Moving Beyond the Hustle as a Female Founder with Valerie Hirschhauser | Ep. 135

Women Disrupting Tech · Jan 15, 2026 · 1h 3m · transcript

In this episode of Women Disrupting Tech, Valerie Hirschhauser explains why following the startup playbook often leads to founder burnout, hustle culture as a system glitch, and how founders can build a sustainable business without sacrificing their well-being.

We talk about hustle as a coping mechanism, why being busy often replaces making real progress, and how profit can act as oxygen for impact instead of undermining it.

This conversation is for founders who wonder whether working harder is really the path to success, and who are looking for a more sustainable way to build.

Inside this…