The Thrill of the Start-up

Diana Ransom interviewed me for an article she was writing about serial entrepreneurs for Smart Money's Small Business website. There can be something addictive about the thrill of the start-up for many of us, including me.

Cornwall, an admitted sucker for start-ups, agrees. "In my eyes, nothing beats the challenge of the start-up." He adds that this phase always offered a number of puzzles to piece together and opportunities to problem-solve. It was stressful, he says, but "as I saw that puzzle creating something that got sales and created jobs, it was [also] kind of cool." In some ways, says Cornwall who is now the director of the Center for Entrepreneurship at Belmont University in Nashville, Tenn., "I get more of that stimulation now because I get to interact with so many start-ups."

Ransom also interviewed Abraham Zaleznik, a psychoanalyst and professor emeritus at the Harvard Business School, who offered this observation: "A juvenile delinquent is impulse-driven." Likewise, he says, "a lot of entrepreneurs are impulse-driven."

Ouch!! But it gets worse....

For business owners, the start-up phase presents a similar cycle of extreme stress and then, upon success, euphoria. However, the rub is: Your body tends to get used to this chemical reaction, and over time you may lose sensitivity to it. According to widely accepted research, future stressful situations may then require heavier doses of body chemicals including the stress hormone, cortisol, to dull the pain. Chronic exposure to cortisol can lead to ill health effects, among them depression, obesity and diabetes. And, it can also harm the brain.

Not all entrepreneurs, even serial entrepreneurs, fit this pattern. Those for whom there is nothing in their lives but being an entrepreneur, may fall into this self-destructive pattern. However, that is not unique to entrepreneurs. There are plenty of workaholic doctors, lawyers, artists, writers, executives, etc., etc., etc.

Temperance is important no matter what we do for a living. Don't just tend to your start-ups -- it is just as important to tend to your families, your friends, your faith, your hobbies.

Part of the hollowness that Zaleznik describes happens when the run of start-ups is over. If all the entrepreneur had in her life was her businesses, it is not surprising that she would feel depressed and unhealthy when she stopped starting new ventures.