How much of your health, your family and marriage, or your sanity would you sacrifice for the chance to win big with your crazy startup?

Practical founder Lloyed Lobo describes this Silicon Valley all-in addiction as “unicorn porn”–Why aren’t you doing more to get Billion-Dollar Big?

As he shared on the Practical Founders Podcast this week, Lloyed felt he had a lot to prove to his doctor wife, his immigrant parents, his Silicon Valley friends, and himself.

So he worked long hours for years and years. He kept trying different startups and different tactics. He was all-in, like many entrepreneurial fanatics.

Some of us push all of those to their limits when we’re fanatically committed to our entrepreneurial adventures. We can get lost in that world.

It’s a society-approved addiction. I have been there myself.

Finally, Lloyed and his cofounder transitioned their services business into product-driven Boast.ai. They bootstrapped and grew Boast to $10 million in recurring revenue in just a few years.

When growth equity investor Radian Capital offered to buy a big chunk of the company in 2020, Lloyed and his cofounder took partial cash payouts and transitioned out of their day-to-day roles at the company.

But he wasn’t so happy after he got the money and won the monetary prize that he had been focused on for so long.

Depression, a COVID health scare, and partying too much were some of the difficulties he experienced after making big money and no longer running his scrappy business.

Fortunately, Lloyed had the support of his family and got help from the right people.

Now he’s healthy and happy and has different priorities. He and his family live far away from Silicon Valley in Dubai.

Lloyed shares some great startup lessons in this Practical Founders Podcast interview, but it’s his personal transformational journey that is the real story.

Thanks for being real and sharing your journey, Lloyed.

#practicalfounders