[sandGorgon]

Went through the same. 3 years of no money and salary before we raised . It was worse for us, because we were doing fintech at a time when it was considered stupid and everyone who was doing Uber-of-X were raising incredible amounts of funding from the same coworking space.

You should definitely take a holiday - but here's my viewpoint. People don't burn out by working hard. In fact, people start getting depressed when they are not burning with purpose.

Burning out is a deeper symptom - I know because I had it and I realized what it was. It could be a combination of fear and frustration at what you are doing.

I have an alternate suggestion - talk to other cofounders. Nothing cheers you up as seeing other miserable people (it's true!). Gives you perspective and a country to belong to. I have come to realize that some startup meetups are actually therapy camps - I don't know of the US ones, but there are a couple in India.

One of the most interesting statements I heard while attending YC was "One of the reasons founders quit is because they think others had it easier". Emphasis on "easier".

Not sure who said it (I think mwseibel), but it was at least true in my case. It just made me work harder. Even if my startup had not survived, it was still worth it.

[starlord]

Could you please share which meetups in India?

[sandGorgon]

Which city are you in ? If you're in Delhi, I'm happy to share stories of my misery ;) I'll buy.

91springboard events are pretty good and non-hypey. Headstart Network (though they have reduced their activities quite a bit).

Hasgeek events in Bangalore are borderline - the tech content is good, but has a fair amount of "unicorn" domination, which tends to worsen the therapy.

We had organized a "Reboot Conference" in delhi for failed founders [1]. Pretty damn awesome... could not follow through with it because of lack of time.

[1] https://www.slideshare.net/akshayblitz/reboot-conference-del...