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Ask HN: Advice on balancing family life at a startup

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21–29 of 29 posts

Re: Ask HN: Advice on balancing family life at a startup

#21
post #2

You should sit with your other co-founder(s) and present your current predicament just as you've done here. Your subsequent conversation should be weighing the cost (to the startup) of you leaving to go back to back to big tech vs. you staying and cutting back on your time commitment/responsibilities to where you find some balance. Hopefully, you all have a good enough relationship where you can be open, direct and h…

This seems like a textbook "good answer" from the book "Difficult Conversations". Don't try and figure out how people will think in the isolation of your own mind. To quote Wittgenstein: look and see! Or in this case, ask and see!

That is one of my favourite books, it completely changed the way I think and continues to. I often wish it was more widely read.

Re: Ask HN: Advice on balancing family life at a startup

#23
Your question is « how to think about it », not about receiving a pre-cooked answer.

My suggestion is to think about it strategically. Make a diagnostic (what is wrong and why), derive principles (what are the truly important rules to observe if you want to fix things), finally build a corresponding action plan (what you need to do, and in what order). Rewalk these steps regularly. Talk with your family and partners. Guilt will go away if you stand on principles you believe in. Good luck!

Re: Ask HN: Advice on balancing family life at a startup

#24
As others have said, put family always first. Still talk to your co-founders, there is a high chance they'll be understanding, if not, you're better off knowing that early. I'd never personally stick with anyone who doesn't put a child with health difficulties before job.

I wish your girl all the best!

Re: Ask HN: Advice on balancing family life at a startup

#25
post #2

You should sit with your other co-founder(s) and present your current predicament just as you've done here. Your subsequent conversation should be weighing the cost (to the startup) of you leaving to go back to back to big tech vs. you staying and cutting back on your time commitment/responsibilities to where you find some balance. Hopefully, you all have a good enough relationship where you can be open, direct and h…

This seems like a textbook "good answer" from the book "Difficult Conversations". Don't try and figure out how people will think in the isolation of your own mind. To quote Wittgenstein: look and see! Or in this case, ask and see!

Just looked up the book (which i hadn't heard of), and it looks like its worth reading. Thanks for mentioning it!

Re: Ask HN: Advice on balancing family life at a startup

#26
post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This seems like a textbook "good answer" from the book "Difficult Conversations". Don't try and figure out how people will think in the isolation of your own mind. To quote Wittgenstein: look and see! Or in this case, ask and see!

Just looked up the book (which i hadn't heard of), and it looks like its worth reading. Thanks for mentioning it!

One of their other books, "Thanks for the Feedback", is also reading I regularly recommend as a part of my mentoring program.

Re: Ask HN: Advice on balancing family life at a startup

#29
I went through something similar. I'm a cofounder at a small startup and had a difficult health scare with myself, my wife and both kids, all around the same time.

Ceritnaly no right answer, and it was hell at the time, but looking back, here's a few things:

My cofounder took care of my many shortcomings during that time, no questions asked. He also has a family (which may help in that mutual understanding) but he'd get tasks with no context and say "don't worry, I'm on it" and it just got done. I hope you can get to this point with your other founders.

Your startup is more resilient than you think. I missed many things during that time, respond badly to emails, missed calls and we came out the other end alive. I realized we weren't as fragile as I thought. Ironically some of those missed calls and poor emails still turned into customers. Your startup will be able to handle you making mistakes and being less involved when needed.

I took me a long time to get back to "normal". It felt like chaos for almost 9 months and at some point, it may feel like the chaos will never end. You need to know that it will get better and you will begin to feel sane, even though it may take a while.

This may controversial, but the family and startup are not mutually exclusive, so I never think of it in terms of balance. The fact that you started a company means you're probably happier there than at a large company, being happier makes you a better husband and father and family unit, and that family unit will be your support through the ups and downs of building a company.

Good luck, you can do it.

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