Hi people! How are you doing?

If you’re in London, hope you’re soaking up this glorious sunshine like we are. ☀️

This week, we’re talking about something that doesn’t always get the airtime it deserves energy. Not market energy. Not investor energy. Your energy. The kind you need to show up every day and build the thing that doesn’t exist yet.

Because let’s be honest, building a startup isn’t a sprint or a marathon. And in all that flux, the thing most founders forget to manage isn’t their cash runway or their CAC. It’s themselves.

So we turned to six founders from The Startup Leap podcast who’ve lived through it. Each one hit a wall. Each one had to learn how to keep going—but differently. Here's what they taught us.

1. Josh Sandler: Everything, Everywhere, All at Once (Until You Crash)

Josh, co-founder of Lori Systems, talked about the early days where everything felt urgent, and he was doing all the things. “I didn’t realize how much I was burning out until my body literally shut down,” he said. Energy isn’t infinite, and for Josh, the wake-up call was physical - he burnt out.

The adjustment? He went on a 10 day silent meditation retreat, he turns off his phone 24 hours every week, and started doing things differently. Watch the clip below.

2. Abu Addae: When Product Market Fit Almost Kills You

Abu left a senior corporate role to build LifeCheq. And honestly? He didn’t sugarcoat it. “The first sign of a moat is that you almost die crossing it,” he told us. It was funny in delivery—but dead serious in meaning.

The emotional weight of trying to do something that really matters? It nearly crushed him. What he learned is golden: pace your passion. Or it’ll run you off the cliff.

3. Ida Tin: 4 Years of Trying and Failing To Build A Product

Ida Tin the Founder of The Clue App (10m+ Users), who basically gave the world the word “femtech” and built Clue into a $60B industry mover, spent four yearsbuilding a product that failed.

Yup. Four. Years. And yet, she says, that time gave her space to rethink, regroup, and build what actually worked. “I also did a lot of body work, as a founder how you stay connected to your own body is really important, make sure to sleep, make sure to eat, we are bodies” she said. Turns out, managing energy was baked into her most important lessons. Unseen, but essential.

4. Carmelle Cadet: When Plans Break, So Do You, Unless You Reframe

Imagine quitting your job. You're ready. Pumped. And then your co-founder bails. That’s what happened to Carmelle. It could’ve taken her out. Instead, she paused. Rethought everything. Didn’t rush to fill the gap she reconnected with her deeper “why.” That became her compass.

“It is way more sustainable to have a support system, what you need is not a back up plan, its time, and a support system” - Carmelle Cadet, Founder of Emtech

The Startup Leap Takeaway

Maria once said, “Sometimes waiting is a strategy.” And we’ve got to say—there’s something powerful in that. Because founders aren’t machines. They’re instruments. And when you’re finely tuned, you can climb mountains. But if you grind nonstop? You break.

Yvonne also once shared a powerful sentiment, saying she started saying “No” more often. Getting real about her time and being super intentional with where her energy went. Because grinding without rest or boundaries? It’s not a flex. It’s a fast track to burnout.

So if you’re in the thick of it right now, between launches, deadlines, or maybe just trying to keep your head above water, don’t just ask what you’re building.

Ask who you’re becoming while building it.

And if you’ve been waiting for a sign to rest? Let this be it. 💛

Thanks for reading 💜

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TSL Team 💜