💥 We're 10K+ strong and moving to lu.ma, get $250K in perks, avoid karoshi and more!
A bi-weekly newsletter of curated actionable resources for underestimated founders, funders, and friends. We're 10,169 strong and growing.
💥 Welcome new members and hello again to my OGs! We’re 10K+ members now and to celebrate we’re moving from Substack to our very own lu.ma community — where you'll be able to find private posts, browse the member directory, see and join upcoming events, and chat with other members! And to thank you for your continued support + coming into our new home (moving takes effort!), inside you’ll be able to access $250K+ in SaaS tool & product discounts (e.g., Airtable, Brex, Carta).
👀 What do you need to do? Keep an eye out for your lu.ma invite!
✨ Outside of celebrating, I’ve been thinking about overwork and burnout. Did you know that overwork killed 750K+ people in 2016? We don’t hear about it a lot but it’s a huge problem. In fact, the Japanese have a word, Karoshi, for death caused by overwork. Why am I sharing this info? Because I don’t want any of us to die prematurely and unnecessarily; and I really think that if we do the self-work and lean on our community for support, we can avoid it.
Let’s explore a prevalent sign of overwork: burnout. According to New Spring Health, 76% of us were experiencing burnout in 2020 and it's on the rise. Bad news: burnout creeps in unnoticed and can take years to recover from. Good news: we can address burnout but first we have to understand it.
Burnout doesn’t set in instantly. It takes time to build up in stages that include but are not limited to excessive drive or ambition, pushing ourselves hard, neglecting personal care and needs, displacement of conflict, no time for non-work related needs, denial, withdrawal, behavioral changes, depersonalization, inner emptiness, depression, mental or physical health impact. And burnout can come from work (e.g., poor leadership, lack of organizational caring, unethical requests, limited resources) and from our personal lives (e.g., caretaking stress, chronic racial stress). That makes sense because burnout is a syndrome of chronic stress.
So, what can we do if you’re experiencing symptoms of burnout? Prioritize yourself and ask for help from mental health professionals, friends, family, and our community.
And yeah I’m working on taking my own advice to address my burnout symptoms. I’m prioritizing my mental health (vs work), working with my therapist on my fear of “not always working and being productive,” moving away from people and work that lead to unneeded stress, cutting down on commitments in general, taking more breaks/vacation, asking for/receiving support from others, and respecting my productivity curve/limit. As it turns out, we all have one because we’re not computers. Though, it occurs to me that we can learn from our smartphones. They also need breaks (5-10 min recharge to get to ≦20%); they need downtime (overnight charge to get to 100%), and they need to get off the grid (to update the operating system).
I’ll leave you with a flight attendant quote, “put your oxygen mask on first before helping others.”
ICYMI: Featured by Harvard, the More Equity podcast, and Essense. Startup-Investor Matching Tool's intros have led to 33 checks ($4.2M+ total value). Congrats
Kate Ryder raised $110M for Maven. Emily Weiss raised $80M for Glossier. Tammy Sun raised $75M for Carrot. Peter Boyce II set out to raise $40M for Stellation Capital. Dana Guthrie raised $12.5M for Gateway Capital. Jelani Memory raised $7M for A Kids Company About. Alessandra Henderson and Jannine Versi raised $3.75M for Elektra Health (port co). Benjamin Kelly and Thierry Bertin-Mahieux raised $3.7M for Singuli. Mario Amaro and Miles Montes raised $1.2M for DocSpace. Lauren Washington raised 1M for Fundr. Ashlee Wisdom, MPH raised $1M for Health In Her Hue. Susan Liu joined Uncork Capital as a partner.
SPONSORED We partnered with Builtfirst to launch a perk marketplace for underrepresented founders to access to $250K+ in SaaS tools & product perks. Sign-up via our Lu.ma community.Funders
HBCUvc | Aspiring VCs: apply for the HBCU VC fellowship program by 9/5
LTX Connect | Latinx funders: RSVP for the LTX Quest conference 9/8-11
Startup-Investor Matching Tool | VCs: receive thesis-aligned customized deal flow
🌈 Are you an LP who wants to meet underrepresented GPs? Learn more about the GP-LP Matching Tool and sign-up to get intros.
SPONSORED Want to invest in vetted startups? Vitalize’s new community offers “angel investing for everyone” with a $1k+ check, even if you’re not accredited. Sign up by Aug. 30 to join our 150 founding members!Founders
Asking for a founder | Tips on how much salary to take as an early-stage founder
SBA | Founders: register and apply for the PPP direct loan forgiveness program
All Raise | Women and non-binary founders: get your FREE fundraising masterclass
📚 Want more resources? Here are courses + services for you.
SPONSORED c/olabworks is an independent and minority-owned venture lab with a mission to build meaningful companies focused on emerging cultural trends & categories. Sound interesting? Get in touch! Money
Y Combinator | Founders: apply for the Winter 22 cohort and receive $125K
iFundWomen | Female founders: apply for a funding program with a $100k prize
SoGal Foundation | Black female founders: apply for $5-$10K in grants
Asking for a founder | BIPOC founders: find several grant programs for BIPOC
iFundWomen | Female entertainment founders: apply for $10K grants
Lightship Capital | Founders: apply to Twitch Pitch for $5K and Amazon credits
1863 Ventures | Black founders: apply to get a 3Rs $5K grant
Non-dilutive capital | Create a profile to find non-dilutive capital
Equity Crowdfunding | Raise up to $5 million
👋🏽 Want investor intros? Sign-up for The Startup-Investor Matching Tool and, if you founded a community-driven co, submit to The Community Fund.Jobs
Logic Loop | Full-Stack Engineer > San Francisco, CA & Remote
XRC Labs | Program Manager > New York City, NY
Newark Venture Partners | Associate > Newark, NJ & Remote
💥 See all open roles here. 💥
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