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Seth Priebatsch: Get a life

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Re: Seth Priebatsch: Get a life

#41

Post by Locke1689 »

codypo wrote: post #9
Mystalic wrote: post #2

Different lifestyles work for different people. I know Seth -- he's energized and motivated by the work at hand. He's happiest when he's working. That doesn't mean he doesn't know how to have fun. We were racing bicycles around Google Ventures just for kicks. He's also 21 -- he doesn't have a family he has to worry about. In fact, I'd say his employees and his company are his family. I like work and life balance, but…

I disagree that not everyone needs work/life balance. If you're a leader at a company, your employees count on you to make good decisions regarding their future. I don't think you can make reasonable decisions here if you spend all of your time working and thus lose the perspective one gains from an outside life. Let's say that I'm an employee of yours and I have a pregnant wife. I wish to take off at 3 PM once a wee…

Everyone has work/life balance. The difference is exactly where each person draws a line between work and life. It seems that Seth prefers to include much of what we would think of as "work" as life.

I find most of these comments on HN especially funny because most of my non-HN friends would find this group of people positively anti-social. They would find the very notion of obsessively commenting on a startup site with a group of people who have never met pretty pathetic, to be honest. Their idea of socializing is getting drunk at a club and finding some hot girl to go home with for the night. Honestly, sometimes that's my idea of socializing, too. Does that make them more "social" than this crowd? No. Is HN's socializing any better? Of course not.

I'm really depressed at the amount of judgmental bullshit that this thread has to spawned, to be honest. People need to understand that others may not be like them and may not make the same life choices. Does that make their choices inherently worse? No. It may also mean that they have different goals. Given that Seth and his company seem to be doing OK it looks like his choices are working for the company and, moreover, he understands his market and his employees.

Re: Seth Priebatsch: Get a life

#42

Post by run4yourlives »

jeffclark wrote: post #34
lkrubner wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My remark may be dismissed as trolling, but seriously think about the scenario you are putting forward: "Let's say that I'm an employee of yours and I have a pregnant wife. I wish to take off at 3 PM once a week to accompany her to the doctor. I make this pitch to you, my 21 year old CEO who lives at the office." This is at a startup? The early phase of a startup is short - within 2 years the company either takes off…

I'd like to buy enough downvotes to make this comment disappear forever. A startup is still a job, and a job is still only part of your life. There are jobs before and jobs after, but nobody lays on their deathbed wishing they would have spent _less_ time with their family.

And kill the discussion? That's awesome.

The point is valid even if it is flawed, you and the others that downvoted should be upvoting it, then providing your counter argument.

Re: Seth Priebatsch: Get a life

#43

Post by codypo »

portman wrote: post #38
codypo wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The scenario I put forward is my current scenario. My wife is due tomorrow (yippee!), I've been to nearly all of the doctor's appointments with her, and I'm cofounder of a startup that's doing quite well. Sure, I put in plenty of hours, but I never forget the importance of work/life balance. My company is important, but it's not all important.

A hearty congratulations to you and your family. And don't worry about the parent-haters here on HN. I had hoped that the anti-childrearing bias would disappear after Paul and Jessica's baby, but that hasn't seemed to have any effect. I hope everything goes well with the delivery and that you continue to find time for balance in your startup life.

Thanks. Much appreciated!

Re: Seth Priebatsch: Get a life

#44

Post by [deleted] »

jeffclark wrote: post #34
lkrubner wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My remark may be dismissed as trolling, but seriously think about the scenario you are putting forward: "Let's say that I'm an employee of yours and I have a pregnant wife. I wish to take off at 3 PM once a week to accompany her to the doctor. I make this pitch to you, my 21 year old CEO who lives at the office." This is at a startup? The early phase of a startup is short - within 2 years the company either takes off…

I'd like to buy enough downvotes to make this comment disappear forever. A startup is still a job, and a job is still only part of your life. There are jobs before and jobs after, but nobody lays on their deathbed wishing they would have spent _less_ time with their family.

[deleted]

Re: Seth Priebatsch: Get a life

#46

Post by bherms »

1) Who cares if he's spending that much time doing it? If he loves it, that's all that matters. If everyone dedicated themselves like that to something that ignited their passion, the world would be better off in general.

2) I would assume that while he does probably work his ass off, there is a bit of exaggeration there. It's for the investors. They want to know they're investing their money in someone who is dedicated to the product and not afraid to bust ass and work long hours. I'm sure he does, but the glorifying of it is probably to retain investor confidence.

3) Someone buy the kid a copy of Rework

Re: Seth Priebatsch: Get a life

#47

Post by peteforde »

devinj wrote: post #39
peteforde wrote: post #5

The simple fact is that he'll burn out, sooner or later. That kind of energy can be initially compelling, but very few great leaders thrive without compassion and charisma. There's a large element of the media that champions sociopathic tendencies. It's good for the HN types to visibly push back against it, even if every situation is different. Sometimes it's good to cry it out with people. Hard to do that if you can…

This is more autistic than sociopathic. It's quite possible that he won't burn out, simply because he really isn't interested in socialization.

Do you know that the man in question is in fact autistic?

Austism and Aspergers are conditions that get casually assigned to geeks with eccentric or anomalous behaviours far too often. Given the degree to which the founder in question is functioning, it's medically unlikely that he has either condition.

Meanwhile, I believe that being averse to forming complex friend relationships combined with creating a culture of constant work (which many would describe as abusive) is sociopathic: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sociopathy

Re: Seth Priebatsch: Get a life

#50

Post by JonathanFields »

I look at our minds and bodies like a formula 1 car, you may not like it, but at some point you need to replenish. You can either do it in intelligent intervals that allow not to live with that lingering sense that you might blow up at any given moment. Or, you can push until everything starts to fail and you're forced to recover.

The question isn't whether we need to pause and recover, it's whether we'll choose to integrate that time into intelligent intervals that let you feel good along the way or hold out for one big boom the also happens to leave you feeling increasingly like garbage as you approach your limit.

Just look to the structure of ycombinator. It isn't 6, 9 or 12 months. Because nobody can sanely keep that level of intensity or pace for that long.

Plus, once you're far enough into life to have people and activities that allow you to come alive outside of work (even if you love your work), you do a disservice to both your professional and personal vision by ignoring those people over long periods of time.

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