Entrepreneurship between Champagne and Panic Attacks

In a nutshell: On LinkedIn, entrepreneurship often looks like an unbroken string of successes. New locations, major clients, growth and perfectly staged images shape the public persona of many founders. But what happens when invoices can't be paid, debt collection letters arrive, or the responsibility for six-figure fixed costs sits at the table with you every night? Joshua Balczerowski, co-founder and CEO of Comgistics GmbH, speaks with unusual candour about precisely these moments. About panic attacks, existential fears, friendships and why success also affects your personal life. A conversation about the emotional reality of entrepreneurship and the question of why greater honesty would benefit an entire industry.

More Appearance than Reality on Social Media

The logistics industry has traditionally been regarded as extremely conservative and, according to Joshua, is strongly shaped by classic "suit-and-tie" types. At the same time, a new generation of players is flooding the market, celebrating a life of absolute excess on social platforms. Joshua observes this development with considerable scepticism. "This social media world is completely messed up, especially in the e-commerce industry," Joshua states bluntly. Many protagonists of the scene portray themselves as untouchable. "As soon as you've got a Rolex and drive a Porsche, you're the greatest, even if at the end of the month you're struggling to pay your rent," he criticises this superficiality.

For him it is clear that this digital image is simply an illusion. "It's more appearance than reality, because I know most of these guys and girls personally," the entrepreneur reveals. For him personally, this kind of artificial staging is out of the question. "I just try to be as genuine as possible so that people trust us," he explains his approach. Because at the end of the day, people buy from people. When an authentic insight is offered, it creates exactly the goodwill that ultimately makes the difference in sales.

Blood, Sweat and Six-Figure Fixed Costs

Behind the scenes of the company he co-founded, there is no glossy façade. Building a business demands enormous personal sacrifice and a tremendous financial burden. "The real Joshua looks like someone who went self-employed in 2021 and has been bleeding ever since," he describes his early years with striking openness. His working day leaves little room for breaks, as he works literally from morning to evening, trying to grow the company together with his co-founder. "We're not a small agency that only needs to cover its employees," he makes the scale clear. "We have five and a half thousand square metres here and six-figure monthly fixed costs that we have to cover, without having earned a single cent," Joshua explains.

The period of economic downturn in Germany in particular posed major challenges for the company. The order situation became more strained, financial decisions had to be made with considerably more care, and at the same time the responsibility for the team remained. "Blood and tears were shed, and you had to make sure you could pay the rent at the start of the month and the staff at the end," Joshua recalls of that time.

The economic uncertainty left its mark on him. Especially as an entrepreneur who bears responsibility for a growing team and the survival of the business, the pressure can quickly become very personal. "That's when the panic attacks come, sleep disappears and every morning becomes a burden. You ask yourself how you're supposed to drive to work, because you know: the moment you open your laptop, the next surprise is already waiting for you," Joshua reflects on how draining that period felt.

Internally, Joshua sometimes experienced this time almost as two completely different worlds. On one side, the moments when you celebrate successes together and everything is moving in the right direction: "In 2023 we had a really great financial year – we went to the Alster and popped bottles of champagne," he looks back.

And then there is the other side of entrepreneurship: months when the order situation is more strained, decisions carry more weight and the responsibility becomes far more tangible. "A year later you're wondering whether to drive to Lidl and buy yourself a Cola Zero," Joshua describes the spiral of thoughts. Of course reality isn't so black and white – there are many shades between champagne and Cola Zero. But it is precisely these extremes that, for him, make up part of the entrepreneurial rollercoaster. What still looks like success and momentum today can already feel like a new challenge just a few months later.

At the end of the day, Joshua now looks back on this rollercoaster with pride. Because for him it is inseparably part of the story of Comgistics: "We grew Comgistics rapidly, digitalised the old logistics world and made it more transparent with AI solutions. With these efficient and digital processes, the future lies ahead of us. Every step has been worth it – including the Cola Zero times."

The Hard Cut in Personal Relationships

Joshua strongly resists being labelled a mere freelancer. "I didn't choose self-employment, I chose entrepreneurship," he makes clear. While the self-employed, by his definition, must work constantly to earn money, entrepreneurs build scalable systems. For him it is absolutely certain that this path is inseparably linked with pain. "Every entrepreneur who says they've never bled is not telling me the truth," Joshua judges the scene's tendency to paint a rosy picture harshly. 

This uncompromising attitude, however, took a heavy toll on his personal life. When he began building his business, old companions turned away from him. "Many thought: Joshua thinks he's better than us now, he's making the big money in Hamburg," he describes the prejudices of his social circle at the time. He then took a drastic step. "I made a really sharp cut in my circle of friends," he admits. Today he surrounds himself almost exclusively with other people from the founder community, because they simply understand the life with all its pressures better. This sense of belonging runs exceptionally deep. "I would jump into death for these people," Joshua emphasises the solidarity. The mutual trust is boundless. "If I asked whether someone could send me thirty thousand euros, I'd have the money in my account within two seconds," he illustrates the strong support network.

Extreme Rituals for Maximum Performance

In order to cope with this immense pressure and th