The Unintended Consequences of Startups - Docstoc CEO
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The Unintended Consequences of Startups - Docstoc CEO
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Re: The Unintended Consequences of Startups - Docstoc CEO
#2I keep seeing these types of articles and it's the same story over and over again, "one must work 20 hours a day 7 days a week in order to be successful with your startup." Is this always the case? I can't imagine it is. Surely there are people out there who ran their startup successfully on a part-time basis while working a full time job and enjoying quality family time.
Re: The Unintended Consequences of Startups - Docstoc CEO
#3By losing that much weight that quickly he is actually overcompensating for one unhealthy behavior with another. He'd be much better off trying to sustainably eat better over a long period of time.
Re: The Unintended Consequences of Startups - Docstoc CEO
#4I keep seeing these types of articles and it's the same story over and over again, "one must work 20 hours a day 7 days a week in order to be successful with your startup." Is this always the case? I can't imagine it is. Surely there are people out there who ran their startup successfully on a part-time basis while working a full time job and enjoying quality family time.
It's not only not the case that you must do it, it's usually suboptimal, it's just hard to tell that from the inside. He even mentions himself that he's working at a greatly reduced capacity. If he spent less time at work and more time on himself, he'd probably get more done.
Re: The Unintended Consequences of Startups - Docstoc CEO
#5I keep seeing these types of articles and it's the same story over and over again, "one must work 20 hours a day 7 days a week in order to be successful with your startup." Is this always the case? I can't imagine it is. Surely there are people out there who ran their startup successfully on a part-time basis while working a full time job and enjoying quality family time.
Well, here's the thing:
(a) That is what we are told and
(b) That is what is reinforced by those who have been successful
How many stories have you heard that were basically, "Yeah, I started this company part-time, never worked on it more than a few hours a day because I had this other job, and it was bought for 20 million bucks!" Personally, I've heard none.
Now, I'm not going to sit here and tell you that I still work 20 hours a day, because I don't. Last summer I was close, though. I stopped sacrificing my health at the beginning of this year when I began going to the gym every day again and stopped smoking a pack a day. Now that spring is upon us, I'm even beginning to remember a time when "woman" was a word in my vernacular.
The reason you see these types of articles and the reason you will continue to is because for those of us who have no other jobs, our startups are our lives. I could work for Big Co. and go home at the end of the day not at all worrying about whether or not they will be there tomorrow. The company would pay me X to perform Y and that would be exactly what I'd perform (if I wanted a promotion, maybe Y+1).
At TicketStumbler, I am not merely a cog. If I don't write code for that new feature or fix that bug or setup that new server, nobody else is going to. This means that not only do I constantly have a lot to do, but it all has pretty much the same priority: done yesterday. And if I decide to take a few days off instead of doing one of those things? I get the pleasure of feeling guilty about it the entire time.
So it basically boils down to: at an early-stage startup you have the pleasure of controlling your destiny and being your own boss; for those of us who cannot stomach traditional employment, we feel as if we actually have a soul. The downside? Well, you live in a constant and unrelenting state of stress and obligation. The effects of that state differ from person to person, but alienations/estrangement from family and friends and unwillingness to prioritize anything other than the company are common ones.
Re: The Unintended Consequences of Startups - Docstoc CEO
#6I keep seeing these types of articles and it's the same story over and over again, "one must work 20 hours a day 7 days a week in order to be successful with your startup." Is this always the case? I can't imagine it is. Surely there are people out there who ran their startup successfully on a part-time basis while working a full time job and enjoying quality family time.
'Hard work' is a relative term. In the end, it's all about competition. If you're building anything worthwhile, you will have competitors - if not in the beginning, after you launch. In order to be better than the competition, working smart is not enough, because you're not the only smart person around. The only option is to work smarter and harder than the competition. Now you could be in an industry where everyone works 8 hours a day, so working harder wouldn't give you too much incremental advantage. Unfortunately (or fortunately for those who can work 'hard'), tech startups are not that industry.
Re: The Unintended Consequences of Startups - Docstoc CEO
#7I keep seeing these types of articles and it's the same story over and over again, "one must work 20 hours a day 7 days a week in order to be successful with your startup." Is this always the case? I can't imagine it is. Surely there are people out there who ran their startup successfully on a part-time basis while working a full time job and enjoying quality family time.
From what I've observed, when people say they spend "X hours a day working" (for some outrageously high X) what they're really talking about is how much time they spend at work, which is not the same thing. These quantitative games are a bit silly. It reminds me of when people brag about how many lines of code they churn out, as if that were a good thing.
There is a real issue, though. Most startups demand an intensity of commitment that is difficult to reconcile with part-time engagement or even, it seems, with so-called work-life balance.
Re: The Unintended Consequences of Startups - Docstoc CEO
#8I keep seeing these types of articles and it's the same story over and over again, "one must work 20 hours a day 7 days a week in order to be successful with your startup." Is this always the case? I can't imagine it is. Surely there are people out there who ran their startup successfully on a part-time basis while working a full time job and enjoying quality family time.
Well, here's the thing: (a) That is what we are told and (b) That is what is reinforced by those who have been successful How many stories have you heard that were basically, "Yeah, I started this company part-time, never worked on it more than a few hours a day because I had this other job, and it was bought for 20 million bucks!" Personally, I've heard none. Now, I'm not going to sit here and tell you that I still…
(b) I've heard of many Internet companies like this.
In fact, most of the stories I've heard of companies doing the 20-hour day thing end in failure. I think more people try it that way.
Actually, I should rephrase that---companies that START OUT with 20 hour days more often than not end in failure.
The reason why is simple: there's no reason why you need to work that hard until you've found a "magic model" and are scaling it.
In other words, here is my blueprint for maximizing your odds of starting a successful Internet company:
a) have stable income.
b) start side projects part time, don't work on them for more than a few hours a day.
c) once one of the side projects is generating significant revenue more than income source A, or is growing like a Twitter, then slowly ramp up to where you're working the 10+ hour day thing
d) sell for bazillions
If you skip A and B, you will likely fail.
Re: The Unintended Consequences of Startups - Docstoc CEO
#9Earlier quoted context omitted.
Well, here's the thing: (a) That is what we are told and (b) That is what is reinforced by those who have been successful How many stories have you heard that were basically, "Yeah, I started this company part-time, never worked on it more than a few hours a day because I had this other job, and it was bought for 20 million bucks!" Personally, I've heard none. Now, I'm not going to sit here and tell you that I still…
(b) I've heard of many Internet companies like this. In fact, most of the stories I've heard of companies doing the 20-hour day thing end in failure. I think more people try it that way. Actually, I should rephrase that---companies that START OUT with 20 hour days more often than not end in failure. The reason why is simple: there's no reason why you need to work that hard until you've found a "magic model" and are s…
What you describe is the no-risk route. However, by going full time on a project you increase its chances of success significantly. I'd argue that it is very hard to determine that an idea (including successive iterations) will not lead to a successful internet company till you go full time on it.
Re: The Unintended Consequences of Startups - Docstoc CEO
#10In university I had a teacher specialist on industry production factories.
He said something I grabbed: "When I go to a company, in five minutes I can see if the owners work hard or work well. When you go to a well managed company is very boring, all things are made routine and made without effort"
If you work 20 hrs day STOP!! Your work quality/hr is very low, you make your life hell, and your products reflect that. Start learning how to make effective use of your time. There are specialist on that, read books, see videos(eg Even Pagan) learn to avoid distractions, focus like a laser on what brings value to your company(marketing:learn about people necessities ).