[dmoney]

Suffering from depression? Don't get into that relationship. When you've invested years of your life, and a part of yourself, into someone, and you lose that person, it's harsh. Also, don't have children, because that could be stressful too. BS!

Some aspects of startups are probably unhealthy for people prone to depression: 80 hour weeks, risking everything on a business model without revenue, the culture that says you have to "change the world". If you start a company, though, you set the parameters. Work 40 hours a week. Choose a less risky business model, one that has revenue built in from the get-go. Have cofounders to share the burden; have a support system, preferably one that includes people outside your startup's reality distortion field. Realize that you have limits, that the startup can push those limits, and have a plan for dealing with that (both for steering clear of the limit, and for coping when you've crossed it). Know thyself.

We shouldn't pretend depression doesn't exist. But, like other chronic conditions there are ways to manage it, and, I submit, ways to do that while starting a startup.

[bayesianhorse]

"Risking" everything seems to be part of the "lean startup" mentality. Incubators and early stage funding is intended to trade equity for exactly that risk.