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Founderitis

Recently, I’ve been thinking about Aprilism. It is also during this time that I thought about the future of the company. And then I look back at the years I’ve been working and keeping Aprilism together.

Then it struck me. The role of a founder is pretty unique. A great startup founder is a heady blend of The Rock, Woody Allen, and Winston Churchill — and Harry Potter. In other words, a fearless, neurotic creative, and a stubborn visionary — one that believes in the power of magic. It also requires an entirely different level of obsessiveness, which can lead you to greatness or the grave. But somewhere along the way, many founders develop what I call founderitis.

If you’re exhibiting three or more of them, perhaps it’s time for you to dial it back a bit — even for a brief period of, say, 24 hours.

  1. You mistake insomnia for work ethic.
  2. You are constantly looking to add hot new features to your products such as Tweet This & Facebook Connect.
  3. You obsess over features/details over which you have no control.
  4. You have the constant urge to do everything.
  5. You have attention deficit disorder, in that you’re constantly checking Twitter/Facebook/Google Reader/Email and have set up Google Alerts to monitor what people are saying about you and your company — when you should be actually working.
  6. Your idea of dining out is picking up take-out food rather than having it delivered.
  7. In moments of great weakness, you regret not just starting a virtual farm application and selling virtual goods via cell phones.
  8. Your favorite “vacation” over the past year consisted of going to a conference for 72 hours.
  9. You bought an iPhone because “It’s going to help me grow my business” instead of “OH MY GOD THIS IS THE COOLEST GADGET EVARRRRRRR”
  10. You mistake half a dozen long-sleeve shirts with ties and blazers for your wardrobe.
  11. When people ask how your day went, you tell them “It’s great! I’ve had 2 new followers and a dozen of mention on Twitter already.”
  12. You have more gray hair than your equity.

Currently, the above is ALL of my symptoms. Damn, I need to see a psychologist soon.

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