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Post YC Depression

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Re: Post YC Depression

#111

Post by gbear605 »

texasbigdata wrote: post #106
bob33212 wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The 80/week people I have seen are "too busy" to stop and ask themselves if they are spending their time efficiently. They are focused on the short term tasks right in front of them. It is like someone saying they are too busy to get an oil change or new tires so they keep driving their car until they are stuck on the side of the road.

This seems like the "oh you're busy, you just haven't learned how to manage your time effectively" feedback that's not helpful. Someone relatively smart probably has a decent idea of the constraint set in front of them. Let's say the company is close to failing and by working your absolute hardest you can keep it alive for 9 months. Would you not do it? Like maybe there's some insight on time management but after rud…

At some point, working more hours makes you less productive. As an obvious example, you can’t work literally every hour of every day, since without sleep or food you can’t function. Now perhaps the curve for you really does peak at 100 hours/week, or 80 hours/week, but frankly I doubt it.

Re: Post YC Depression

#112

Post by ryanmercer »

ghusbands wrote: post #63
StevenWaterman wrote: post #15

This was a good article, but I want to briefly call out that `6X more likely to suffer from ADHD` is not a useful stat when trying to argue that being a founder causes health issues. ADHD is present from birth and cannot develop as the result of trauma. It's still an interesting statistic, but for a different reason. People with ADHD are more likely to become founders, as they're more driven by passion, challenge, an…

> ADHD is present from birth and cannot develop as the result of trauma. This is a misleading claim, as secondary ADHD can result from traumatic head injury, and childhood trauma can result in a condition that may differ from but is behaviourally very similar to ADHD.

And sleep deprivation/poor sleep habits, psychotropic use, stimulants, etc can all cause comparable conditions. I imagine the original quote isn't talking about a specific, concrete, diagnosis and is leaning more towards the colloquial use.

I had some meetings at the YC SF office 2 years ago and everyone I saw, and talked to, had a phone or laptop screen they were staring at while trying to also talk to you and in some instances pausing at their laptop to do something on their phone while occasionally looking up to notice you were still there and talking.

Anecdotally I find that doing the above can start to cause you to not be able to focus on any one thing with any real level of attention and I'm not a founder or startup employee that has a ton of real, and imagined, pressure/worry added to that.

Re: Post YC Depression

#113

Post by Legogris »

mnsc wrote: post #52
Legogris wrote: post #40

> Only recently, have a select few started to promote less destructive lifestyles for founders: I think at the bottom of this is the futility in trying to emulate others. You are unique and the only one who can be responsible for your lifestyle choices is - you. Figure out what works for you in terms of workstyle, lifestyle and work-life balance, rather than using role models as a blueprint. I know a few people who h…

> Telling those individuals that they need 8h is not improving anything. Of course not, but telling these individuals that they are outliers and shouldn't give this as advice on "how to be successful" will improve things. They desperately need some of that humbling self critique that we ordinary, impostor syndrome suffering people do all the time and we can help them!

What I'm trying to say is, stop letting others telling you how you should live your life and figure out what works for you.

You may be an outlier in some aspects and so even the advice from "normals" won't apply.

Re: Post YC Depression

#114

Post by superasn »

quelsolaar wrote: post #64

You have to work on something you are passionate about. If you work on Sundays because you cant keep yourself away from it, then great. If you work Sundays because you think if you work hard enough you will become rich and successful, then you are likely going to burn yourself out. Your life is NOW, be happy now. Don't push it off. If coding all day makes you happy do so. but if you rather hang out at the beach do so…

> Your life is NOW, be happy now

This seemingly simple sentence carries so much wisdom.

I'm not the biggest fan of Eckhart tolle but this is basically what his philosophy is too. To quote him "It is not uncommon for people to spend their whole life waiting to start living."

Understanding it can transform your entire life (at least it did mine)

Re: Post YC Depression

#115

Post by throwaway_tech »

drenginian wrote: post #80

People seem to become really attached to the validation from YC. Getting into an incubator or getting money from investors is zero measure of business success. Business success is users and growth and revenue. Whether YC blesses you is also zero reflection on you as a person. Rejection by YC means nothing at all. I think business is about trying to make money, it’s not about YC and funding and the scene and investmen…

>Getting into an incubator or getting money from investors is zero measure of business success.

That is sort of like saying money doesn't buy happiness...true, but financial stress or poverty typically can be outright bars to happiness. As you say YC admission or raising funds from investors isn't a measure of business success...but then again I haven't seen a tech unicorn that hasn't been funded by investors.

