31–40 of 85 posts
I worked 80 hours per week for 7 years straight. At one point I was juggling full time university with a full time job and an open source project on the side. My grades suffered, the startup I worked for failed, my open source project failed. I did manage to graduate though. Then I started another open source project, worked on it for 2 years, it also failed because of tough competition. So then I started yet another…
The terms of the deal allow us to mostly pay back our investors in full and would line us up with great jobs. It is not the exit we dreamed of but it gives us a nice story for the future and allows us to "wipe our hands clean". Given the amount of stress you are dealing with, this sounds like a good thing to me. You get to undo the damage this has done to your finances, I assume it also would let you get the surgery…
We have been amazingly blessed to get as far as we have so I think I'm hesitant because there is a chance that we can make this work despite my burn out and personal desire for stability. The reasons for accepting would be personal and although we would be able to return most of our investments, this is not what we set out to do. My main fear is limping out of this a few years from now. With the money we have raised,…
I was also a founder for 52 months.
I would not ask for money for next 6 months. We can take it forward beyond that.
It is not money that I am after, it's the redemption and I hope you would understand.
This is one of the key phrases. You built something amazing that someone wants to have. If they set you up with a good job, you should take the offer.
As nhangen said, try to get a long vacation and take it. My recharge tip would be: Find a nice place to stay for at least 3 weeks. Maybe something with a beach and all necessary shops in walking distance (if you are in Europe, Paros is amazing). Stay for at least 3 weeks. The first week will be strange, it's really hard to come down from a lot of work. The second week will feel better, you start to relax. The third is bliss - you come down and kind of only wander between different states of relaxation (wake up, nice breakfast, beach, maybe a nap, afternoon tea, dinner, sleep). It really helps to get ready for the next step and gives you enough distance to re-evaluate what you want to do.
And I'd agree with others that 18 months isn't very much, 6 months without pay is even less impressive. But that doesn't really matter, in the end it's up to how you feel. Just don't expect too much sympathy. A better way to look at it is this: what are the chances that your startup becomes a 10x:er? Investors donttreally care if you keep it up for another year and increase the calue of the company by 20%. Could it become massively successful or not?
also: White People Problems. (aka: extreme First World Problems.)
I worked 80 hours per week for 7 years straight. At one point I was juggling full time university with a full time job and an open source project on the side. My grades suffered, the startup I worked for failed, my open source project failed. I did manage to graduate though. Then I started another open source project, worked on it for 2 years, it also failed because of tough competition. So then I started yet another…
I worked 80 hours per week for 7 years straight. At one point I was juggling full time university with a full time job and an open source project on the side. My grades suffered, the startup I worked for failed, my open source project failed. I did manage to graduate though. Then I started another open source project, worked on it for 2 years, it also failed because of tough competition. So then I started yet another…
So TLDR: I am a workaholic. It has not brought success. I hate it when other people succeed without sacrificing their lives to work?
I worked 80 hours per week for 7 years straight. At one point I was juggling full time university with a full time job and an open source project on the side. My grades suffered, the startup I worked for failed, my open source project failed. I did manage to graduate though. Then I started another open source project, worked on it for 2 years, it also failed because of tough competition. So then I started yet another…
I admire your working discipline and stuff but in which way do you think does your answer help the thread owner?