Post-Exit Paralysis: When Success Makes Us Scared to Try Again

There’s a unique challenge all successfully exited founders face.

And we don’t talk about it. Not nearly enough.

It’s the weight of what we think others expect us to do next - after a big win.

The pressure to keep succeeding. To prove it wasn’t a fluke.

That pressure can be paralyzing. 

So heavy, many of us choose not to try at all - just to avoid the shame of public failure.

Niklas Zennström had to break free from that fear after his first win with Kazaa... Or Skype would’ve never happened.

As he put it:  “Once you’re successful, people expect that the next thing you do will be instantaneously successful - which makes everything much more difficult.”

And let’s be honest, our sequel can fail.

In fact, most do.

Niklas’ third venture, Joost, flopped. After Kazaa and Skype.

No one is failure-proof.

But those of us who act despite the fear are the ones who at least have a shot at being truly rewarded.

And not only with more business success, which certainly matters on its own.

But also with something far deeper.

The kind of satisfaction that only comes from overcoming ourselves. 

From becoming who we’re meant to be.

From contributing our very best to the world.

The deep satisfaction we’re hard-wired to crave: the real, lasting fulfillment.

But we have to earn it.

Because that next, higher level of success always lives on the other side of fear. Outside our comfort zone.

It was true when we started our first business. And it’s still true after we sell.

But after financial success, getting past that fear gets even harder.

Expectations, ours and others’, are now higher. So, the fear of failure is now bigger.

We risk public embarrassment. 

We risk rejection. We risk loneliness.

All while our comfort zone becomes more seductive than ever. We have so much more to lose.

But what’s the alternative?

A safe, quiet life? Comfortable but hollow?

While our hard-earned skills atrophy.

Our mind dulls from lack of proper challenge.

Our drive and creativity fade from lack of inspiration.

Our self-respect and confidence slowly decay.

And our social circle slowly fills with others who’ve also settled for empty comfort and shallow success.

A life we wouldn’t want our own children to model.

A life that quietly slides into regret…

What if fearing that kind of life - that quiet, slow failure - became the fire that finally moves us?

The force strong enough to break through the fear of public failure that’s kept us from daring to try again.

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