"Throughout all of this, I can look back and see that while I was exercising and keeping myself in good shape, as well as feeling optimistic about the future of Buffer, it was adrenaline that was carrying me forward."

"This is how I’d describe my experience of burnout: I lost motivation. I just didn’t care. I knew I cared deeply, but I had nothing left. I couldn’t get up in the morning. I felt very sensitive and emotional. It was like anything could set me off, and make me well up."

"Regularly getting therapy is something I cannot recommend highly enough. To this day, I still meet with my therapist every three weeks."

"One of my biggest takeaways was the importance of perspective and taking a break."

"As a company, one of the things we’ve done to prevent burnout is put in place a true sabbatical policy at Buffer."

"Create a habit of disconnecting and taking one true vacation each year. This is really important preventative work"

"I recommend finding things you can progress on and feel an achievement from that aren’t work."

"Get a therapist or coach, even if you don’t feel like you need one or you’ve never done it before."

"if you are feeling burnt out and are thinking about taking time off, do it without plans."

"Probably much more minimum than you think"

"we had validated that people probably wanted the product. The next thing to validate was whether people were comfortable with paying for such a product."

"Being prepared for a long journey with lots of course-correction"

"Whether or not the goal is reached sooner or later than expected, there are always times in the ups and downs of the journey where this patience is required, so I value it as an overall mindset for Buffer."

"I had my first paying customer within 4 days of launching the “rough around the edges” product."

"when the signal is there that the product is good enough, shout about it!"

"Here is the full journey of how we decided on this path for the company, including all the details and numbers involved in carrying out a stock buyback of seven of our sixteen Series A investors."

"July 2018: Buffer bought out main Series A investors (investors representing $2.3 million of the $3.5 million raised)"

"Not giving up the usual 20–30 percent of the company (we raised $3.5 million at a $60 million valuation, giving up 6.2 percent)"

"In our search for a unique investor happy with our conditions, we found Collaborative Fund, and they agreed to lead our Series A funding by putting in 60 percent of the funds."

"We were transparent that we wanted to be able to keep questioning the way things are done. Specifically, we communicated that we wanted the option to be able to give a return via distributions, not an exit."

"We added downside protection for the Series A investors, in the form of a right to claim a return of 9 percent annual interest on their investment at any point starting five years after the initial investment. At the time, I didn’t appreciate how important this clause would become."

"In one of my most excruciating decisions, we chose to solve the situation without outside funds and did a round of layoffs to become profitable."

"Ultimately, my co-founder Leo and our CTO Sunil left the company in early 2017 based around this foundational vision decision."

"We opted for calm company growth that allows team members to bond and have time to become productive, rather than having a large portion of the team be completely new to Buffer."

"While discussing this further, I was taken aback when I was asked whether I would step down as CEO in the event that Buffer could not afford the 9 percent annual return."

"Why we chose to buy out our main VC investors"

"By late 2017, it was clear that Buffer had become less of a fit for VC funding. Month by month we increased our financial sustainability by growing our profit margin."

"We also worked hard to create and promote a culture where team members could enjoy their work for years without leading to burnout."

"By moving ahead with a stock buyback for our Series A investors, we would be able to unlock this ability to give other shareholders a return, and we would put the company squarely on a path of long-term sustainability."

"How we prepared for and carried out a stock buyback"

"The first key step in working towards buying out our main VC investors was to build up the cash reserves to make it possible."

"Next, I reached back out to Collaborative Fund, and a couple of other key investors in our Series A, about the downside protection."

"Approval from 60 percent of Series A shareholders"

"Approval from 50 percent of Preferred shareholders (combination of Series A and Seed investors)"

"Our two main VCs made up 60 percent of Series A shares. Beyond that, five more investors chose to sell their shares for a total of 67.29 percent of Series A shares bought back by the company."