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Ask HN: Building a startup while working elsewhere and parenting?

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Re: Ask HN: Building a startup while working elsewhere and parenting?

#51
post #43
post #15

Founder in my 40s here. "1 toddler and another child is coming" - Then you want to work one and a half or maybe two jobs? Unless your wife is Superwoman, sounds like a divorce to me. Wait until your kids are in school and more independent. In the next few years, your wife and kids need you. There are plenty of successful founders in their 40s. In fact the average age of the successful founder is 44. Plenty of time! F…

Here is a counter point, do startup if you think you cannot handle kids. I have two under 3 years old kids. Working from home during pandemic, helping my wife and managing two kids brought me to the edge of my sanity. The worst thing is tantrums, high pitched screams would leave me physically exhausted within a few minutes. I started to drink more often. I didn't think I could continue to work from home with kids in…

> Also extra money allowed us to hire babysitter who can assist my wife during the day and we still have extra money after babysitter's expenses. We also got cleaners, started to send laundry out, ordered in more food, enrolled kids in various day camps or classes.

300 IQ move here, bravo sir, well done. That also alleviates workload from your partner for sure.

Re: Ask HN: Building a startup while working elsewhere and parenting?

#52

I just finished reading The Cult of We. If the author is to be believed, Adam Neumann managed to build WeWork into a $50 Billion unicorn while fathering 5 children and being perpetually drunk and/or high. And having no real talents beyond incredible salesmanship and incredible obliviousness. So yeah, it's possible. But is it right for you? We can't say without knowing more.

I didn’t read it, but, if true, this seems possible once you understand the broader personality disease associated with alcoholism. These people are ‘extreme takers’, and they are like magnets for codependents who pride themselves on their contributions. Then the taker puts this relationship into overdrive by creating a never ending string of disasters for the codependent employees to clean up. They will exhaust themselves trying keep him away by making it work without him.

I have a lot more to say about how this works and why the codependents keep falling for it, but that is the gist of how it works. Sounds like a great book to look into for a CoDA study.

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