Hi,

I’m a psychology student at Heidelberg University, Germany. For my bachelor thesis, I’m studying how founders experience the end of a startup journey.

This could include situations like:

- selling the company

- shutting it down

- leaving as a founder

- or another type of exit

I'm especially interested in the emotional and psychological side of the transition. Many founders describe the period after leaving a startup as unexpectedly difficult — even after a successful exit — and I’d like to better understand these experiences.

If you’ve gone through something like this yourself, I would really appreciate your input. The survey is anonymous and takes about 15–30 minutes:

https://www.soscisurvey.de/bachelor_thesis521128/index.php?l=eng&q=KV_ab&password=&htR=AwA%3D

I’d also be very interested to hear about your experiences or thoughts in the comments.

Thanks a lot!