Bruno's description of post-rejection paralysis reveals what most founders hide: "I remember just ending the calls and laying on my bed for 30, 40 minutes just looking into the ceiling and thinking about nothing." This wasn't dramatic, it was physiological. After half-hour sessions getting "grilled on the product, the team, the vision," his body simply shut down. The transition from high-energy pitch to complete energy depletion happened call after call, creating a pavlovian response to investor meetings. For founders experiencing similar symptoms, Bruno's honesty validates that this physical response to chronic rejection is real, measurable, and treatable.

Initially, Bruno didn't think his problem was "good enough" for therapy. "I didn't seem like I had a good enough problem for me to go to therapy," he admits. This reveals the toxic comparison culture in startups where founders minimize their struggles against imagined benchmarks of "real" problems. The breakthrough came when his co-founder noticed the pattern and asked deeper questions about Bruno's daily experience. The lesson: depression doesn't require a minimum threshold of suffering to be valid, and having a support system that can observe patterns you can't see yourself is crucial.

Therapy helped Bruno transform his relationship with "no" through systematic reframing. Instead of internalizing each rejection, he learned to see fundraising as a numbers game requiring 100+ conversations. "Every time you get a no, instead of having this very negative reaction, try to reward yourself because you're going through difficult moments outside your comfort zone." He created a visual progress tracker and celebration rituals after each call. This wasn't toxic positivity, it was practical psychology that acknowledged the emotional labor while maintaining forward momentum.

Bruno's most terrifying moment came when he had to tell his first angel investor that the original business model wasn't working. "I'm about to cry like I'm so sorry, I wasted your money." The investor's response shattered his assumptions: "I invested in you guys, I didn't invest in the idea per se." This revealed the first-time founder misconception that investors back business plans rather than people. The experience taught Bruno that transparency about struggles often strengthens rather than weakens investor relationships, especially with experienced angels who expect pivots and course corrections.

Bruno's approach to sustainable founder performance centers on non-negotiable priorities: sleep tracking via Apple Watch, physical activity as minimum 30-minute daily investment, and mental health support through regular therapy. "I started prioritizing mental and physical health over work, which is very hard because work has always been my top priority." His insight: founders often sacrifice the foundations of peak performance in pursuit of work output, creating a downward spiral. The solution requires treating personal maintenance as business-critical infrastructure rather than optional luxury.

Talking with Bruno brought me back to my past so vividly, I felt I was in a time machine. It’s true that when you “get over it,” then what was once a nightmare, you hardly remember the challenge at all. But I did have the very same emptyness Bruno talks about when talking with investors. I think it’s definitely a first-time founder experience, but also it becomes much, much harder when you still have to break your “me-me-me” wall. Otherwise, you keep taking everything personally, and the fall never ends on the ground. Hopefully, mental therapy is less of a taboo now, and I’m happy to see young founders have one more tool to handle it now!