Dear hustlers, founders, operators and visionaries,
We are releasing the video edition of one of our most popular conversations today: Our talk with Adrian Locher, Partner at Merantix, who built and exited multiple companies and now backs founders at the earliest stages. He operates as a hands-on investor, working closely with portfolio CEOs from day one.
🎧 Tune in now on Spotify, Apple, YouTube and share your thoughts! In the meantime: Follow the Gradient and stay tuned!
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Why you should listen
You should listen to this if you believe sustained high performance requires constant pressure and availability.
As the conversation unfolded, it became clear where ambition turns into self-destruction and what actually breaks first when founders ignore recovery.
What we talk about
00:00 Introduction
03:52 Burnout at the peak of founder success
05:26 Ignoring early symptoms until everything stops
12:56 Therapy and structuring life around three buckets
20:09 Building companies as a marathon, not a grind
23:49 Leading through authenticity instead of toughness
28:06 Fear as a hidden driver of overperformance
32:25 Helping yourself before helping the company
33:58 Mentoring founders to avoid the lowest lows
37:48 Redefining success beyond money and status
Our main take away’s
Burnout often peaks after success, not failure. Locher hit depression after an exit while starting two companies in different continents and taking 120 flights in a year, showing that external momentum can mask internal collapse.
Founder strengths scale into founder risks. The same traits that drove Locher’s success pushed him into burnout because intensity and fear were left unmanaged, not reduced, as scope increased.
