What It's Like To Be A Startup CEO - The Backstory • Hacker News Board

Re: What It's Like To Be A Startup CEO - The Backstory

#11

Post by gardarh » Thu, Jul 19, 2012, 1:46 PM UTC

lubos wrote: post #8

alexro wrote: post #4

While there are no kids that ask their mom "where's daddy?" - meaning you - there is little to worry about. I totally wasted several years of my youth and that was the best time ever. And this guy was creating something, so +1 for that.

"where's daddy" problem is rarely an issue for entrepreneurs. kids are very good at adapting to their environment as long as their environment is stable and predictable. for example if you spend with your kids whole their life only 5 minutes a day, they perceive it as normal and wouldn't expect it any other way because "that's how daddy always used to be" the key for entrepreneur with kids is to deliver consistency n…

Just one minor thing... someone has to be with the kid every hour of every day. Don't know if you've been there but laying all that responsibility on your partner is, well, let's just hope the partner of the 5-minutes-a-day dad has patiente.

Re: What It's Like To Be A Startup CEO - The Backstory

#12

Post by d4nt » Thu, Jul 19, 2012, 3:27 PM UTC

djt wrote: post #9

d4nt wrote: post #5

The most challenging thing is that the people you’d normally share your challenges or fears with don’t understand the concept of “I’m gonna create something huge with nothing and I don’t care if I die trying.” This strikes me as the saddest part of this article, but also a bit of a failure on the part of the author. Part of being a founder is surely inspiring others to believe that you're on to something; that you’re…

Life at the "top" is lonely. Explaining to people what you're doing would probably have most people put you in a mental asylum. One of the things about this that he is trying to explain is that when youre the CEO of a start up you're doing things that a VERY small percentage of people would ever do, and very few people would understand why anyone would ever choose to do that.

Lonely? I agree. Impossible to explain your motivation to those closest to you? Hmmmmm. If you want customers or investors surely you need to learn how to explain your vision and be confident doing so.

Re: What It's Like To Be A Startup CEO - The Backstory

#13

Post by refurb » Thu, Jul 19, 2012, 4:01 PM UTC

lubos wrote: post #8

alexro wrote: post #4

While there are no kids that ask their mom "where's daddy?" - meaning you - there is little to worry about. I totally wasted several years of my youth and that was the best time ever. And this guy was creating something, so +1 for that.

"where's daddy" problem is rarely an issue for entrepreneurs. kids are very good at adapting to their environment as long as their environment is stable and predictable. for example if you spend with your kids whole their life only 5 minutes a day, they perceive it as normal and wouldn't expect it any other way because "that's how daddy always used to be" the key for entrepreneur with kids is to deliver consistency n…

It's very true that kids adapt. It's same reason why kids who are abused keep their mental faculties about them. Being beaten every other day is "normal" to them.

There are two problems with this "adaption". It creates adults with warped sense of what's normal. If they are lucky enough to gain a healthy disposition, they end up hating their parents for the upbringing they got.

Re: What It's Like To Be A Startup CEO - The Backstory

#14

Post by edwinnathaniel » Thu, Jul 19, 2012, 4:15 PM UTC

lubos wrote: post #8

alexro wrote: post #4

While there are no kids that ask their mom "where's daddy?" - meaning you - there is little to worry about. I totally wasted several years of my youth and that was the best time ever. And this guy was creating something, so +1 for that.

"where's daddy" problem is rarely an issue for entrepreneurs. kids are very good at adapting to their environment as long as their environment is stable and predictable. for example if you spend with your kids whole their life only 5 minutes a day, they perceive it as normal and wouldn't expect it any other way because "that's how daddy always used to be" the key for entrepreneur with kids is to deliver consistency n…

5 minutes a day is called "pretending" to be there for your kids when your mind is somewhere else.

Doing that consistently sounds like a punishment more than anything.

There are very very very very few people who can become a Great CEO and Great Dad within the same time frame.

You always have to give something.