A Failed Startup, An Identity Crisis, and a VC Company That Cares with Mark Phillips
Most venture capitalists will pitch you on their portfolio companies, their returns, their network.
Mark Phillips will ask you about your mental health.
In this week's episode of Fearful Giants, I sat down with Mark Phillips, Managing Partner of 11 Tribes Ventures - a VC firm doing something most investors won't touch: putting founder resilience at the center of their investment thesis.
Mark and I met through friends in the VC community, and what struck me immediately was his honesty about failure. Not the glossy "I failed fast and pivoted" story you hear at conferences. The real kind. The kind that breaks you open.
Before founding 11 Tribes, Mark built a medical device company for type 1 diabetics while in business school. It was going to be huge. Forbes cover, the whole dream. Except it wasn't. The company failed. He couldn't raise the capital. He got leapfrogged by competitors.
And when he finally stopped long enough to look around at his life, he realized: his marriage was struggling, his health was shot, his faith felt distant. Everything that actually mattered was in shambles.
That identity crisis became the foundation for 11 Tribes Ventures, where the tagline is "capital and care" and the thesis is simple: founder outcomes matter as much as business outcomes.
“Your worth is not your company.”
In This Episode, We Talk About:
How Mark's startup failure led to a complete identity crisis
Why 70% of VCs laugh when he talks about founder wellbeing
The hidden cost of believing your worth comes from your business
How meditation literally changed the way Mark's brain works
What it looks like when a founder kills a major partnership to protect what matters
The truth that grounds Mark when fear tries to take over
My Key Takeaways from this conversation with Mark:
1. Your worth is not your company. If Mark could whisper one truth into every leader's ear, it would be this. He wishes someone had told him 12 years ago. It would have saved him years of pain. Too many founders tie their entire identity to their business - and when that business struggles or fails, they collapse with it.
2. Most of the market is scared of this conversation. When Mark pitches his model, 70% of people respond with disdain or condescension. At an event last night, a guy literally laughed at him. These people are scared because their entire identity is wrapped up in how hard they work. The other 30%? When he finds them, it's magic. They get it. They've been through something. They have what one of Mark's investors calls "a limp."
3. Founder resilience isn't a nice-to-have - it's a competitive advantage. 11 Tribes invests in companies where they believe founder wellbeing will directly correlate with better business outcomes. Not weaker founders who work less. Stronger founders who can sustain the long game. They're trying to prove that by investing in the founder outcome - mental, emotional, physical, spiritual health - they can actually create more sustainable and profitable businesses.
4. Slowing down is not optional if you want to lead well. Mark's closing words hit hard: "The crisis we have as leaders is that we are busy and we are in hurry." He wasn't fun to be around when he was grinding. He was so focused on his goals that he didn't have time to care about people. Now? Meditation is non-negotiable. He processes the world differently. He honors his emotions differently. He feels cognitively different when he skips it.
5. Being loved is what allows you to move forward through fear. When I asked Mark what truth helps him rise when fear drags him down, he said: "That I am loved." For him, it starts with his relationship with Jesus, then filters down to his wife and kids. Life is scary. Leadership is scary. But resting in that love - in those connections that actually matter - allows him to keep moving forward.This conversation with Julie left me thinking about how much fear many leaders carry around being seen, being wrong, or not being "enough." And how much of leadership - whether you're running a company, advising families, or just showing up in your own life - is about doing it anyway.
This conversation with Mark reminded me that the best leaders aren't the ones who can endure the most pain. They're the ones brave enough to stop, to reassess, and to build something that doesn't require them to burn out to succeed.
Are you part of the 70% who would laugh at the idea that founder wellbeing matters? Listen anyway. You might be surprised.
Listen to the full conversation:
Connect with Mark phillips:
Website: https://www.11tribes.com
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/markphillips11t/
Email: mark@11tribes.vc
Connect with Clay stelzer:
Website: https://15sixty.com/
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/claystelzer
Email: clay@15sixty.com
Resources Mentioned:
11 Tribes Ventures
Meditation practices for leaders
If you have a topic or guest you'd love to see on Fearful Giants, reach out to me at clay@15sixty.com
Clay