>Head down, work, balanced lifestyle, try to make something small succeed on your own.

That is a great message to tell to the 99% that get rejected from YC and will never touch VC funding...but even that sounds more like a pipe dream than the American dream now a days.

Re: Post YC Depression

#116

Post by davidajackson »

throwaway_tech wrote: post #115
drenginian wrote: post #80

People seem to become really attached to the validation from YC. Getting into an incubator or getting money from investors is zero measure of business success. Business success is users and growth and revenue. Whether YC blesses you is also zero reflection on you as a person. Rejection by YC means nothing at all. I think business is about trying to make money, it’s not about YC and funding and the scene and investmen…

>Getting into an incubator or getting money from investors is zero measure of business success. That is sort of like saying money doesn't buy happiness...true, but financial stress or poverty typically can be outright bars to happiness. As you say YC admission or raising funds from investors isn't a measure of business success...but then again I haven't seen a tech unicorn that hasn't been funded by investors. >Head…

> ...but then again I haven't seen a tech unicorn that hasn't been funded by investors.

MailChimp

Re: Post YC Depression

#117

Post by WillManidis »

amondal wrote: post #100
arexxbifs wrote: post #17

> Farmgirl Flowers CEO Christina Stembel normally sleeps just 4 hours per night Doing this for sustained periods of time will lead to reduced cognitive performance[0] and, eventually, severe fatigue and possibly depression. Sounds like optimal operating conditions for a CEO. If the dotcom bubble taught me anything, it's that working all the time is neither cool nor a measure of success, but rather the opposite. [0] h…

Once I read Matthew Walker's "Why We Sleep" - I've started prioritizing sleep over most things. Highly recommend that book.

You should not trust the claims made in that book. https://guzey.com/books/why-we-sleep/

Re: Post YC Depression

#118

Post by drclau »

drenginian wrote: post #80

People seem to become really attached to the validation from YC. Getting into an incubator or getting money from investors is zero measure of business success. Business success is users and growth and revenue. Whether YC blesses you is also zero reflection on you as a person. Rejection by YC means nothing at all. I think business is about trying to make money, it’s not about YC and funding and the scene and investmen…

The problem is, virtually no VC is taking cold calls anymore (did they ever, really?). YC is great if you are early stage and need the money, networking and yes, validation. Their knowledge and experience are also very useful, but they already make it available to the public for free (which is amazing in itself).

If you can bootstrap a business without needing any of the above, that's really great and you should do it. But that depends greatly on the type of your business.

Re: Post YC Depression

#119

Post by JangoSteve »

throwaway_tech wrote: post #115
drenginian wrote: post #80

People seem to become really attached to the validation from YC. Getting into an incubator or getting money from investors is zero measure of business success. Business success is users and growth and revenue. Whether YC blesses you is also zero reflection on you as a person. Rejection by YC means nothing at all. I think business is about trying to make money, it’s not about YC and funding and the scene and investmen…

>Getting into an incubator or getting money from investors is zero measure of business success. That is sort of like saying money doesn't buy happiness...true, but financial stress or poverty typically can be outright bars to happiness. As you say YC admission or raising funds from investors isn't a measure of business success...but then again I haven't seen a tech unicorn that hasn't been funded by investors. >Head…

> As you say YC admission or raising funds from investors isn't a measure of business success...but then again I haven't seen a tech unicorn that hasn't been funded by investors.

There is a difference between a company getting investor funding and the investor funding being a significant measure of success.

There are plenty of unicorns that didn't raise money until well after they were already considered a success. A couple examples off the top of my head would be:

* Github - first round was a $100mil series A at a $650mil valuation about 5 years after founding.

* Atlassian - first round was a $60mil round 8 years after founding.

I'm sure there are plenty more that are easier to find once you know what you're looking for.

Re: Post YC Depression

#120

Post by hfdh434535 »

sebastianconcpt wrote: post #88

Some good points but no diagnose or solutions beyond the expression of the problem. Here is what I'd add for it: I don't care if you're make or female, people need to improve constantly in 3 parameters for their whole life-span: 1. Looks (basically proper nutrition and some degree of bodybuilding training) 2. Psychological strength 3. Affluence You need a life meaning mission that makes you feel good at improving the…

"people need to improve constantly" No they don't. Plenty of people happy to be as they are. When you're constantly running on this treadmill of self improvement, you'll probably get depressed real quick.
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