Entrepreneurship is often celebrated for its highs — the breakthroughs, the funding rounds, the exits. But behind the pitch decks and product launches, founders carry a weight that rarely makes it into the narrative. Mental health challenges among entrepreneurs are more common than the startup world likes to admit, and until now, the tools to address them have largely been borrowed from general clinical practice, but not built for the founder experience.
That’s exactly what our community, The Inner Circle by Startup Snapshot, set out to explore in a recent session hosted by our advisory board member Michael A. Freeman, M.D., a pioneering researcher in entrepreneur mental health. Dr. Freeman and his colleagues developed and validated the Entrepreneur Wellbeing Check (EWC) — a brief, efficient, and highly scalable screening instrument designed specifically for founders. Unlike generic wellness assessments, the EWC maps entrepreneur wellbeing along a continuum: from mental illness, clinical symptoms, and work disengagement on one end, to peak performance and genuine thriving on the other.
In this session, Dr. Freeman walks through the three core drivers of entrepreneur mental health and wellbeing, how coaches and clinicians can put the EWC to practical use with their clients, and the evidence-based intervention targets most likely to move the needle. Whether you work directly with founders or you are one, this talk offers a rare, research-grounded lens on what it actually takes to support the people building our future.
Check out the full video session with group discussion below:
Michael Freeman M.D.
Bio
Dr. Freeman is a psychiatrist with groundbreaking research on the entrepreneurial mind.
Michael Freeman M.D.
Bio
Dr. Freeman is a psychiatrist with groundbreaking research on the entrepreneurial mind.
