u/doggiewave

We’re two co-founders building a cybersecurity software company, and we’ve reached a very classic founder question: we both want to be CEO.

I started the project and come from a technical background, with around 10 years of experience in IT/cybersecurity. I later brought in my co-founder, who is much more sales-focused.

He has experience selling and running other businesses, but no technical background and no experience working inside a large enterprise.

Right now, we both do a bit of everything except he doesn’t touch the technical side.

His view is that the CEO is usually the person who sells. I’m not sure it’s that simple, especially for a cybersecurity software company at an early stage.

So I’m curious: at this stage, what makes more sense a technical founder as CEO with the other founder leading sales/GTM, or the sales-focused founder as CEO?

What would you base that decision on?

My GP recently increased my sertraline from 100 mg to 150 mg because, even at 100 mg, I was still extremely anxious and having very negative thoughts.

When I saw my psychiatrist, she told me that if it were up to her, she would reduce it back to 100 mg, especially if the sexual side effects were bothering me. They are affecting me, mainly through delayed ejaculation, but at the moment that feels much less important than the anxiety and the way I am feeling mentally.

At the end of the appointment, she basically told me that what I need is therapy. The problem is that I am already seeing a psychologist.
What I struggle with is not just ordinary worrying. I get chest pain or pressure, fear about what might happen, and I repeatedly go over unresolved situations in my head, imagining how they could escalate or go badly. I cannot seem to switch it off.
Even when I am in a calm moment, when I should be able to feel happy, I still have this constant feeling that there is something I should be worried about. The strange thing is that the physical feeling often comes first, and then my mind finds a thought or problem to attach to it.
I do not feel able to fully enjoy anything because part of me is always waiting for something bad to happen.

After the appointment, I actually felt worse and less hopeful. I left feeling as though there was no real plan apart from continuing therapy, even though I am already doing that and these symptoms are still seriously affecting my daily life.
Has anyone else experienced this with sertraline, or felt dismissed after a psychiatric appointment? Did increasing the dose help your anxiety, or did reducing it make you feel better?

Quería saber si alguien ha vivido una situación similar porque, sinceramente, a mí me parece bastante desproporcionado.

Llevo aproximadamente un mes y medio de baja médica por una enfermedad. Durante este tiempo, mis managers me han estado escribiendo casi a diario por WhatsApp para preguntarme por cuestiones laborales, pedirme información y saber cuándo iba a volver.

Mi médico me recomendó que dejara de responder a este tipo de mensajes mientras estuviera de baja, así que eso hice. Poco después, la empresa llamó a la policía y varios agentes se personaron en mi domicilio.

Dos semanas más tarde, recibí un correo de la empresa diciendo que, aunque saben que las bajas médicas se tramitan electrónicamente, necesitan que les avise y les vaya dando actualizaciones, porque de lo contrario podría volver a ocurrir “lo de la otra vez”.

¿A alguien le ha pasado algo parecido? ¿Os parece una actuación normal por parte de una empresa? A mí, personalmente, me parece una medida totalmente desproporcionada e intimidatoria, especialmente estando de baja médica.

Estoy de baja médica desde hace aproximadamente un mes y medio. Durante este tiempo, mis managers me han escrito casi a diario por WhatsApp para preguntarme por asuntos laborales y por mi fecha de regreso. Mi médico me recomendó dejar de responder a mensajes de trabajo mientras estuviera de baja.

Después de dejar de contestar, la empresa llamó a la policía y varios agentes se personaron en mi domicilio. Dos semanas más tarde, recibí un correo indicando que, aunque saben que las bajas se tramitan electrónicamente, esperan que les avise y les dé actualizaciones para evitar que vuelva a ocurrir “lo de la otra vez”. (No con estas palabras exactamente)

Además, durante mi baja cambiaron el título de mi puesto para incluir la categoría “Associate”, después de bastantes años en el mismo puesto, sin explicarme si esto afecta a mi nivel profesional, funciones o categoría.

Mi duda es: ¿es legal que la empresa contacte de forma reiterada durante una baja, llame a la policía por no responder y exija actualizaciones adicionales sobre la baja? ¿Podría el cambio de título durante la baja considerarse una modificación sustancial o una degradación profesional?

Quería saber si alguien ha vivido una situación similar porque, sinceramente, a mí me parece bastante desproporcionado.

Llevo aproximadamente un mes y medio de baja médica por una enfermedad. Durante este tiempo, mis managers me han estado escribiendo casi a diario por WhatsApp para preguntarme por cuestiones laborales, pedirme información y saber cuándo iba a volver.

Mi médico me recomendó que dejara de responder a este tipo de mensajes mientras estuviera de baja, así que eso hice. Poco después, la empresa llamó a la policía y varios agentes se personaron en mi domicilio.

