[logicallee]

You can't afford to follow this advice. Saying you're crushing it is part of your 24/7 job description.

There is a story of the founder who had just put a round together with a VC. Then, privately, the founder confided to a mutual friend, over dinner, about some of the difficulties. Result? The friend told the VC, the VC pulled out, and cited this conversation, saying that it was because his mutual friend said the company was having difficulties.

You can't afford to talk.

[edmack]

Bullshit. Your advice could literally kill people.

There are always many many people you can and should talk to in confidence. Many examples have offered their email addresses above.

[morgante]

That's why you talk to a therapist who is legally bound to protect your doubts.

[tempestn]

Doesn't sound like much of a "friend". Honestly if you're facing depression you can't afford not to talk. But ideally you would find someone trustworthy to talk to.

[logicallee]

well okay but Sam's blog post makes it seem like it's almost a coincidence that everyone happens to talk all the time about crushing it. It's not. It's part of the job description. You have to learn to do it.

[kirillzubovsky]

Stories like that exists, true, but so what? The moral of your story is not that one shouldn't talk to friends about their actual situation, but rather that some VCs are not the best people. Also, surround yourself with smarter friends.

[vasilipupkin]

1) plural of anecdote is not data 2) that VC was probably looking for an excuse to pull out, would have pulled out anyway for some other bullshit reason