Navigating Founder Challenges through Coaching

What actually kills startups? It’s rarely the competition. It’s self-inflicted.

Jake Bornstein has coached over 150 founders and execs through hypergrowth, brutal pivots, messy exits, and all the personal chaos behind it. Before that, he worked directly with Ray Dalio at Bridgewater, until a total health collapse forced him to rethink everything.

In this episode, Jake gets brutally honest about why most startups die by suicide, not murder. We dig into how founders sabotage themselves, what a truly great coach actually does (and doesn’t do), and why you can’t outsource the hard clarity work that scaling demands.

🟢 And before you go, subscribe to our free newsletter at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠followthegradient.io⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Twice a week, we break down startup and tech news, share exclusive insights from our podcast guests, highlight top job openings from European startups, and provide food for thought you won’t find anywhere else. 🟡