Building the Business

Founder-CEO Roles & Challenges

The journey of founding and leading a startup is inherently lonely. And bearing responsibility for decisions—large and small—that affect a startup’s future places leaders under intense and chronic pressure. How can you stay motivated? How can you maintain confidence and resilience during times of deep uncertainty? Founders and CEOs from all stages share tips and tactics for leading your team through the challenges that startup leaders commonly encounter as well as more extreme situations.

Two business partners having a difficult conversation

How to Mentally Prepare for a Difficult Conversation

How do you mentally prepare for that difficult conversation? Matthew Bellows shares how meditation can help you mentally prepare for the dreaded conversation of firing a colleague. And he shares a three-minute guided meditation you can do before any stressful situation.

6 min read

How to Express Empathy While Working Remotely

Expressing empathy during times of crisis can help your team become more resilient. But how can you express empathy when your team is physically separated? We connected with entrepreneurs at various stages who share strategies for demonstrating empathy to help your team weather the COVID-19 storm. 

7 min read

Staying Motivated through Disappointments & Failure

How can you stay motivated during times of failure? Hind Hobeika, solo-founder and CEO of Instabeat, shares insights on staying motivated through different scenarios, like manufacturing failures, running out of funding, disappointing customers, or missing a deadline to ship your product.

9 min read
View of business person's torso and arms, seated at a desk, practicing mindfulness techniques for entrepreneurs

Mindfulness & Entrepreneurs: How Meditation Makes You a Better Leader

Research in marketing, management, and entrepreneurship claims that mindfulness has myriad benefits for entrepreneurs. Can regular meditation enhance mindfulness, improve your leadership ability, and enhance your business acumen? Serial entrepreneur and seasoned meditator, Matthew Bellows, shares his insights and tips on the power of mindful meditation for entrepreneurs.

11 min read
Three men (Careem's co-founders) standing in a line with arms on one another's shoulders, smiling, as they managed the pressures of rapid scaling

Managing the Pressures of Rapid Growth

As you scale, the strengths and habits that enabled you to launch—visionary thinking, working nonstop, or making decisions based on experiential knowledge—can become liabilities that damage your startup’s capacity for long-term growth and have serious negative consequences. In an interview with Shikhar Ghosh, Careem's co-founders Mudassir Sheikha, Magnus Olsson, and Abdulla Elyas reflect on their meteoric growth from 2012-2014. Candidly sharing the mistakes they made, they identify the consequences of rapid scaling and share practical advice for other founders.

5 min read
Two entrepreneurs seated, discussing co-founder compatibility

Sunil Nagaraj of Ubiquity Ventures on Co-Founder Compatibility

Many founders start ventures with a friend, assuming their values and goals for the startup will align. But friendship doesn't guarantee compatibility in business. Sunil Nagaraj, founding partner of Ubiquity Ventures shares what he learned about the importance of long-term co-founder compatibility.

4 min read