Research from Towergate Employee Benefits reveals that only 14% of employers strongly agree that they have a good understanding of their employees’ needs across all four pillars of health and wellbeing: physical, mental, social, and financial.

With more than half of founders experiencing burnout last year, the rise in corporate wellness is less of a surprise, and more of a relief. 

The entrepreneurial journey is as demanding as it is rewarding. Startup founders operate in an environment defined by uncertainty, long working hours, and relentless pressure to perform. While stress is often considered part of the founder’s role, unmanaged stress can quickly escalate into burnout – impacting not only personal wellbeing but also the performance of the business.

Most founders manage time like a resource. But here’s the real differentiator: how you manage your energy.

As a startup entrepreneur, the journey to becoming an iconic leader is not about following the crowd, it’s about embracing your uniqueness, leading with authenticity, and strategically positioning yourself for success.

Ask a founder about their business finances and you'll get burn rates, runway projections, and real-time dashboards. Ask about their personal finances? Crickets.

Founders are decision-making machines. From choosing your next feature to picking between two good-enough hires, your day is a stream of judgment calls, big and small. The problem? That stream becomes a flood. The more decisions you make, the worse they get.

Startup life is messy. Calendars? Even messier.

As a biochemist working full-time while completing my PhD, I had made a personal commitment to myself: to live and experience life in a way that felt fulfilling and aligned with who I wanted to become. That meant more than professional progress.

Nobody launches a startup for an easier life. We forge it from passion, craft it from sleepless optimism, and power it with triple-shot caffeine.

Even the most accomplished business leaders can secretly wrestle with crippling self-doubt. This is particularly true of SME leaders lacking significant peer networks with which to share concerns and challenges with. The consequences of this can be significant, hindering the bold decision-making and inspirational leadership an SME needs to grow and innovate.

For the second year in a row, employers’ biggest concern for their staff is stress and anxiety related to work, according to research conducted by GRiD, the industry body for the group risk sector.

Research by Towergate Employee Benefits among UK companies with overseas employees shows that only 36% of companies offer different health and wellbeing support depending upon the country in which their employees are based.

My moment of clarity in knowing that I wanted to build businesses for a living came in an unusual place: a US Open qualifier.

Founder anxiety isn't just real – it's inevitable. When you're building a business from the ground up, carrying the weight of responsibility for your team's livelihoods and your company's future, anxiety comes with the territory. The flexibility, autonomy, and ability to build something aligned with your values are incredible perks of being a founder, but they come at a psychological cost that many underestimate.

Did you know that 70% of Organisational Change Projects fail? This comes from Harvard Business Review, and is a stark reminder that Leaders need to get ahead of the game and be prepared and ready for change, and to have the kind of reputation that instils trust.

“I was fidgeting through life in outfits – and identities – that didn’t quite fit.”

I want to be honest straight off the bat, resilience isn’t just some fluffy buzzword we throw around to sound inspirational. For women running businesses, especially those doing it while juggling kids, self doubt, the dreaded imposter syndrome, deadlines, caring responsibilities and the pressure to show up looking polished for Instagram, resilience is often the quiet force that gets us through the day. We never think much about it until after the fact, only when looking back on what we have waded through, that Resilience in it's true form is appreciated!

It was during my second startup that I burnt out. After my first company took off quickly – creating and delivering DSLR camera equipment to customers worldwide within a year – I assumed my next venture would be just as smooth. I was wrong.

Let’s stop pretending that your weekly corporate Zoom yoga is fixing burnout. Your company rolls out meditation apps, hosts mental health webinars, and maybe even throws in a mindfulness day once a quarter. All under the banner of ‘employee wellness’. Meanwhile, the calendar is still packed with back-to-back meetings, Slack never sleeps, and your team’s average workday just bled into their evening…again.