#79 - Matthew Cooper on Stepping Down as CEO for His Mental Health

Stigma Podcast - Mental Health

In this episode, we are talking about entrepreneur mental health. Our guest, Matthew Cooper, stepped down from his role as CEO of EarnUp after growing the business successfully for 7 years after creating it. When he stepped down, he cited mental health as the primary driver and wrote an incredibly authentic, vulnerable and amazing blog post about his decision on December 18, 2020.

You can connect with Matthew here: Blog, Twitter, Linked In

What If Fellowship: https://whatif.vc/fellowship

HERE ARE SOME OF THE THINGS WE TALKED ABOUT:

1. Matthew shares his story about his history of mental illness and how it led him to the place that he is at today in both his personal life and his career.
2. We talk about the stressors that come with starting a business and how certain beliefs can lead to a feeling of isolation while being successful at the same time.
3. We discuss what options are available for real support to entrepreneurs and founders of companies to prevent a mental health emergency or burnout.
4. Matthew shares what tools he has tried and what worked for him, his experiences with in-patient treatments, and his mental health cycles that he has gone through.
5. We discuss how mental health is not a linear journey for many people and how worth it it is to keep trying to find the right solution to your problem.
6. We talk about what we can be doing to better support entrepreneurs as an ecosystem of founders and investors, but also as friends or family members of entrepreneurs.
7. Finally, Matthew shares that human connection with safe people is a huge factor in keeping your mental health in a positive space as well as just sharing your story and being open with where you’re at mentally.

Connect with the Stigma Podcast in the following ways: What If Fellowship, Patreon, Website, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Email

Connect with host Stephen Hays here: Stephen Hays Personal Website, Twitter, LinkedIn, What If Ventures (Mental Health Venture Fund)