Dos semanas más tarde, recibí un correo de la empresa diciendo que, aunque saben que las bajas médicas se tramitan electrónicamente, necesitan que les avise y les vaya dando actualizaciones, porque de lo contrario podría volver a ocurrir “lo de la otra vez”.

¿A alguien le ha pasado algo parecido? ¿Os parece una actuación normal por parte de una empresa? A mí, personalmente, me parece una medida totalmente desproporcionada e intimidatoria, especialmente estando de baja médica.

Buenas,

Estoy de baja médica por ansiedad y otros problemas de salud relacionados con una situación laboral complicada.

Mi manager me ha estado contactando por WhatsApp y llamadas durante la baja. Llegó un punto en el que decidí bloquearlo porque cada interacción me generaba mucho estrés. RRHH conoce mi situación.

Mi pregunta es: si la relación está tan deteriorada que ya no veo viable volver a trabajar con esta persona, ¿es razonable plantear una salida pactada de la empresa? ¿Qué opciones existen en España para negociar una salida cuando la confianza entre empleado y manager está completamente rota?

Gracias.

I’ve been dealing with a pretty rough period over the last several months due to a combination of work stress and personal issues.

At my worst, I lost over 8 kg from stress and anxiety. I was constantly worried, had trouble eating, and felt like my nervous system was stuck in overdrive. One of the symptoms that bothered me the most was a constant feeling of pressure or anxiety in my chest.

About six months ago, my doctor prescribed 100 mg of sertraline. Looking back, it definitely helped. I’m doing better than I was back then. I’ve regained some weight, I’m functioning much better, and I’m not in the same dark place I was before.

The problem is that I still struggle with anxiety, especially when thinking about the future. My mind is always running ahead, worrying about work, finances, career decisions, and things that haven’t even happened yet.

Because of that, my doctor recently increased my dose from 100 mg to 150 mg.

I’m curious if anyone here has been through something similar.

Did increasing your dose help? How long did it take before you noticed a difference? Did the physical symptoms of anxiety, especially that tight feeling in the chest, gradually disappear?

I’d love to hear both positive and negative experiences. Right now I’m just looking for some reassurance and real-world stories from people who have been down this road.

Thank you.

I’m in a situation that’s starting to make me nervous and I’d love to hear from anyone who has been through something similar.

I’ve been working on a software startup in my spare time for quite a while now. It’s something I built myself, outside of work hours, on my own equipment, during evenings and weekends.

The complication is that I currently work for a company in the tech/security space. My product is not the same as what my employer does, and it’s not competing directly with them, but it is in a related industry.

Recently, while reviewing my employment agreement, I noticed a clause stating that any software created during my employment belongs to the company, regardless of whether it was developed during work hours or on personal time.

That sounds incredibly broad to me. The project has grown significantly, and I’m now preparing to start speaking with investors and potentially raise funding. The last thing I want is to discover later that there could be an ownership dispute.

Has anyone here dealt with something similar?

Did you negotiate with your employer, get a legal opinion, create a separate company, or take some other approach? How enforceable are clauses like this in practice?

I’m based in Spain , but I’d be interested in hearing experiences from anywhere.

Thanks!

I’ve been building a SaaS for almost a year now, and somewhere during that process my life started changing in ways I wasn’t expecting.

At the beginning, I was genuinely happy because for the first time I felt like something was finally going in the right direction. I’ve tried to build things before, but this time it became real.

What I didn’t expect was the emotional side of it all.

I’ve dealt with a lot of impostor syndrome throughout the journey. Even now, I still struggle sometimes to fully process what’s happening. Rationally, I know what I’ve built is real and valuable, but emotionally it’s hard to catch up with it.

Sometimes I still hear old voices in my head:
“Don’t take risks.”
“You already have a stable job.” (My parents)
“This is too ambitious.”
“This kind of thing is for other people, not you.”

Another thing that’s been difficult is feeling disconnected from people around me. I’ve never had a huge social circle, but lately I feel like I relate less and less to people I used to spend time with.

It’s not even arrogance or thinking I’m “better” than anyone. It’s more like… the conversations, mindset, priorities, energy, they don’t match anymore. And sometimes I get the feeling that some people around me aren’t genuinely happy to see me doing well, even if they would never say it directly.

The whole process feels surprisingly lonely.

I honestly think being around other founders would help a lot, because it’s hard to explain these feelings to people who haven’t gone through it themselves.

And if anyone has recommendations for podcasts, books, communities, or even coaches/therapists that talk about the emotional and psychological side of entrepreneurship, I’d genuinely appreciate it.

Would love to know if other founders here have experienced something similar.