Realizing founder mental health was a critical part of the entrepreneurial journey, Éva Goicochea organized Founders’ Weekend in September 2019 taking 18 startup founders to Upstate New York for a weekend of helpful discussion and much-needed rest on a 31-acre farm in the rolling hills near Coxsackie (unfortunate name, charming place).
Entrepreneurs are:
2x as likely to suffer from depression.
6x more likely to suffer from ADHD.
3x more likely to suffer from substance abuse.
72% are affected by mental-health issues.
Sometimes, they need a break.
Eschewing the $56.478 trillion market of network-and-be-sold-more-marketing-platform founder events, the format of Founders’ Weekend is simple: Leave the laptop at home, get out of (insert city of residence), and talk about anything other than Burning Man and your CAC in the company of fellow tired like-minds.
Truly trailblazing, spectacularly analogue, it’s a rarely-seen model of IRL communication and collaboration: Cooking together, doing puzzles, and introspective hangouts with (insert latest functional drink here). With an impressive $0 WOM marketing cost to acquire its early adopters, Founders’ Weekend launched with early success, selling out its first run.
Then came COVID. Pivoting, Founders’ Weekend—the website—became a list (ahem, stack) of tools and resources to better your business plus plenty of leisure extras for your down time.
In 2021, the brilliant Grace Clarke doubled the founding team and Founders’ Weekend—the retreat— returned with partners and friends.
With founders from all over attending, the retreat has cemented a tradition as an annual outing meant to create camaraderie, quell anxiety, and provide an opportunity to be a non-founder / human in nature—with plentiful recreation.
