Econa is the global center of excellence for entrepreneur mental wellness. Learn more about our programs and our partnerships with accelerators, investment funds, and founder networks at www.econa.net.
Depression is widely experienced by founders, yet it is rarely discussed. When depressed founders experience low energy, low motivation, pessimism, hopelessness and a sense of futility, their personal lives and their businesses can fall apart. We’d like to change that.
This special event from December 4, 2020 brings together a successful entrepreneur who lived through two major depressive episodes, an academic researcher who reviews state-of-the-art knowledge about depression among entrepreneurs, and an entrepreneur-psychiatrist who explains depression prevention and self-care skills that you can apply at once.
About Econa
Ten years ago, the mental wellbeing of entrepreneurs was rarely discussed. As a fourth-generation entrepreneur, clinical professor of psychiatry at UCSF, and practicing psychiatrist and executive coach for entrepreneurs, Econa founder Dr. Michael Freeman saw the crucial need to change that. Every day, founders brought him stories of stress, burnout, depression, ADHD, bipolar, substance use, co-founder conflicts, and emotional leadership challenges. After learning about the suicides of prominent entrepreneurs like Aaron Schwartz and Kate Spade, he was inspired to create Econa.
Today, Econa is emerging as a global center of excellence for entrepreneur mental wellness. We offer evidence-based workshops and peer support groups, we co-create programs with founder communities globally, and we support academic research on entrepreneur-centric mental wellness solutions. Our groundbreaking researchers, clinician-entrepreneurs, facilitators, founders, investors, and operators help entrepreneurs optimize their life and business outcomes.
About John Roa
John Roa is a lifelong entrepreneur and technologist who founded and managed six technology companies since learning to program at age 11. His largest company, ÄKTA, was one of the fastest growing companies in America in both 2013 and 2014, and was fully acquired by Salesforce Inc. in September 2015. Published in 2020, “A Practical Way to Get Rich, and Die Trying” is Roa’s memoir on his meteoric rise, and subsequent crash, as the CEO of ÄKTA. In his book, John candidly describes coping with, living through, and recovering from two major depressive episodes. An outspoken advocate for entrepreneur mental wellness, John has chosen to help other entrepreneurs address emotional issues by sharing his own mental health journey.
About Dr. Christine Guptill
Dr. Christine Guptill is an Assistant Professor and a Vice Chair of Research at the University of Ottawa, and a co-author of Depression among Entrepreneurs: a Scoping Review.” Published in August 2020, this comprehensive review examined 34 published studies about depression among entrepreneurs, and synthesizes the findings to present a summary of what is currently known about this question. Dr. Guptill completed post-doctoral fellowships at McMaster University and with the Canadian Association of Occupational Therapists. She also completed the Work Disability Prevention Strategic Training Program funded by the Canadian Institutes for Health Research at the University of Toronto in 2013. When she is not running marathons, her academic work is focused on building resilience and preventing disability among a unique group of entrepreneurs; self-employed musicians.
About Michael A. Freeman MD
Michael A. Freeman, MD is a psychiatrist, a fourth-generation serial entrepreneur, an executive coach, an entrepreneurship researcher and a behavioral health systems architect. Dr. Freeman serves as a Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at the University of California San Francisco School of Medicine, and as a Mentor in the Entrepreneurship Center at UCSF. He received his MD from UCSF School of Medicine after completing related advanced training programs at U.C. Berkeley and the Sorbonne. With support from the Kauffman Foundation, Dr. Freeman studies issues related to entrepreneur mental health in collaboration with colleagues from U.C. Berkeley, the Gallup Organization, and other universities. His psychiatric and executive coaching practice is focused on entrepreneurs. As an entrepreneur, Dr. Freeman has held founder, co-founder and C-level positions with several for-profit and non-profit behavioral healthcare organizations. He was the founding Chief Medical Officer at U.S. Behavioral Health, now United Behavioral Health, the United Health Care managed behavioral health plan. He is politically active in initiatives to expand access to and insurance coverage for mental health and addiction treatment services.
Overcoming entrepreneur depression: John Roa, Dr. Christine Guptill, and Dr. Michael Freeman (December 4, 2020)