Don't Glorify Business Success That Comes at Personal Expense

Editor’s note: This piece is part of our Columnist Network series, which explores the tactical thoughts and actions from Adweek’s community of high-level experts. Today, Paul Roberts of Kubient discusses the need for a mental health focus within startups. Below, in his own words, he aims to set the tone and strike a balance for his team. The challenge With summer here and my kids on vacation, more and more I’m thinking about work-life balance as a founder and CEO. Oftentimes, startup culture is glamorized in the business world and media. While there are a plethora of benefits at the end of the day if you can execute on your plan, it’s your company and livelihood. So many startups have been built at the expense of founders. But if this year has taught me or other business leaders anything, it’s that mental health and balance is important, so I’m focusing on breaking that cycle to set an example for my team as well as the tech and advertising industry. Our leadership is starting to think about returning to the office, and with that, I want to be sure we continue to prioritize our mental health and maintain boundaries, signing on and off at reasonable times. But that goes for me as well, setting the right example and balancing the success and growth of my company with my needs as a person. The process Setting boundaries is the most important tactic a founder can use, but it’s also the hardest. For example, when I founded Kubient, I made the decision that our company would allow employees the flexibility to follow a school-year-style calendar, ensuring that team members with children could be home when they were off from school. This helps everyone be all-in on work when we’re at work, but all-in with our families, too. Since Kubient’s inception, I’ve always focused on growing the company, and to do that, I’ve turned to industry veterans who have acted as trusted advisers and mentors. They have not only helped scale the company, but also helped me manage my own workload and prioritize mental well-being, not growing the company at the risk of my own needs or my family’s. The takeaway As advertising returns to its pre-pandemic norms, brands' and agencies' campaign budgets are back on par with early 2020 and 2019, and we’re seeing growth trajectories skyrocket. I have business meetings in the city and out of state. We’re looking at numerous potential acquisitions, along with new office space. But none of this can happen if I’m not at 100%, which means I need to have time to step away. As startup founders, it’s in our nature to talk about how great and rewarding it is to work ourselves to our breaking point to have a successful company—which it is—but we don’t talk nearly enough about the toll it takes on ourselves and our relationships. I’m hoping to be more open with other leaders about these issues and think it is something that needs to be discussed more in the tech landscape.