I've Learned More from Burnout than I Ever Did from Hustle Culture

I’ve never had a B in my life. Not in school, not in university - not anywhere. But don’t mistake me for the model student. I wasn’t. I did the bare minimum to get an A, skipping classes to work on what truly interested me. On paper, I was a straight-A student, but in reality, my mindset was closer to a D.

I’ve come to realize that academic environments are built for the masses. They serve the majority well, but there are always outliers - people like me, who don’t fit neatly into the system. And that’s okay. Some people thrive through structured instruction; others, like me, learn by experimenting, by figuring things out as they go. That’s not just how I approached school - it’s how I’ve approached life.

I don’t set boundaries for myself. There’s no pre-laid path I’m following.

Walking Off the Path

After graduation, I tried to fit the mould. I took a typical finance grad role. It was everything it was supposed to be - stable, well-paid, respectable. And it was mind-numbingly dull.

The hours stretched endlessly when I didn’t care about the work. Worse, the job strangled my creative freedom. It left no room for experimentation. No room to build. I felt suffocated.

I had a burning desire to work in Silicon Valley - to be in the heart of innovation, where ideas turned into reality at breakneck speed. So, I made it happen. I got a visa, packed my bags, and landed in California. I found a job at a startup, and for the first time, I felt free. Free to ideate. Free to build.

DashHound: The Experiment That Became an Obsession

That’s when my best friend and I started our own thing - DashHound. We poured every waking second into it. It didn’t feel like work. The days blurred into weeks, the weeks into months.

Until they didn’t.

We were young, hungry, and impressionable. We looked up to those who had already built successful companies. Surely, they knew better than us? We consumed hustle culture like gospel, idolized tech bros, and believed in the myth of the overnight success.

But we weren’t like them.

We didn’t come from money. We didn’t go to Stanford. Hell, I barely went to the university I was enrolled in.

We lived off a single salary, crammed into a tiny studio apartment in Redwood City, building a product way ahead of its time. We interviewed with Y Combinator, got into an exclusive Sephora program (which I’ll always be grateful for), and hustled nonstop.

Then, reality hit.

One of us had a visa. The other didn’t. We had to leave the epicentre of innovation and return to Wales. We went from California’s energy to childhood bedrooms, miles apart, with no salary, no car, no network. But we kept going.

When Hustle Culture Meets Reality

We tried to recreate the intensity we had in California, but something was missing. Wales had a startup scene, but it wasn’t electric - it followed a failing blueprint. It lacked the raw, organic chaos that fuels true innovation.

One thing about me: I don’t quit. It’s a blessing and a curse, but mostly a curse. At the time, I didn’t know how to fail. I had never truly failed before.

So we dragged ourselves barefoot across gravel for three years, bootstrapping with pennies, pouring everything into AWS bills we could barely afford. We weren’t taking care of ourselves. Our lives revolved around building.

And then, we burned out.

Really burned out.

We had this beautifully architected system - microservices, three apps, infrastructure that could handle Netflix-level data. But the problem we were solving was massive. Too massive. Two kids in their bedrooms, with negative bank balances, trying to process Big Tech-level data.

When we failed our Y Combinator interview, they told us our product wouldn’t be ready in time. But what I wish they had said was, This problem is too big for you right now.

Even more, I wish someone had been brutally honest with us from the start. Encouragement is great, but it can also be misleading. People told us it was a fantastic idea - but no one asked whether we were equipped to execute it.

Now, nearly a decade later, I know we could solve that problem in 30 days with AI. Timing is everything.

Lessons from the Burnout

If you’re a budding entrepreneur, here’s my advice:

• Listen to success stories, but don’t blindly follow them. Your journey will be different.
• Take encouragement, but don’t mistake it for validation. People will tell you what you want to hear. Learn to filter it.
• Listen to your intuition - and your body. If it’s telling you something is off, don’t ignore it.
• Don’t sacrifice your health for a startup. No business is worth your well-being.
• Don’t “fake it until you make it” - but do duct-tape things together. Experimentation is key.
• Fail fast and fail often. There’s no faster way to grow.

It took me five years to heal from that burnout. Five years to feel ready to build again. Time is precious - use it wisely.

And most importantly?

Know when to quit.