Just over a decade ago, I walked away from the company I helped start. I didn’t know it at the time, but I was already burned out, broken, and drifting away from the person I wanted to be. It’s taken time, space, and a lot of reflection to understand what happened — and what I’ve learned.
In 1997, at the age of 21, my coworkers and I found ourselves caught in the crossfire of a corporate power struggle. The company we worked for was imploding from the top down. We liked working together, though — so we left. We spun off and started doing the same kind of work as a new company, initially still serving our former employer.