Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Ask HN: I don't want to be a founder anymore

news.ycombinator.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

371–380 of 527 posts

Re: Ask HN: I don't want to be a founder anymore

#371

Post by gadders »

Never been a CEO or a founder, but I always thought this was a good read:

"Given this stress, CEOs often make the one of the following two mistakes:

1. They take things too personally

2. They do not take things personally enough

In the first scenario, the CEO takes every issue incredibly seriously and personally and urgently moves to fix it. Given the volume of the issues, this motion usually results in one of two scenarios. If the CEO is outwardly focused, she ends up terrorizing the team to the point where nobody wants to work at the company any more. If the CEO is inwardly focused, she ends up feeling so sick from all of the problems that she can barely make it to work in the morning.

In the second scenario, in order to dampen the pain of the rolling disaster that is the company, the CEO takes a Pollyannaish attitude: it’s not so bad. In this view, none of the problems are actually that bad and they needn’t be dealt with urgently. By rationalizing away the issues, the CEO feels better about herself. The problem is that she doesn’t actually fix any of the problems and the employees eventually become quite frustrated that the Chief Executive keeps ignoring the most basic problems and conflicts. Ultimately, the company turns to crap."

https://techcrunch.com/2011/03/31/what%E2%80%99s-the-most-di...

Re: Ask HN: I don't want to be a founder anymore

#372

Post by gadders »

o2l wrote: post #321

I have not been a founder of any company so I can't comment on that part. But I can strongly related to this part - "what it would be like to work at Wal Mart, or the construction site outside, or as a bagger at a grocery store" I am a passionate web developer but a few months ago, I had these exact same thoughts mainly about switching to a low stress job. Later I realised that I needed a break badly and the monotono…

I have these thoughts too, and then realise basically all jobs suck at some level. If they didn't suck, people wouldn't need paying to do them.

Re: Ask HN: I don't want to be a founder anymore

#373

Post by ultim8k »

Welcome on earth. I don't want to be a developer anymore. I don't want to do business with anyone. But I have to. I'm not giving up. Sometimes you have to be tough man. Just stop moaning and work on how to survive. There is none else who knows better than you how. Also don't try! Do it or do not.

Re: Ask HN: I don't want to be a founder anymore

#374

Post by repomies691 »

webwright wrote: post #272

(source: I've twice left my own companies- both companies continued to grow and prosper after I left). Personally, I'd suck it up and get the sale done, working hard to make the price as front-loaded as possible. Depending on the buyers appetite for you to keep working there you could: A) Suggest that you're excited to stay with the business, but if they feel there'd be too many chefs in the kitchen and that you shou…

"Try psychedelic mushrooms (only half kidding-- there are some studies that one dose positively impacts depression and anxiety)"

As a founder, I generally agree. I have also done mushrooms a lot, I don't know if it is very wise but I enjoy it a lot. I also excercise daily and try to follow other tips you gave, though I'm not into meditation, medication or tai chi. I'm quite happy, but I can't really agree that the situation will fix itself with only these tips. Sometimes there are problems at work that need fixing, and the situation only gets better if you fix them. Often fixing these problems requires lots of dedicated work and leaving your comfort zone. But once they are fixed, you are a little bit happier.

For example:

- Too much responsibilities -> define new roles and delegate responsibilities

- Problematic employees -> try to work out the problem with 1-to-1 discussions, or as a last resort, fire them (or talk them to leave).

- Difficult to retain employees -> find out and research how to make employees more happy at their work. Try to research which perks are cheap and improve employee happiness. Give free candy.

etc.

Re: Ask HN: I don't want to be a founder anymore

#376

Post by kristiandupont »

avip wrote: post #352
scottbartell wrote: post #283

Are you familiar with the concept of the False dilemma[0]? It seems as if you've limited yourself to an "either/or" situation when in fact there are countless other possible solutions to this problem. Here are some possible alternatives: - find a leadership coach and/or mentor - delegate the parts of your job that you like the least - find a way to reduce stress in your life (exercise, hobby, etc) - try professional…

This is a great list but feels unsorted. I'd go with: 1. Take a vacation. 2. Converse with someone you love and trust The rest will likely follow. Again great list!

I feel that one of the most common pieces of advice to stressed people is to take a vacation. I am not sure how well that works. In my experience, stress is created not by the amount of work that I do but by the work that I feel that I don't get done.

Unless I would be able to comfortably disconnect completely on such a vacation, it would do little good or possibly make things worse.

Re: Ask HN: I don't want to be a founder anymore

#377

Post by cheez »

dang wrote: post #346
cheez wrote: post #184

> First, talk this over with your wife. She deserves to know what's going on with you and you need her counsel and strength. Only if she's the type. Many women, for better or worse, will NOT be happy to hear this and will silently freak out, assuming the worst.

We detached this subthread from https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14420786 and marked it off-topic.

Yeah what the hell happened lol

Re: Ask HN: I don't want to be a founder anymore

#378

Post by johndotsun »

disiplus wrote: post #347
johndotsun wrote: post #273

Earlier quoted context omitted.

While retail work was a very simple work environment as you state, I found it to be an experience in misery. it may be simple but dealing day to day with the coworkers and managers in those environment was pure hell. If my only option in life was to work retail, factory, or construction I would kill myself today before going back to that type of work. Have you ever had an assistant manager in her mid 30s shout at you…

i dont get it. i worked in factory during summer. while it gets boring, you dont have stress, and after you have finished your work you go home and dont think about your work. i probably could not work it long time, but if you are stressing in that line of work its you not the job.

Obviously it's a subjective experience. If you are able to work in those types of jobs without hating that every second you spend there is a second doing menial low pay tasks; that it is a second of your life that's been wasted on meaningless shit work that you'll never get back then good for you. A substantial amount of people aren't like you.

Re: Ask HN: I don't want to be a founder anymore

#379

Post by kristofferR »

remarkEon wrote: post #236
LeifCarrotson wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Beaches aren't for everyone. In burnout situations, I find going backpacking (mountains/hiking, canoeing in the Canadian wilderness) to be even more relaxing than a beach. None of these annoying humans that seem to be always present on beaches and at workplaces. And also none of the attention-sucking internet access.

>Beaches aren't for everyone. Yeah, for me it's fishing or hunting... requiring a total disengagement from technology and (most) people. Beaches are fun, but I wouldn't consider them a truly contemplative vacation unless it's some super expensive, exclusive, far away place...and like you said that's not for everyone.

Why does it have to be super expensive? The far away beaches are the cheapest ones.

Re: Ask HN: I don't want to be a founder anymore

#380

Post by hueving »

ridgeguy wrote: post #123

First, talk this over with your wife. She deserves to know what's going on with you and you need her counsel and strength. Second, recognize that an acquisition is a change of life - that can certainly make one feel anxious and depressed, no matter how much you may have looked forward to this milestone. Third, nobody is indispensable. If you died in a car crash today, the company would find a way to continue. In your…

>Third, nobody is indispensable. If you died in a car crash today, the company would find a way to continue.

If the company is large enough or has enough debt, sure. But if this is a 10 person bootstrapped shop and the founder is the only one that really knows everything, it would probably fold up if he/she disappeared with that knowledge.

Post reply on HN