"I would say the thing that makes stress hardest in the startup life is the thought that what you're going through is uniquely bad for you. That either other people don't go through it because they're better, or because they just don;t go through it. And so being around other people that you can relate to, other companies, people who have been down that road successfully, people who have not, and people who have been down that road and felt miserably -- just to realize that what you;re going through is really fairly normal." -- Porter Bayne
How do you deal with workplace anxiety and stress?
Porter co-founded Ameritocracy, makers of Insight, out of a desire to help more people get concise, useful, diverse, credible information at the websites they already read, without having to spend extra time. Originally sparked by frustration with how misinformation impacts political elections, Insight evolved to allow smart readers like you to add relevant context and comments right in-line to online articles for others to see. Perhaps best of all, when content appears in multiple places (say, a quote from the 30 Second MBA gets covered in different blogs and articles around the web), top reader comments from each site are syndicated for all to read, right at the site they already frequent. Cool stuff.
Exemplifying the "will, not skill" mantra of startups, Porter is an expert at surrounding himself with people notably cleverer than he - which, he likes to think, isn't as quite easy as it sounds. He also founded, and sits on the board, of another cool Seattle-area startup, Nearlyweds!
His earlier career includes building software for Verizon Wireless, TV Guide, Zagat, and more, building online applications for aura readers and defense contractors, and being named "Employee of the Month" by Travelocity's CEO in his 6th month of employment (he quit during his 7th). In college, he was co-chairman of the largest, and newly on-probation, College Republican chapter in the country, and in 2008, he voted for change.
