The Hidden Physics of Startup Collapse
Why "Excellence" Doesn't Protect Against Failure
I've spent a decade coaching founders & teams from Asana to Bombas. Here's what blindsides even the best: Companies don't die from their weaknesses. They die from misunderstanding which weaknesses matter.
Look at the data: Most startups don't fail from poor product-market fit or running out of money. They collapse from founder mental health crises and team dysfunction. Founders experience depression, anxiety, and suicidal ideation at rates 2-10x higher than the general population. We're watching a crisis unfold, and our current mental models can't touch it. The problem? We're thinking about excellence all wrong.
Everything changes when you understand one distinction: the difference between strong-link and weak-link systems.
The Asymmetry of Excellence and Failure
Take YouTube's content ecosystem. Millions of mediocre videos don't hurt the platform. Great content rises. Breakthrough creators define genres. Average content doesn't drag down the exceptional. This is a strong-link system. The peaks matter. The valleys don't.
Now look at your cardiovascular system. One blocked artery and you're done. Doesn't matter how strong your lungs are or how toned your muscles. You can't compensate for a blocked artery with excellence somewhere else. This is a weak-link system. One critical failure point brings down the whole thing.
Here's what kills companies: Founders treat every challenge like it's YouTube (just need more excellence!) when their biggest threats are actually blocked arteries.
The Hidden Weak Links Killing Great Companies
Founder mental health? Not a challenge you muscle through with more grit. It's a weak-link system where:
One burnout spiral triggers catastrophic decisions that unravel years of work
Sleep debt corrupts every decision you make, invisibly
Untreated anxiety radiates through your org, poisoning everything it touches
Chronic stress creates fault lines that crack exactly when you can't afford them
Team communication? Same trap. Companies pour resources into peak performance—presentation skills, storytelling, influence—while ignoring the weak links that actually kill organizations:
One toxic communication pattern spreads like a virus
Passive-aggressive responses breed defensive spirals that choke innovation
Back-channel conversations destroy trust faster than excellence can build it
Unclear commitments create anxiety that infects everything
And founder relationships? Pure weak-link:
One trust breach demolishes years of social capital
Unresolved conflicts poison decisions long after you've forgotten why you were mad
Fuzzy role boundaries create friction that no amount of execution excellence fixes
Misaligned values surface at exactly the wrong moment
The Excellence Paradox
Here's the trap most companies fall into: They think they can force excellence. Push harder. Set bigger goals. Demand more creativity. Drive more innovation.
Dead wrong.
Excellence emerges. You can't force it. You can coerce compliance, but you'll never coerce creativity, innovation, or real engagement.
The best teams I work with get this. They build environments where:
People can raise real concerns before they become crises
Teams can experiment and fail without fatal consequences
Everyone can share genuine experiences without fear
Rest and recovery don't carry stigma
Building Through Positive Subjective Experience
Forget standard feedback. Even positive feedback misses the point. Elite teams practice what I call "Positive Subjective Experience Reporting":
Instead of: "Killer presentation" Say: "When you connected our technology to that customer story, I felt that old fire about our mission again"
Instead of: "Come more prepared next time" Say: "When I saw the agenda five minutes before our investor meeting, my stomach dropped about representing our work"
This does something powerful:
Creates inarguable truth (no one can debate your experience)
Links specific actions to real human impact
Bypasses defensive reactions naturally
Shows what actually moves people
Builds safety through shared reality
Building Infrastructure for Sustainable Excellence
Strong-link versus weak-link thinking changes everything about how you build:
Language Systems:
Document the communication patterns that build safety
Practice experience-based feedback daily
Create rituals for sharing impact and concerns
Build clear protocols for surfacing tensions
Mental Health Infrastructure:
Run regular founder check-ins that catch warning signs early
Monitor and manage team energy systematically
Create recovery protocols triggered by specific signs
Support basic health practices systematically
Safety Systems:
Define clear processes for surfacing concerns
Protect time for relationship maintenance
Run experience-based retrospectives regularly
Build clear paths for addressing systemic issues
A New Physics of Organizational Life
Strong-link versus weak-link thinking revolutionizes how you build. It exposes the lie that excellence everywhere is the goal. Some things need to be brilliant. Others just need to not break. Get this backwards, and no amount of excellence will save you.
The founders who build lasting companies get this. They know excellence emerges from safety, not pressure. Innovation flows from trust, not demands. Real success comes from knowing where to push for brilliance and where to prevent collapse.
Build your foundations on psychological safety, clear communication, and systematic support for mental health. Everything else—product excellence, market success, growth—emerges from there.
Want to build these foundations in your organization? One of the mistakes I see founders make is not getting adequate support — what sets apart pros from amateurs is that professionals have ongoing, world class support.
Let's talk.