Why Founder Endurance Matters
"The Negative Split," Notion Capital's Guide to Founder Endurance
Why Founder Endurance Matters
Weâre excited to see our friends at Notion Capital launch The Negative Split, a thoughtful and deeply practical report on founder endurance. Authored by General Partner Itxaso del Palacio, who is an athlete and a friend of EUVC, this insightful guide resonates strongly with us. And especially as founders we take the advice to heart.
âThe early stages of building a company often feel exhilarating, but the real strain comes later, when long hours, sleepless nights, investor pressures, and isolation compound. This report stems from a personal passion of mine: I deeply believe that a healthy mind and body are the foundation of clarity and lasting performance. Every founder has different levels of resilience and unique ways of coping with pressure, and in this report youâll find a wide range of practical strategies and lived experiences.â - Itxaso del Palacio, General Partner at Notion Capital
At EUVC, we see firsthand that long-term performance is inseparable from mental and physical health. As founders, we are not interchangeable â resilience looks different for each of us, shaped by our own limits, circumstances, and ways of coping. The Negative Split reflects this reality by bringing together real data, lived experiences, and practical strategies shared by founders themselves.
What we particularly appreciate about the report is its concreteness. It offers clear, honest insights into how founders sustain themselves and their teams over the many years it takes to build a company from the ground up. It also confronts what can happen when endurance is pushed too far or neglected altogether â a downside of company building that we often deny or postpone acknowledging, until reality hits hard.
As we wrap up 2025, this report feels like a timely invitation â one weâre taking ourselves â to pause and reflect deeply as founders. Not just on what weâve built this year, but on how weâre building, what itâs costing us, and what weâll need to stay strong for the years ahead.
Like athletes, founders arenât ultimately judged by how fast they start, but by how well they finish. The Negative Split offers an honest exploration of what helps founders manage their own negative split â and why doing so is critical not just for company outcomes, but for the people building them.
Weâre glad this conversation is happening, and grateful to Notion Capital for pushing it forward.
Dive deeper into the report below.
Hope you enjoy.
With đ David & Andreas
Report highlights
âThe Negative Split: a Data-led framework for Founder Endurance,â is led by Notion Capital General Partner Itxaso del Palacio, and includes new data, and qualitative insight from Suranga Chandratillake, General Partner of Balderton Capital; Debbie Wosskow, CEO co-founder of The Better Menopause; Tom Powell, Co-Founder and CEO of fintech Bondaval, and many others.
âI was never more nervous than right before a game. Fear is natural, and being a CEO is no different, it can be lonely and doubts creep in. In sport I learned to acknowledge those nerves, then apply logic and step forward anyway. As a founder, I remind myself that I chose this path, and that leading is a privilege.â - Tom Powell, Co-Founder and CEO of fintech company Bondaval and Former England 7s Rugby Captain
The âNegative Splitâ takes advice from professional athletes an peers to provide practical guidance for founders on how to take care of mental and physical well-being to maximise performance in the long run.
The report draws on a survey of more than 100 venture capital-backed founders about their wellbeing and performance.
âYou have to balance the sprints and the critical periods with gaps for rest and recovery. What this looks like is different for every founder but every great one weâve backed builds this into the very fabric of how they live and work.â - Suranga Chandratillake, General Partner of Balderton Capital
Key insights include:
Overall, founders report feeling healthy (7 on a scale from 1 to 10), even though almost half of the founders experienced burnout in one way or another.
Founders of companies of over 10 employees reported less burnout than very early stage founders. Most founders who work over 80 hours a week donât report fatigue or burnout.
Almost 40% of founders exercised for more than five hours a week, and 43% of founders practise meditation.
52% of founders mention having a certain sort of support network, such as coaches or peer groups that meet regularly to discuss business topics.
Areas of improvement
The report shows that only a little over a third of founders are sleeping more than seven hours a night and mindfulness and coaching donât seem to be strategies used by the majority of founders.
On the importance of having a strong support system, Dr Wayne Diesel, high-performance coach who has worked with top teams in the NFL, NBA and the Premier League among others, comments:
âIn sport, no athlete wins alone. The same is true in business: a CEO cannot carry the entire game. By surrounding themselves with exceptional talent across functions, founders can delegate, trust, and focus on where they add the most value.â
On how investors can support founders to boost their stamina and protect their wellbeing as they scale their companies, Kamil Mieczakowski, Partner of Notion highlights:
âWhat we can do is help create conditions that make endurance possible. âEndurance rarely comes from isolation. It comes from community and connection. From leaning on partners, peers, mentors, or trusted advisors. From practical coping systems, whether through coaching, exercise, or blocking time off with family. And from knowing you are allowed to step back and reset without losing ground.â
Areas of improvement
The report shows that only a little over a third of founders are sleeping more than seven hours a night and mindfulness and coaching donât seem to be strategies used by the majority of founders.