“Climbing Mount Everest was the second hardest thing I have ever done…
the second nearest I have ever felt to dying.
The first is being an entrepreneur.”
- Erik Severinghaus
Mt. Everest summiter, serial innovator, and entrepreneur
Author, innovator, entrepreneur, and endurance athlete, Erik Severinghaus talks resilience and conquering Everest
July Founders Forum | Climbing the Entrepreneurial Mountain
Erik Severinghaus
Navigating the Challenges of Entrepreneurship
Erik Severinghaus is a serial innovator and entrepreneur who’s helped create products and businesses worth hundreds of millions of dollars and has been featured in Forbes, Fortune and The Wall Street Journal. Erik is an avid endurance athlete and Ironman, and has climbed some of the world’s tallest mountains, including successfully summiting Mt. Everest in 2018.
...the other side of the story
During my career, I’ve closed down 6 companies, losing over $2MM of investor capital in organizations as wide ranging as tech startups, consultancies, and even a board game business (the games from which I literally could not give away). I have been let go twice, including from a side job selling Cubs charity raffle tickets. I was once called "the single worst investment ever made" by a prominent Chicago investor. I have had investors renege on deal terms and give me fake wire transfer numbers while assuring me that the money I needed to avoid bankruptcy was on the way. I have watched trusted mentors rip off my business ideas and release them as their own.
The entrepreneurial journey has cost me an engagement, a best friend, a six-figure bank account, and probably a few years of my life. Sometimes I can barely make it out of bed in the mornings thanks to a herniated disc in my back.
These struggles have made me who I am and are the keys that unlocked the achievements above.
You are not alone.
Join a community of innovators facing the Entrepreneurial Death Zone together. Learn how to recognize it, manage its effects and transform in the journey.