#13 From burnout to purpose: Why I walked away from my startup to find freedom.
When work stops feeling like an obligation and starts feeling like a calling.
Dear readers,
I’m excited to share that I’ll be a Table Captain at Bits & Pretzels 2025. If you’re attending, let me know I’d love to connect in person next week!
On a personal note, I’m in the final stretch of creating my first Fundraising Course. I’ll be honest: recording videos hasn’t been easy for me. I’ve always preferred building behind the scenes rather than being in front of the camera. But that’s exactly why I’m pushing through because growth happens on the other side of discomfort. I’m learning to reframe the unease as a signal: it means I’m levelling up.
Best,
Xaver
ElevenLabs is an AI text-to-speech platform that creates ultra-realistic, human-like voices for podcasts, audiobooks, videos, or customer support. I used the API myself to clone voices for my own digital avatar.
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Back before I started e-bot7, I had no idea what I really wanted to do.
As a kid, I dreamed of becoming an investment banker. It felt like the ultimate career path: status, money, prestige. But after my first internship, that dream fell apart. I couldn’t imagine spending my life chained to a desk, working long hours just to make wealthy people even richer.
Every morning felt like a mountain to climb. The alarm clock wasn’t just a sound - it was a weight. I’d drag myself out of bed, knowing the day ahead would be a copy-paste of the one before. Same tasks. Same meetings. Same gray office.
So when I was offered a full-time position, I turned it down. Instead, I decided to pursue a master’s degree in Maastricht.
That’s where everything changed.
I reconnected with my old friend, and we decided to start something together what would later become e-bot7. From the very first day, everything felt different. I woke up excited. I couldn’t wait to sit down in our small student flat and hack away at a website that hardly anyone knew about.
Suddenly, life was fast-paced. Every day brought a dozen new problems to solve, opportunities to chase, and ideas to test. I couldn’t breathe sometimes from how intense it was but it was the best feeling in the world.
No Monday blues. No anxiety. Just the joy of building something that was ours.
That energy lasted for five years.
Then we sold e-bot7 to a U.S. company. And overnight, everything changed.
I went from founder to employee. From creator to executor. From leading people to being managed.
Instead of building, I was attending conferences I didn’t believe in, sitting through meetings I didn’t need to be in, and following processes that drained the life out of me.
It wasn’t my company anymore.
After two years, I decided to leave.
I thought the solution was obvious: start again. Go back to hustling, scaling, raising money everything I had done before.
So I launched my second AI company. We raised millions, grew the team, built the product. But this time, it felt different.
Waking up wasn’t easy. Every call felt heavy. Every decision drained me instead of fueling me.
And eventually, my body forced me to stop. The burnout symptoms I thought I’d left behind came back stronger than ever.
What I hadn’t realized back then was this: my values had shifted. I had already proven I could build and scale a company. I didn’t need to do it again. I was chasing an identity that no longer fit me an identity that others expected me to hold onto.
And when you build for the wrong reasons, your body will eventually shut you down.
After some time to reflect in South Africa and working on some social projects, I started “The Honest Founder”.
And for the first time in years, my passion returned.
Helping other founders. Sharing the real, raw journey behind entrepreneurship. Talking about burnout, failure, and the mental toll not just the highlights.
I feel needed again. Valued. Like I can contribute to something bigger than myself.
And most importantly: I finally wake up excited again.
My values and desires changed from becoming successful and wealthy to becoming free and independent.
No investors, no employees, no recurring meetings just me and my laptop.
So how do you know when you’ve found real purpose?
It’s not a motivational quote. It’s not a title on LinkedIn. It’s not even a big exit.
It’s this:
You wake up energized: excited to dive in (almost every day).
You catch yourself thinking about your project constantly not because you have to, but because you want to.
Weekends feel strange. While others unplug, you can’t wait to keep building.
Mondays become your favorite day of the week. A fresh start. Another chance to move forward.
Friends and family start noticing: “Why do you have so much energy?”, “You look happier than ever.”
You lose track of time while working. Hours feel like minutes.
You feel less drained, even when you’re working more.
Your curiosity grows instead of shrinking - you want to learn more, experiment more.
That’s purpose.
Not something you stumble upon.
Something you create by aligning what you do with who you are.
Read next story here:
Love that you’re waking up feeling excited again! A few years ago I also went through burn out and my goal was to get back to being excited to get out of bed each day. It took a while but I’m feeling it again and it’s such a nice feeling. Love your mission and new found purpose. Thanks for sharing your story.
My values and desires changed from becoming successful and wealthy to becoming free and independent.
This bit spoke to me.