How Cheezburger Founder Ben Huh Rebounded After Hitting Rock Bottom In 2001, Cheezburger founder Ben Huh hit a low point, having had to close his 18-month-old startup. In this video, Huh chats with us about how a shift in perspective helped him gain a new outlook on life.
By Andrea Huspeni •
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Just because you are deemed a "successful" entrepreneur -- one that has made it past the critical first year, received various accolades and been a press darling -- does not mean you are immune to the same trials and tribulations as those founders less fortunate. Just ask Ben Huh.
As the founder and CEO of Cheezburger, a social humor and meme network, Huh has expanded the media company to include more than 50 online sites, including I Can Has Cheezburger, FAIL Blog and Geek Universe. The company attracts a whopping 20 million unique monthly visitors while generating more than 400 million page views a month. The Cheezburger brand has extended beyond the web with the release of five books and was also featured on a Bravo reality series.
But before these achievements, Huh was on a different path.
After having to close up his 18-month-old web analytics company in 2001, Huh slipped into a deep depression – even contemplating suicide. Huh wrote in a blog post on his site:
Related: Ben Huh and the Importance of Making Smaller Bets
"I was thoroughly broke, depressed, and feeling the burden of losing hundreds of thousands of dollars of other people's money. Loneliness, darkness, hopelessness… those words don't capture the feeling of the profound self-doubt that sets in after a failure. Loneliness. Darkness. Hopelessness. Those words describe the environment of depression. Self-doubt? That shakes you to the core and starts a fracture in your identity that makes you question if you should even exist anymore."
Fortunately, Huh rebounded from hitting rock bottom and went on to find success in Cheezburger.
Check out the video of Huh describing his low point and how shifting his perspective helped him climb out of his rut.
