Impact Founder · By Kristin Darga
The stories founders don't tell.
In 2015, two startup founders died by suicide and a third died suddenly. I started Impact Founder so the next founder who feels alone hears from people who have been there and made it through.
Our roots
It started with a camera and a question.
Impact Founder began as photojournalism: portraits of founders next to their own words about what building a company actually costs. I opened the first exhibit at Denver Startup Week in September 2015.
The point was simple. Success and struggle live in the same founder at the same time. Saying so out loud makes both easier to carry.
I also coauthored peer reviewed research on the subject: Depression among entrepreneurs: a scoping review.
The book
Impact Founder
Inspirational stories of entrepreneurs who risk everything for what they believe in
Real founders on self doubt, overwhelm, failure and the moments they nearly quit, each told in the founder's own words alongside portraits from the original exhibit. With contributions from Brad Feld and Sam Tarantino.
See yourself somewhere in this book, and take solace in the fact that the person you relate to survived to tell their story.
Kristin Darga, from the introduction
The podcast
The Stories That Built Us
I cohost the Impact Founder podcast with Travis Bockenstedt. We talk with founders, executives, athletes and artists about the turning points that shaped them: the pressure, the pivots and what they did next.
Impact Founder: The Stories That Built Us
The keynote
The Stories Founders Don't Tell
Every founder has a public story and a private one. This talk brings the private one into the room: the stories behind Impact Founder, what they reveal about the pressure of building something, and what changes when leaders stop carrying it alone.
- Why the founders who look fine are often the ones struggling most.
- What happens to a company when its leader stops telling the truth about how things are going.
- How founders and their teams build the kind of trust where real problems surface early.
Speaking inquiries
Tell me about your event, your audience and your date.
Today
The work continues at Black Label Coaching.
Impact Founder showed me what founders carry alone. At Black Label Coaching I help leaders and their teams carry it differently, through executive coaching, cultural analysis, crisis leadership and M&A integration.
If you are a founder who is struggling right now, you are not alone. In the US, call or text 988 to reach the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline.