I had a chat last night with a billion-dollar SaaS founder/CEO. He's raised $200M at a $2B valuation in 2021. Living the high life in SF with a crazy house and a Porsche 911. On the surface, it seems like he has it all and living the dream. But he called me out of the blue at 11p last night to vent. It’s been 9 years since he started the company although people think it's overnight success. Last two years have been brutal. He’s sprinting to profitability. Layoffs. Now navigating the AI landscape. He goes: “I hope we can compete in an OpenAI world” I could practically hear his uncertainty crackling through the phone. Four years ago, he had a full head of blonde hair. Today, it’s mostly gray. He looks like Obama post-presidency. Then he dropped the bombshell, “I’m running a zombie company. I don’t know if we’ll ever IPO. Hopefully, we sell, and I get a 1-3x return for investors. I feel stuck.” This is the dirty secret of Silicon Valley. So many founders are trapped in the hype cycle, drowning in VC money but feeling like teenage toddlers trying to figure it out. I've been stuck before. I've been on this treadmill before. Sometimes you get unstuck, find that killer product and before you know it you're Silicon Valley's darling again. But most, time you're not. You're just treading water. And then you wake-up, you're 45, no hair, no kids, only yearly trips to visits family and realized you could have made a more profitable career (and more fruitful life?) just doing your own thing. Maybe you're happy. Because you gave it your best shot at "building something big". You wanted to become the next Mark Zuckerberg. But maybe you aren't. Maybe you realize that you can build something big on your own. No investors. Or join something early that isnt on the VC-train. He called because he’s desperate for a new direction. Profitable, indie startups. I keep getting these calls. The air is thick with anxiety. The unicorn dream is cracking, and people are waking up.