Founder sessions
Individual sessions on your experience of building a company. Book one, or meet regularly over time.
Start with an intro callPsychological consultation for founders · London & online
What it's like to build a company.
Private sessions for founders, co-founders and their teams on the psychological side of entrepreneurship: the pressure, the doubt, the relationships and the decisions. Grounded in more than a decade of researching, teaching and working one-to-one with entrepreneurs.
Approach
What you’re feeling is part of building a company.
Doubt, exhaustion, a blurred line between you and the business, emptiness after a win. Research on entrepreneurs shows these experiences are common, and many arrive at familiar points in a venture’s life. They are not personal failings. Seeing them that way changes how you carry them.
I’ve spent over ten years studying and working with founders as a psychologist. In sessions I listen for what sits underneath what you describe, and help you make sense of it, so the decisions that follow are your own.
Some of what founders bring
You can’t tell where you end and the business begins. It never stops. Some days you’re not sure you can make it. You’d like to step away for a month. You’ve hired good people but can’t let them run things. You and your co-founder no longer want the same company. A co-founder is leaving. You closed the round, and the satisfaction everyone expected never came. You feel responsible for your team almost the way a parent would.
Founders have a room for everything except this. Sessions are that room.
Private
Between us
What you say stays in the room. Sessions are one-to-one, with joint sessions for co-founders.
Unstructured
No framework
No programme, no worksheet, no goals set in advance. We start from what’s on your mind. This isn’t coaching.
Not clinical
No diagnosis
This isn’t therapy. We focus on your experience of building a company. If clinical support would help, I’ll tell you.
What we work on
Common reasons founders get in touch
-
Whether to keep going
When the venture stalls and the goal starts to feel out of reach, persisting and stopping both carry a cost. We look at what is driving the decision.
Research: action crisis in nascent entrepreneurship -
Holding it all in
Founders often hide frustration or worry to protect the team. That can strain the very relationships it is meant to protect.
Research: emotion suppression in new venture teams -
Who leads, and how it was decided
Titles, equity and the CEO role are often settled early and informally. When status and roles get tense, we work through it together.
Research: leadership emergence and social status -
Getting in your own way
Not prioritising, micromanaging, struggling to delegate. Some of the heaviest obstacles are self-imposed, and they're easier to shift once you understand what's driving them.
From work with founders -
Emotions and judgement
How excitement, anxiety and fear shape which opportunities look attractive and which look possible.
Research: emotion and opportunity beliefs -
Identity beyond the company
When the venture becomes who you are, setbacks feel personal and wins never feel like enough.
Research: well-being in entrepreneurship
From founders
What founders say
Stela’s session created a space for honest reflection that gave me concrete tools to navigate the challenges of leading a growing team in uncertain times. Her approach is both insightful and practical – highly recommended for founders in the thick of scale-up.
I learned a lot about subconscious behavior at work and how to tackle mental blockers. Thank you for being a great listener and interpreter.
I learned that most of my “problems” are manageable and part of the process. I also liked Stela’s kind approach and I believe in the future many people will benefit from her support.
Sessions
Mainly one-to-one
Most of my work is with founders individually. There are also options for co-founders and for specific moments in a company’s life.
Co-founders
A one-to-one session with each of you first, so everyone is heard on their own. Then a joint session together.
Start with an intro callKey moments
Focused support around a specific moment: a funding round, a co-founder leaving, stepping back from day-to-day running, or a change in your role.
Start with an intro callEvery engagement starts with a free 20-minute intro call. We talk through what’s going on and which option fits. Paid sessions are scheduled with you after the call.
Book intro callFees
Discussed on the intro call and confirmed before your first paid session.
Confidentiality
What you share stays between us. In co-founder work, nothing said in a one-to-one is passed on.
Cancellation
Reschedule or cancel free of charge up to 48 hours before a session.
Partnerships
For investors, accelerators and companies: sessions for the founders you back, or for a founding or leadership team. Email hello@thefoundermind.com.
Research
The evidence behind the conversation
My research studies the psychology of entrepreneurship: emotion and cognition in new ventures, team dynamics between co-founders, and founders' well-being. Selected publications:
- 2026
Entrepreneurial intention and action in response to obesity: The roles of health and psychosocial experience
Small Business Economics (forthcoming) · with F. Fossen
- 2026
Formal leadership emergence in new venture teams: The role of emotion regulation and social status
International Small Business Journal (online first)
- 2024
Termination of nascent entrepreneurship: The central effects of action crisis in new venture creation
Journal of Small Business Management · with E. Tornikoski
- 2023
Holding back or letting go? The effect of emotion suppression on relationship viability in new venture teams
Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice · with T. Treffers, F. Langerak, M. Groth
- 2018
Emotional paths leading to opportunity desirability and feasibility beliefs through controllability
International Small Business Journal · with T. Treffers, F. Langerak
About
Stela Ivanova
I am Associate Professor of Entrepreneurship at ESCP Business School in London, where I also direct the Bachelor in Management programme. For years I have studied what founders go through: how they manage emotions under uncertainty, how leadership forms in founding teams, and when and why people walk away from a venture.
My teaching is experiential. I teach experimentation, art thinking and design thinking, and my main aim is to help people build agentic, creative and authentic ways of facing uncertainty. That aim carries into my work with founders.
The Founder Mind brings that research into private work with founders. Sessions draw on psychological research rather than a coaching method. My aim is to help you see your situation more clearly, so the choices you make are your own.
This practice is independent of ESCP Business School.
Questions
How is this different from coaching?
Coaching usually works toward set goals using a model or framework. These sessions start from your experience and use psychological research to make sense of it. We set no targets and follow no programme.
Is this therapy?
No. The focus is the psychological experience of being an entrepreneur, not the diagnosis or treatment of mental health conditions. If something comes up that needs clinical support, I'll tell you and help you find the right person.
Can I bring my co-founders or my team?
Most of my work is one-to-one. For co-founders, I start with an individual session with each of you, followed by a joint session. For teams, get in touch by email.
Do I need to be at a particular stage?
No. I work with people considering a venture, founders running early-stage companies, and founders in or after an exit or closure.
What if I'm in crisis?
This service isn't suited to urgent support. In the UK, contact your GP, call NHS 111, or call Samaritans free on 116 123, any time of day. In an emergency, call 999.