The pace. It's like going from Formula 1 engineering team to classic Sunday rides in some backwater suburb. Started a web design business first few weeks out of uni and spent a good few years struggling, worked ourselves to the teeth, finally got a product out and bootstrapped until we got acquired. Don't get me wrong, not everyone wants to go that route but after a year of not doing anything particularly useful I opted to go work instead of start something new. The pay was nice, but everything else was just painful.

After being a founder you learn to communicate, adjust to situation and more importantly, always keep an eye on the big picture. My job only evaluated the particular development skill and were thoroughly uninterested in anything else I had to offer. This wasn't helped by my fellow employees lack of urgency and as you so well put it "sedated" feeling and sort of going with the flow in easy fashion. So off the cliff manifested itself into a minor depression/anxiety. I remember reading a book years ago where the author said "nothing feels right". My family and friends said I looked healthier ,with the irony of-course, I was dying inside.