Startup Grind Doha tackles mental health gap for founders

On April 17, 2026, Startup Grind Doha hosted a virtual session titled “The Inner Game of Building a Startup: How to Lead and Perform with Clarity, Composure and Conviction” to address an often-overlooked dimension of entrepreneurship in Qatar: founder mental health. The session, organised by Startup Grind Doha in collaboration with Startup Grind chapters from the UK, Singapore, Bangkok, Tunis, Muscat, Dubai and Manila, brought together founders based in Qatar and across those regions to explore the psychological and emotional demands of founding and scaling companies.

“Through Startup Grind Doha, we aim to address the gaps that matter most for founders. While they are constantly under pressure to perform, the mental and emotional side of the journey is often overlooked,” said Indica Amarasinghe, chapter director of Startup Grind Doha. “By bringing conversations like this to the forefront, we’re adding real value to the community – helping founders not just build better companies, but sustain high performance over the long term.”

Context and session takeaways

The session was led by Lorna Devine, a UK-trained psychologist and cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) therapist, who framed founder wellbeing as a performance issue as much as a personal one. According to Devine, most founders are navigating daily pressures — pitching to investors, developing products and managing teams — while privately carrying stress, self-doubt and expectations that seldom surface in public forums.

Organisers and the speaker drew a parallel between professional athletes and founders, arguing that mental fitness should be trained alongside operational and technical capabilities. The event emphasised that mindset affects decision-making, leadership and team dynamics, and that high-achieving founders often bear intense internal pressure even when they appear composed externally.

• Mindset mastery begins with awareness: founders were encouraged to monitor and challenge unhelpful thought patterns, reframing them to reduce emotional and physiological stress.
• Practical, evidence-based tools: Devine shared CBT-informed techniques and real-time interventions to manage stress and improve clarity under pressure.
• Long-term performance foundations: self-awareness, self-regulation, an identity beyond the company and a clear sense of purpose were highlighted as core to sustained resilience.
• Q&A focus areas: participants discussed procrastination, energy management at networking events, the science behind breathing and mindfulness exercises, and maintaining resilience when facing others’ expectations.

Outlook

Startup Grind Doha’s initiative reflects a growing appetite among founder communities for structured conversations on psychological wellbeing, not just tactical growth strategies. By convening an international audience and offering CBT-informed tools, the event aimed to normalise mental health as a routine part of founder development. Organisers signalled intent to continue such programming, positioning mental fitness as integral to sustaining high performance across the life cycle of startups.