The hustle is celebrated in startup lore — late nights, early mornings, and the myth that you’re not a “real” founder unless you’re running on fumes. But at a recent panel on burnout, four Vancouver entrepreneurs shared a different story.
“I delegated early,” said Ada Slivinski, who built and later sold Jam PR. “I would way rather sacrifice a bit of money than time spent at home with my sanity and my sleep.”
Her fellow panelist, Michelle de la O, agreed: “Start delegating from the beginning. If you have that mindset early, it frees up your space.” She added that delegation doesn’t just apply at work: “If you can delegate at work, you can also delegate at home. That’s why I started MyHomemaker.”
For Riipen co-founder Dana Stephenson, the lesson came harder. “I’m not exactly the poster child of growing a business without burning out,” he admitted. “If you’re trying to build a category-leading business… burnout is part of the pain. But you really need to figure out how you’re gonna manage it.”
The turning point came when top employees started leaving. “They came to me, sometimes in tears, saying, ‘I just can’t turn off anymore.’ That completely crushed me… I realized I had to change the way I lead.”
Not all of the discussion focused on survival. The panelists shared their evolving definitions of success. Stephenson’s has always been impact-driven: “We believe that companies can do well by doing good. We’re trying to lead by example.” Slivinski took a different tack: “I always just want to be happy doing what I’m doing… At the end of our life, is that extra dollar in an exit going to make a difference when we’re 80? Maybe, maybe not.”
De la O pointed to the importance of community: “You realize so many other founders have the same problems as you. The journey is not as lonely anymore.”
The most practical advice came in the form of rituals. Lauren Sudeyko, who is building Sleep or Die, described her mornings as “non-negotiables: something fitness-related and meditation every morning. In the summer, I’m in the ocean by 7am. That reset fuels me moving forward.”
Stephenson has shifted from managing time to managing energy: “Everyone’s energy levels are unique at different times of the day. Give them the flexibility to work when they’re most productive.” For Slivinski, the rule is simpler: “My filter question is, ‘Are you excited?’ That’s the space I want to be living in.” And de la O swore by breakfast: “Fruit bowl with Greek yogurt, oats, nuts and honey… it just energizes me every day.”
But even with structure, the guilt creeps in. “When I was with my mom, I felt like I should be working. And then when I was working, I felt like I should be with her,” Sudeyko said. “The comparative TikTok culture is a very unhealthy, toxic founder world. Muting that out is the only way.”
Stephenson reframed it more bluntly: “In my job description, it is my job to be a peak performer. Your job is to take care of yourself.”
The conversation eventually turned to AI. Stephenson was optimistic but cautious: “I push it really hard on our team… but I often push our team to do it the hard way first, then use AI. Sometimes the end result is so much better.” Slivinski said AI is already reshaping hiring: “An AI tool can execute what an account associate typically could do. That means we can hire people fresh out of school and teach them to think creatively, instead of just doing technical work.”
The night ended with a reminder that building doesn’t have to mean burning out. “If your business starts to feel like a trap,” Slivinski said, “there are multiple ways out. You can sell the business, bring someone else in, take a step back, close it down. Very few businesses scale on a perfect linear path. The founder journey should be about longevity.”
Moderator Brandon Chapman, principal of Saas Wealth Insurance, put it simply: “It’s a marathon, even though there may be sprints in certain seasons of life.”
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