"How do you separate your identity from the company's success or failure?"

That's Alex's question – and it's one every founder grapples with, especially in those vulnerable early stages.

Welcome to the Peer Effect Post Bag, where James Johnson and Freddie Birley tackle your toughest founder questions. This week, we explore the dangerous trap of calling your business "your baby," why that language might be taking critical options off the table, and how to create healthy separation between yourself, your team, and your company.

In this episode, we unpack:

• Why your identity and company identity need to be separate circles (with your team as the third)
• The danger of calling your business "your baby" and when that language stops serving you
• How to know when your identity is helping versus harming you and the company
• Why "I'm only successful if my company is successful" can keep you stuck
• The three-tier check: Is this serving me? My team? My company?

Plus, Freddie shares her emotional journey of putting her flat on the market after six years and what it taught her about change and timing.

👆 If you're struggling to separate yourself from your company's performance, or wondering whether your attachment is helping or harming you, this conversation will give you a framework for healthier founder psychology.

Got a question for the Post Bag? Send it to hello@peer-effect.com

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"We were adding customers, losing customers, adding customers, losing customers. We were stalling."

Gaurav Bhattacharya had $2.5M ARR and 50 customers. On paper, things looked fine. But momentum wasn't there. Instead of pushing harder, he split his company in two – and nine months later, Jeeva AI had 10,000 users and 300 enterprise customers.

In today's episode, I'm joined by Gaurav Bhattacharya, Founder and CEO of Jeeva AI. After successfully exiting his first healthcare AI startup, Gaurav spent five years building a data intelligence platform to $2.5M ARR before recognising it would never become the great business he wanted. His solution? Split the team in two – one to keep the lights on, one to prove product-market fit for a completely new idea. The result was Jeeva AI, a sales intelligence tool that exploded to 10,000 users in nine months.

Together we unpack:

• How to decide when a "good" business will never become great
• The two-team strategy: keeping lights on whilst proving new product-market fit
• Why pattern recognition is the most underrated founder skill
• How to pivot without killing team morale or burning investor relationships
• The shift from enterprise sales to PLG (and why it required completely different muscles)

👆 If your business is functioning but not truly moving, or you're wondering whether it's time to pivot, this conversation will give you a framework for thinking through your next step.

About Gaurav Bhattacharya

Gaurav Bhattacharya is the Founder and CEO of Jeeva AI. After successfully exiting his first healthcare AI startup, Gaurav spent five years building a data intelligence platform to $2.5M ARR before pivoting to Jeeva AI – a sales intelligence tool that grew to 10,000 users and 300 enterprise customers in nine months. His journey proves that knowing when to walk away is as important as knowing when to persist.

Connect with Gaurav Bhattacharya on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gaurav-agentic/

More from James:

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"When everything looks like it's working, how do you avoid getting complacent?"

That's Sarah's question - and it's the dream problem most founders wish they had.

Welcome to the Peer Effect Post Bag, where James Johnson and Freddie Birley tackle your toughest founder questions. This week, we explore what happens when you finally reach that rare moment where nothing's on fire, your team is stable, clients are happy, and your numbers look good. The question is: how do you use that gift of time without falling into complacency or wasting the opportunity?

In this episode, we unpack:

• Why it's so rare for founders to feel like everything's working (and why you should celebrate when it happens)
• The difference between urgent tasks and important non-urgent work that drives real impact
• How to shift from executor mode to creator mode when the fires aren't burning
• Why "slow is smooth and smooth is fast" – and how to use breathing room strategically
• The importance of gathering feedback and reconnecting with your team during calm periods

Plus, James and Freddie discuss the founder isolation paradox – how coaches support 10-12 founders whilst having no one to support them, and why peer networks matter.

👆 If you're in that rare moment where things feel stable, or you're wondering how to make the most of breathing room when you finally get it, this conversation will help you turn that gift into a strategic advantage.

Got a question for the Post Bag? Send it to hello@peer-effect.com

More from James:

Connect with James on LinkedIn or at peer-effect.com