The Silent Struggle: Why Isolation Is Undermining Entrepreneurial Success
We need to change how we think about supporting founders—not as an optional extra, but as an essential part of building healthy businesses.
We often tell the story of entrepreneurship as if it’s a hero’s journey—the lone founder with a vision, pulling impossible hours, figuring it all out on their own. I’ve lived that story. But a new survey conducted by my organization, The Founder’s Sanctuary, of more than 100 founders across the Middle East makes it clear that the “lone hero” narrative is less a badge of honor and more a serious problem. Over four in five founders said they experience isolation some or all of the time, and the impact isn’t just personal. It’s holding businesses back.
When I think back to my own journey, I’ve been through three accelerators over 10 years of building both service and tech companies across the world. And yes, they offered useful business tools, and they meant I scaled and exited at a pretty efficient pace—but none addressed the sheer mental load of building a business, or the reality of balancing a company with a life. No one spoke about well-being. No one asked about caregiving. The unspoken expectation was simple: keep going, no matter what. Looking at this survey, I know I wasn’t alone in feeling the cost of that approach.
The survey findings show just how widespread this issue is. More than half of founders admitted that time pressures stopped them from accessing support. 41 percent said the financial cost of accelerators or coaching was out of reach. Over a third were managing caregiving responsibilities alongside their companies—and those who did were far less likely to participate in structured support systems. These are not small margins; they represent systemic barriers that most founders will recognize in their own lives.
And the consequences are significant. 64 percent of respondents said stress and overwork had a negative impact on their decision-making and business performance. Founders experiencing isolation were 50 percent more likely to delay critical business decisions, directly slowing growth. Many also reported struggling to access investor opportunities or partnerships without established networks, leaving them further behind their peers.
The truth is that entrepreneurship will always involve challenges. But isolation shouldn’t be one of them. We need to change how we think about supporting founders—not as an optional extra, but as an essential part of building healthy businesses.
Breaking The Cycle: What Needs To Change
If we are serious about building sustainable startup ecosystems in the Middle East and beyond, we need to rethink how we support the people at the center of them. Here are three starting points:
1. Rethink Support Models
The current options—high-cost accelerators or one-size-fits-all coaching—leave too many founders out, with many advisors and coaches having never built or exited from their own business. We need flexible, affordable, and founder-first alternatives that blend business guidance with personal resilience. Think peer-led networks, on-demand advisory hours, or tiered memberships that adapt to a founder’s stage and budget.
2. Integrate Personal And Professional Support
Founders are not machines. Caregiving, health, and mental well-being directly affect business performance. By recognizing this and integrating wellness resources into entrepreneurial support, we reduce burnout and extend the runway for success. Nine out of ten business books are written by male entrepreneurs, and they fail to take these elements into account—this is why I wrote The Female Founder Formula to re-shape the way founders approach success.
3. Normalize Asking For Help
The mythology of the lone, all-knowing founder must be dismantled. Investors, media, and ecosystems can play a role in shifting the narrative: celebrating not just resilience, but collaboration, mentorship, and openness. We shouldn’t be doing this alone—community, support, and transparency are vital to expediting success. And finding people who’ve been there and built it or are on the same path is essential.
The Bigger Picture
The Middle East is home to some of the world’s fastest-growing startup ecosystems. But unless we tackle the silent struggle of founder isolation, we risk slowing down innovation, and burning out the very people driving growth.
The survey data is a wake-up call: if four in five founders are quietly struggling, the impact reaches far beyond their businesses. Isolation doesn’t just harm the individual; it reduces efficiency, stifles creativity, and limits access to the funding that keeps startups alive.
The companies of the future depend on the systems of support we create today. Entrepreneurship doesn’t have to be lonely. And it certainly doesn’t have to come at the cost of well-being.
About The Author
Helen McGuire is a multi-exited entrepreneur, mother of three, author of The Female Founder Formula, and founder of The Founder’s Sanctuary—a nine-week program offering holistic support for impact-driven entrepreneurs. Having built and sold two businesses and been through three accelerators, McGuire now works to redefine how founders are supported.
This article first appeared in the September 2025 issue of Inc. Arabia. To read the full issue online, click here.
