By Teresa Torres · producttalk.org · @ttorres on X · LinkedIn
Teresa Torres recounts a difficult period in 2011 when she was CEO of a struggling startup, dealing with severe anxiety and feeling unable to ask for help. After the company was sold and she stepped away, a master's program and a class on sharing knowledge pushed her to start writing, which became the Product Talk blog and later her coaching practice. She credits a daily gratitude practice with helping her recover and reconnect with people. The post matters for product leaders because it candidly shows the emotional toll of startup leadership and the value of openness, community, and sharing what you learn.
01Key takeaways
- Don't isolate yourself as a leader; find a peer community where you can talk openly about struggles.
- Ask for help early, before stress compounds into serious health problems.
- Separate your self-worth from headline success stories and exit outcomes.
- Build a daily gratitude practice and express appreciation to the people around you.
- Sharing what you learn, through writing or teaching, can clarify your own thinking and create lasting value for others.
02Key sections
- Struggling as a startup CEO
- The author describes collapsing health symptoms that doctors traced to stress, and a company she felt was no longer worth the effort. She hid her struggles from her team and advisers, believing she was simply not good enough.
- Selling the company and stepping back
- After resigning and selling the company in a modest deal, she was burnt out and needed time to recover her sense of self-worth.
- The birth of Product Talk
- Consulting kept her afloat, while a master's program and a knowledge-sharing class inspired her to start writing and sharing product management knowledge in 2011.
- Gratitude as recovery
- Instead of taking medical leave, she turned to reading about anxiety and built a gratitude journal, then a habit of sharing appreciation with teammates, friends, and her network.
- Looking ahead
- She thanks the community and outlines plans for weekly articles, a newsletter, multimedia experiments, and an integrated product management curriculum.
03From the post
“I was sitting in my doctor’s office after a harrowing couple of weeks. I can remember it like it was yesterday. On the prior Sunday, I had passed out in the shower. I thought I had the flu. I could barely crawl from the bathroom to my bed. It”
04Frameworks mentioned
Summary and takeaways written by PM Atlas; quotes are short excerpts. © the original author.