WeStand's Next Iteration: Relationships

WeStand is my ongoing experiment, and it’s time to iterate again. This July, I’m focusing on building something more specific, unique, and helpful for impact-driven founders.

What prompted most founders to enter the self-improvement space? Relationship problems. Co-founder fights, breakups with a significant other, family conflicts, and friend troubles.

When I spoke to founders who hadn't considered self-improvement, they were often born into supportive families who modeled strong relationships, so these skills came easily. Many of us did not have this luxury, and extreme situations have formed us into people with extreme aspirations. Sadly, a lack of relationship support can have serious health and business consequences. In fact, according to the APA, “People with no friends or poor-quality friendships are twice as likely to die prematurely… a risk factor even greater than the effects of smoking 20 cigarettes per day.” Also, a common regret on deathbeds is not spending enough time with loved ones or building strong relationships. This realization led me to a new mission:

I help impact-driven founders make time for and build strong relationships with teammates, significant others, friends, and mentors, creating the support system necessary for startup success.

Here are specific relationship patterns I have noticed founders face from my 170+ interviews:

• Outgrowing friend groups at a faster pace than others

• Lack of time with significant others

• Difficulty maintaining friendships

• Poor communication skills with teammates

• Social anxiety and transactional networking

• Bottling up stress—avoiding sharing business problems with friends or family

• Viewing relationships as distractions from startup goals

• Dealing with doubt or lack of belief from people close to you

• Struggling with trust issues

• Experiencing jealousy and competition within relationships

• Seeking validation and unhealthy attachment

• Tying self-worth to business results

• Struggling with emotional regulation

• History of people-pleasing or narcissistic tendencies

Future call format:

• Luma events held on Zoom with everything from guest speakers to breakout room “friend dating”

I’m curious to hear what you think—I would love your honest advice on this potential direction for WeStand! I’m building this community for you 😊

Feel free to send a sentence (or more of course) to [email protected].

⏯️ Recording Link: Victoria Yampolsky and Money Limiting Beliefs

Takeaways from an impact-driven founder who has helped other founders raise $50M:

What she wishes she knew at 20:

• Your brain is trainable, just like your body

• Assess the programs running in your brain and question how you make decisions

Lessons from failure:

• Failures shake you out of ignorance or arrogance

• Learning about psychology early helps founders not fail as often and come to realizations faster

Money mindset:

• Your financial mindset influences how you react to failure, your willingness to take risks, and your persistence. VCs assess these qualities

• A big vision and self-belief are essential—it all starts in the mind

Victoria's PSA:

• Do not decide in advance what you can and cannot do

• Decide what you truly want, ensure it's for the right reasons, and then go for it

Looking forward to talking soon,
Ginny
Founder, WeStand
LinkedIn 
[email protected]