^{Happy New Year, HatchBridge!}  

2026 is a big year for HatchBridge. We’re scaling programs and supporting more entrepreneurs than ever.

To make that happen, I’m excited to announce that Mark Feinberg—who’s been serving as our Entrepreneur in Residence for the past six months—is now Interim Director of HatchBridge.

I’m not going anywhere. I’m expanding focus across KSU’s broader Innovation & Entrepreneurship ecosystem, building connections between KSU research, startups, and larger companies. I’ll be less day-to-day at HatchBridge but working closely with Mark to ensure we have what we need to grow.

Onward!

Colin Ake
^{Director of Incubation and Commercialization
HatchBridge Incubator}

The Founder Nervous System: What Actually Matters in 2026 

The conversation about founder burnout has become noise. Everyone agrees it’s real. Few know what to do about it. Fewer still admit when they’re in it. 

I’m writing this because I got it wrong for years, and because I now sit across from founders making the same mistakes I made. 

What Broke First 

For most of my career, I treated intensity as strategy. Exhaustion felt like proof of commitment. It worked until my judgment started failing before my energy did. 

I wasn’t making obviously bad decisions. I was making narrow ones. Everything felt urgent. My range of response collapsed, but my output stayed strong enough that no one noticed, including me. 

Research shows chronic stress reduces prefrontal cortex activity by up to 20%. You can still execute. You just can’t see around corners anymore. 

I called it responsibility. It was dysregulation. 

The Pattern I See Now 

As an EIR working with early-stage founders and faculty innovators, I track two systems at once. 

External 

• Revenue, runway, customer signal 

• Hiring velocity and team dynamics 

• Product traction  

Internal 

• Sleep below six hours 

• Reactivity in conversations 

• Inability to pause without guilt 

• Intensity without an off switch 

When these diverge, when metrics look fine but the nervous system is redlining, failure becomes a timing question, not a possibility. 

Most high performers mask symptoms until breakdown is close. 

Why Traditional Advice Fails 

“Take care of yourself” is useless. 

What actually matters is treating capacity as infrastructure, not virtue. 

1. Track capacity like you track burn 

Three nights under six hours of sleep and decision quality is already compromised. If everything feels urgent, your signal-to-noise ratio is broken. That’s not market pressure. That’s system overload. 

2. Schedule white space deliberately 

Not catch-up time. Not email. Actual cognitive recovery. 

Most expensive mistakes happen during stacked weeks with no margin. The brain needs integration time. Skip it and you’re running cached patterns, not fresh thinking. 

3. Use simple regulation tools daily 

Short walks without devices. A few minutes of slow breathing. One meal without screens. You don’t need elaborate practices. You need reliable ones. 

4. Design sustainable pace, not maximum pace 

Ask honestly what speed you could maintain for three years without breaking yourself, your team, or your judgment. Speed without sustainability is technical debt against your own operating system. 

5. Read somatic signals as early data 

Chronic tension, poor sleep, irritability, avoidance. These aren’t personality traits. They’re error messages. Ignoring them doesn’t make them disappear. It makes the correction more expensive. 

What Changes When This Works 

Founders don’t become soft. They become adaptive. 

Decisions get cleaner. Reactivity drops. Conflict resolves faster. Teams stabilize because leadership stops oscillating. 

Psychological safety matters. You can’t build it from a dysregulated state. 

The Reframe 

Entrepreneurship is a revealing feedback system. It shows where you rush, where you control, where identity and outcome get tangled. 

You can learn in real time or after collapse. Both teach. One costs less. 

As we head into 2026, separating health from performance is no longer defensible. The founders who last aren’t the ones who feel less pressure. They’re the ones who can move between intensity and recovery without getting stuck in either. 

KPIs matter. 

Capacity matters. 

Growth matters. 

So does regulation. 

The job isn’t just to build a company. 

It’s to build a way of working your nervous system can actually support for the years it really takes. 

Mark Feinberg
^{Entrepreneur In Residence
HatchBridge Incubator}

Join us next Friday, January 23 for a Q&A session on our upcoming Hatching Success Program. Tour the space and explore ways you can get involved through our community events and Membership and Residency Program. We have several dedicated desks and office spaces available, learn more at the link below.

January 23 12:00-2:30pm | 📍 HatchBridge Incubator (1111 Chastain NW)

RSVP now to save your spot!

Have a business idea you’ve been meaning to work on?

Hatching Success is HatchBridge’s in-person, 12-week business bootcamp focused on helping entrepreneurs move from idea to traction through hands-on work, accountability, and real feedback. Sessions meet Mondays from 2-3 PM in Kennesaw, starting January 26. For more information and to apply, visit the link below.

Celebrate the new year with us at HatchBridge on Friday, January 30th from 8:45–11AM, with a hike up Kennesaw Mountain!

This gathering is open to everyone in the Atlanta startup ecosystem, and is a chance to connect with fellow entrepreneurs and innovators in a relaxed setting. The hike encourages meaningful conversations while enjoying the outdoors and getting some exercise.

Be sure to dress warm!🥼🧣🥾

Interested in getting involved at HatchBridge? Follow us on Social Media for the latest events and updates

Contact: Marie Northington, Operations Manager - [email protected]