closer to my family,
except...I Co-Founded:
● Not proud of the first FounderFuel tagline
● For 16 weeks I did alone what a team of 4
now does
● My second son was born 2 days before
our first Demo Day

12. I gained weight,
I was stressed,
I was tired beyond belief,
I was doing it all wrong.

13. And I’m definitely not alone...

14. STORY #1
A FounderFuel Founder
● This person ate very unhealthy meals,
drank a lot of energy drinks and had
major energy lapses - so they
consumed more to fight them off.
● Was the first one in the door and last to
leave each day and his health suffered.
● Took them 2 years after FounderFuel to
realize they needed to take care of their
body.
● Now this person runs ultra marathons
and is vegetarian.

15. Founder at a rapidly scaling
company
● Building a new office and insisted on
putting a nap room in.
● Wanted the employees to be in the
office very long hours
● Knew the employees would pull all
nighters so they added beds in the
office
● This is not a healthy environment
STORY #2

16. Fatigued workers cost employers
$100 billion in lost productivity!

17. Startups are a long term game
● Most take years, even decades, to become
successful
● Very few are a B2C land grab
● Most are B2B companies that build slow and careful
value
● Those need a strong CEO and leader

18. Before we can look at what
makes a good CEO,
we need to define the role

19. 1) Set the vision
2) Build the team
3) Keep money in the bank

20. Customers
Shareholders
Team
The CEO’s Stakeholders
● The reason this is illustrated as a stool is
because if one leg breaks the whole thing
falls down.
● You need to focus on all three
of these to be successful as
a leader.

21. The CEO’s KPI
Happiness level of stakeholders

22. ● Ping Pong
● Foosball
● Free snacks
● Free Beer
● Dogs
● Unlimited vacations
These are all superficial and won’t lead to employee happiness
What is not happiness?

23. ● I recognize that everyone works differently
● The trick is finding your balance
● You want to work to live, not live to work
Happiness comes from
work-life balance

24. What is work-life balance?
● Being home for your family
● Disconnecting without fear
● Owning your weekends
● At Breathe Life we recognize
that life happens

25. The tides are turning
● It’s no longer the harder you push, the
cooler you are
● Founders are talking publicly about
mental health issues
● Founder support groups are
springing up
● The dark side of entrepreneurship is
been exposed

26. The problem is the
definition of success
We glorify extreme founders like Jack
Ma who follows the 996 rule and Jack
Dorsey whose morning routine I
covered at the beginning.

27. The crazier the better?
● Would Fyre Festival have happened if people
hadn’t glorified the Founder?
● Why do we only hear about bro culture startups?
● Shouldn’t we recognize founders who create
great work environments?

28. First focus on your own
balance and health
as a leader

29. ● 45 minutes off email before going home
● Block off family & social time
● Don’t let your emails be the first thing you do when you get up
● Surround yourself with smart people
● Have Co-Founders!!
● Set working hours
● Unplug when not working
● Schedule “me” time
● Prioritize your physical health
● Eat well
● Meditate
Some of my tips

30. Only once you have a
good balance can
you focus on building
a healthy team

31. At Breathe Life we’re
investing heavily in team
happiness

32. We have a strong set of values
● Human, Trusting, Proactive,
Resourceful, Playfulness
● We created them from the start
● We publicly shared them
● We perform our annual reviews
based on them

33. We make an extra effort for diversity
● 8 women to 18 men
● Team members from over 10
different nationalities
● A combined 8 different languages
are spoken
● People in their 20s and others in
their 50s

34. We act and behave healthily
● Healthy lunches and snacks
● Healthy team events
● Personal trainer at the office
● Running club, softball, volleyball
and soccer teams
We’ve even partnered with Startupfest
to host Wakeupfest.

35. We have above average benefits
● Generous healthcare benefits
● Telemedicine -> Dialogue
● 4 weeks of vacation
● Closed at Holidays
● Birthday day off

36. We have the tools to take feedback
Officevibe Employee NPS Weekly 1:1s

37. Working Hard
VS
Working Smart
● Don’t mistake happiness for not
working hard
● We do have the odd 70 hour week,
but it’s not the norm
● We make sure there is a balance

38. Healthy Team
Happy Team
SUCCESS!!

39. “With Happiness
Comes Success”
John Zimmer @Lyft
Thank you
ian@breathelife.com