Not most realistic role model for YC women. Affording a domain name like women.com and buying full stack developer?
My story of applying, getting in, and being a mom in Y Combinator
11–20 of 108 posts
Re: My story of applying, getting in, and being a mom in Y Combinator
#12"Each week, I either flew or drove to Mountain View. Burning the candles at both ends, this commuting & scheduling hell allowed me to maintain a stable life for my young daughters and make the most of YC.
I do not recommend this approach and in fact, it’s 100% against YC. You are required to move and you should. It’s exhausting and it takes your focus off of the most important things: talking to users, shipping code, and exercising. Nowhere in that list is commuting."
If you had to do it all again, would you move and leave your children behind? That seems like an impossible choice to make, and the tone of your story makes it sound like it all worked out well for you. Would you really not recommend the approach you took to someone in a similar situation?
Re: My story of applying, getting in, and being a mom in Y Combinator
#13There's an interesting back story on the Women.com domain.
NBC owned women.com and women.net from the takeover of iVillage.
A domain broker - Benjamin Padnos - won the domains at auction at SEDO for $1m in 2010, but the CEO of NBC - Jeff Zucker - blocked the domain name sale personally.
Padnos wound up suing NBC and SEDO and settling, taking the domain names(1).
Then he sold them to Susan in 2012 who purchased them with "some of the money she’d earned [at facebook]" (2)(3)
I have a ton of respect for the commitment on that transaction.
2012 was actually a relatively GOOD time to buy TLD's, compared to today's even-more-insane-than-insane-market.
And given that the WHOIS for Women.com is literally registered to her name / email I hope that she's still as fired up about landing that whale as she should be!
(1) http://techcrunch.com/2010/06/04/nbc-done-lawsuit/
(2) http://dotweekly.com/company-domain-movers-riot-games-amex/
Re: My story of applying, getting in, and being a mom in Y Combinator
#14"Each week, I either flew or drove to Mountain View. Burning the candles at both ends, this commuting & scheduling hell allowed me to maintain a stable life for my young daughters and make the most of YC. I do not recommend this approach and in fact, it’s 100% against YC. You are required to move and you should. It’s exhausting and it takes your focus off of the most important things: talking to users, shipping code,…
I did the opposite: moved for the summer, leaving my wife + 4 kids in Chicago. It wasn't easy. Others I knew moved their whole families for ~4 months. That also wasn't easy.
If I did it again, and budget permitting, I probably would split time — weekends in Chicago, Monday through Thurs or Friday in Mountain View.
What was interesting was how shocked family members and friends were that we'd work something out like this. If it had been a military deployment, though, no one would have batted an eye.
Re: My story of applying, getting in, and being a mom in Y Combinator
#15"Each week, I either flew or drove to Mountain View. Burning the candles at both ends, this commuting & scheduling hell allowed me to maintain a stable life for my young daughters and make the most of YC. I do not recommend this approach and in fact, it’s 100% against YC. You are required to move and you should. It’s exhausting and it takes your focus off of the most important things: talking to users, shipping code,…
I did the opposite: moved for the summer, leaving my wife + 4 kids in Chicago. It wasn't easy. Others I knew moved their whole families for ~4 months. That also wasn't easy. If I did it again, and budget permitting, I probably would split time — weekends in Chicago, Monday through Thurs or Friday in Mountain View. What was interesting was how shocked family members and friends were that we'd work something out like t…
I was going to say just this. I went through basic training two years ago, and will leave again for Signal BOLC next year. Basic was hard and BOLC will be easier; a deployment would be much harder than YC.
Re: My story of applying, getting in, and being a mom in Y Combinator
#16Not most realistic role model for YC women. Affording a domain name like women.com and buying full stack developer?
And she conveniently left out the cost of childcare for all the days she was gone. Oh, you know, those little $18-20 per hour* minor details. If her partner works fulltime, that could be round-the-clock care.
But yeah, of course a mom can do YC! (If she's rich and has a very, very supportive partner.)
And yeah, I do remember that tweet from Sam she highlighted. And the thing I tweeted back to him, unacknowledged, still stands: daycare in SoMa is almost impossible to find, in some cases has a two-and-a-half year waiting list. Gee, I wonder why about half the women in tech leave mid-career.
* yes, that's the going rate in LA for two children, possibly more if one is a newborn, and/or if you pay your nanny on the books instead of off.
Re: My story of applying, getting in, and being a mom in Y Combinator
#17Not most realistic role model for YC women. Affording a domain name like women.com and buying full stack developer?
This is exactly the inspiration women (and everyone else who believe they don't fit the YC archetype) need more of. She specifically recommends against directly copying some of her actions. It's admirable how she overcame so many challenges she faced. Buckling down and getting shit done when you miss your family isn't easy, and she is a great role model for those who will have to do that. Hopefully her story will inspire more outliers to give it a shot despite their doubts.
Re: My story of applying, getting in, and being a mom in Y Combinator
#18"Each week, I either flew or drove to Mountain View. Burning the candles at both ends, this commuting & scheduling hell allowed me to maintain a stable life for my young daughters and make the most of YC. I do not recommend this approach and in fact, it’s 100% against YC. You are required to move and you should. It’s exhausting and it takes your focus off of the most important things: talking to users, shipping code,…
I did the opposite: moved for the summer, leaving my wife + 4 kids in Chicago. It wasn't easy. Others I knew moved their whole families for ~4 months. That also wasn't easy. If I did it again, and budget permitting, I probably would split time — weekends in Chicago, Monday through Thurs or Friday in Mountain View. What was interesting was how shocked family members and friends were that we'd work something out like t…
I totally valued the experience of being home on the weekends... I was commuting from Utah, but it was really really draining to travel that much. If possible, I think I'd opt to bring the family out. (My wife was pregnant, so that wasn't a real option for us.)
Re: My story of applying, getting in, and being a mom in Y Combinator
#19There's an interesting back story on the Women.com domain. NBC owned women.com and women.net from the takeover of iVillage. A domain broker - Benjamin Padnos - won the domains at auction at SEDO for $1m in 2010, but the CEO of NBC - Jeff Zucker - blocked the domain name sale personally. Padnos wound up suing NBC and SEDO and settling, taking the domain names(1). Then he sold them to Susan in 2012 who purchased them w…
>I have a ton of respect for the commitment on that transaction
Why?
Re: My story of applying, getting in, and being a mom in Y Combinator
#20Not most realistic role model for YC women. Affording a domain name like women.com and buying full stack developer?
And she conveniently left out the cost of childcare for all the days she was gone. Oh, you know, those little $18-20 per hour* minor details. If her partner works fulltime, that could be round-the-clock care. But yeah, of course a mom can do YC! (If she's rich and has a very, very supportive partner.) And yeah, I do remember that tweet from Sam she highlighted. And the thing I tweeted back to him, unacknowledged, sti…
You're right that a very supportive partner is important. Being a mother, you probably have a pretty good system already, but I have some advice from my own experience that may or may not be helpful. I've been a work-at-home dad taking care of our little son.
Save tasks that need complete focus for when your child is napping or sleeping at night. Do the stuff you can easily break from and start up again while your child needs (some but not undivided) attention like being strapped into a highchair for meals/coloring, watching a movie, or playing with toys/ipad/whatever else you allow.
One great advantage we have as parents is being able to quickly recharge by enjoying time teaching/playing/snuggling with our little ones.