Resilience Meets Reality: James Oliver on Mental Health, Hustle Culture & Founders in the Fight​​​

In this week’s Living Undeterred podcast, Jeff & James discuss what the grind really does to a human being.

James Oliver Jr. – tech founder, author, and creator of the Kabila Founder Mental Health Fund, which provides free therapy for startup founders who cannot afford it. James shares how launching his first startup while his twins fought for their lives in the NICU nearly crushed his mental health, why he now calls hustle culture toxic, and how he is building communities that make it safe for founders to ask for help.

A few topics we get into in this episode:

• What “founder mental health” actually means, and how James defines a founder in the tech startup world

• James’ story of launching his first startup, WeMontage, while his twins were born three months early and fighting in the NICU

• How years of grinding, a struggling company, and family stress led him to realize he had been functionally depressed, and why he now calls hustle culture toxic

• Jeff and James trading real stories about grief, addiction, and what happens when life destroys the “illusion of success”

• The journey from ParentPreneur Foundation to the Kabila Founder Mental Health Fund, and why paying for therapy sessions became central to James’ mission
  
  🎧 Stream the full episode below:

James also has a new book coming out this week, Burn Bright Not Out: Shattering the Silence Around Mental Health in Tech Startups and one of the chapters features Jeff’s story and how Brightn was born from pain turned into purpose.

For Giving Tuesday (December 2), Jeff will be joining James on a four hour LinkedIn livestream fundraiser to raise $80,000 for the Kabila Founder Mental Health Fund, with a goal of funding therapy for another 150 founders. If founder mental health matters to you, it is a powerful way to help more people burn bright, not out.

Coming Next: A Conversation with Clinical Psycologist Ahmed Darwish

Let’s Brightn lives, together.
#LivingUndeterred #Brightn #MentalWellness