Vibe Check: The lonely, stressful entrepreneur life

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Vibe Check: Mental Health in the Startup World is a Tech in Asia podcast where writer and editor Winston Zhang speaks to startup leaders and mental health professionals to see what he can learn from them when it comes to managing his mental well-being.

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Being a leader is tough. Sure, they might get the praise when things go well, but they also take most of the blame when things don’t go according to plan – fair or not.

The media loves to talk about the success stories of founders in the tech and startup world, but for many entrepreneurs, every day comes with huge responsibilities and mental burdens. After all, many people depend on founders for their livelihoods – and what happens when things go awry and they have no choice but to cut employees?

In this episode of Vibe Check: Mental Health in the Startup World, Anywhr and PraisePal co-founder Zelia Leong shares what happened when Covid-19 wreaked havoc on the travel industry – how it affected not only her business, but also her mental health.

Timecodes:

00:00 – Intro music
00:27 – Hi, I’m Winston
01:42 – Welcome to Vibe Check
02:14 – Meet Anywhr and PraisePal co-founder Zelia Leong
03:08 – The birth of Anywhr
04:18 – Achieving success, but then, Covid
05:05 – Doubling down on the business in the face of the pandemic
05:57 – When things got worse
06:47 – It really sucks having to fire someone
08:40 – Doubting whether the founder route was for her
09:16 – The birth of PraisePal
11:11 – Getting the buy in from other companies
13:21 – How Zelia’s mental health was affected by the pivot to PraisePal
14:38 – Letting go of the toxic mindsets and habits that the startup scene lionizes
15:35 – The lonely road of entrepreneurship
16:20 – How Zelia keeps herself level day to day
17:13 – Zelia’s experience with therapy
18:46 – How to deal with the stresses of the founder life
19:56 – Reflecting on Zelia’s three-year journey so far
21:36 – Episode four teaser: How Grab helps its employees manage their mental wellbeing

Featured interviewee

• Zelia Leong, co-founder at PraisePal

Host

• Winston Zhang, writer and editor at Tech in Asia Studios

Episode Transcript:

Winston Zhang (VO):
And I think it’s gonna be a long, long time
‘Til touchdown brings me ’round again to find
I’m not the man they think I am at home
Oh, no, no, no
I’m a rocket man
Rocket man burnin’ out his fuse up here alone