‘Sometimes you just need a break’: Startup founder has 300K users but asks how to move on after feeling tired of his own company

Launching a company is often romanticized. Find a problem, create something that solves this problem, convince people to use it, earn money and keep growing. But what about later, when things start working? For some founders, the troubling question is no longer how to survive but what to do once survival is no longer the primary concern.


The founder of one particular startup described such a dilemma on Reddit. As per the post, the founder was in the third year into the creation of a hiring platform. The product initially had one simple purpose: improve the broken and dysfunctional hiring process. He had no grandmaster plan to begin with, raised a small $20,000 angel round and proceeded to bootstrap the company, relying primarily on organically acquired content, marketing and constant product development.

Three years, tens of millions in revenue, a few hundred thousand platform users and hundreds of clients later and the founder finds himself in a troubling position. The company is doing fine: revenue is stagnant, the job market is slow, and much of the product is already automated and requires little day-to-day input from the founder.

He has fewer fires to put out than he used to, which resulted in an entirely new dilemma. The startup is doing fine, but the founder has no idea what to do next.


The founder explained that he’s tired of the company, rather than angry or disappointed with it. He spent a month thinking about what to build next and talking to various members of the community, but still had no clear answer. He also offered his potential collaboration partners growth, marketing or product help, hoping that working on someone else’s project would give him a clearer idea of what he wanted to build himself.

The replies on the post were predictably, mixed. One user commented on the post with a link to their own similar experience: “getting bored and wanting to create the NEXT next best thing. that original drive to be productive never dies.” Another user replied with a similarly heartfelt comment: “I wish I had this problem. I’m at 8 users.”

Another person suggested an entirely different solution to the founder’s dilemma: “Maybe you just need a break / Take a few weeks off / Relax and don’t think about it / Especially since everything is automated / Sometimes it happens that if you take a break and relax, everything becomes obvious.”

Once the product reaches a certain level of stability, the pressure can disappear often in the form of automation. While automation can be incredibly helpful, it can also deprive the founder of the constant stream of problems to solve that they were so accustomed to previously.


Imagine a small restaurant owner turning their passion project into a thriving multi-course establishment. In the early days of their journey, they had to buy ingredients, train staff, work every shift and listen to every customer complaint. Eventually, the staff becomes professional and capable and can handle most problems without the direct intervention of the owner.

While the restaurant itself becomes healthier, the founder may find themselves with more problems than before. They have to ask themselves what they can do to continue to evolve their business.

The same founder dilemma can occur in startups. Once a company hits a certain level of operational independence, it can deprive the founder of meaningful problems to solve.

There is also an important difference between the founder being bored with their current company and their company having an actual business problem.

The two situations require very different solutions, but from the inside they can feel extremely similar. If the revenue is stagnant due to the company’s inability to continue growing its customer base, the solution may be a better commercialization strategy. If the founder feels exhausted due to constant involvement in the company’s affairs, the solution may be delegation. If the founder simply no longer finds his company interesting but it nevertheless continues to operate successfully, the solution may be looking for a new role within the company or even exiting altogether.


Once the founder successfully separates the two situations, they’ll be able to address each one on a case-by-case basis. Taking a break is not the same as quitting.

The important thing is that a break from the company does not have to mean quitting the company altogether. If the platform is already operating largely automated, the founder has an opportunity to take a break without risking much.