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Female Founder Secrets: Fertility

femfosec.com

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Re: Female Founder Secrets: Fertility

#41

Post by abellerose »

austincheney wrote: post #7

The only logical answer here is youth. The younger you are the more fertile you are. This is true for both men and women, but more true for women. If you want children at some point in life then prioritize children first and early. I know, this puts your ambitious career on hold for a while and start ups require huge ambition. Still, start up opportunities will not be hyper critically different in the future than the…

It's completely unethical to have kids and like another commenter has said brings a great disadvantage economically. I would suggest to anyone to not follow your advice.

edit: I won't be further commenting on the topic because the same people asking everyone "when are you going to have kids like me?" are just going to downvote. Yes, I rather see an end to humankind because that ends suffering. Less suffering in a universe is better than a universe that experienced more. Yes, nobody cares about the ones that wish they never had been born because of whatever reason that was inflicted upon them.

Re: Female Founder Secrets: Fertility

#42

Post by tobib »

dehrmann wrote: post #19
rantwasp wrote: post #3

I empathize with how hard it is for a female founder in particular and for a woman in general when it comes to mixing children with a career. That said the advice to freeze your eggs (ie work now, live later) rubs me the wrong way. I wish we could live in a society where people would not have to work themselves to death and were able to... you know... enjoy life

> wish we could live in a society where people would not have to work themselves to death and were able to... you know... enjoy life While I do agree, this is where I draw a distinction between "job" and "career." A job is something you do to make money. A career is an end in itself. Balancing a career and parenthood is incredibly hard because they're both large time commitments. Despite what the 90's told women (tho…

There are societies where a woman can have both, a career and a family. And that usually comes with maternity leave, parental leave, child benefits, child care, etc.

I hope I don't misunderstand you but what you said sounded to me like it's either or, and I don't think that has to be true.

Re: Female Founder Secrets: Fertility

#43

Post by _lx4l »

austincheney wrote: post #7

The only logical answer here is youth. The younger you are the more fertile you are. This is true for both men and women, but more true for women. If you want children at some point in life then prioritize children first and early. I know, this puts your ambitious career on hold for a while and start ups require huge ambition. Still, start up opportunities will not be hyper critically different in the future than the…

Adoption is another logical answer that can be very rewarding. All of us in the family I grew up in were adopted as infants. It's more expensive than birthing your own children but I imagine parents that left their fertile years focused on a career would be able to afford adoption.

Re: Female Founder Secrets: Fertility

#44

Post by andi999 »

nzmsv wrote: post #27
Miner49er wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This advice is likely economically bad though. Capital now is better than capital later. I would think money made early and saved by not having children and invested will end up being much more then what will be spent on a fertility clinic later.

The chances of having a kid with a serious disorder go up dramatically for older mothers (and recent research shows this is true for fathers too). Even if we decide only to care about economics and not the kids health, health issues are expensive.

Can you point to the 'dramatic' risks for older fathers? Usually it is a minor change in chance blown up by sensational press.

Re: Female Founder Secrets: Fertility

#45

Post by antattack »

Even when having children young, I feel that whole child-rearing experience, aka family, takes a back seat once both parents start working full time. 8 hours work day + one hour commute = you see your kids for hour or two before they go to sleep.

Re: Female Founder Secrets: Fertility

#46

Post by lainga »

abellerose wrote: post #41
austincheney wrote: post #7

The only logical answer here is youth. The younger you are the more fertile you are. This is true for both men and women, but more true for women. If you want children at some point in life then prioritize children first and early. I know, this puts your ambitious career on hold for a while and start ups require huge ambition. Still, start up opportunities will not be hyper critically different in the future than the…

It's completely unethical to have kids and like another commenter has said brings a great disadvantage economically. I would suggest to anyone to not follow your advice. edit: I won't be further commenting on the topic because the same people asking everyone "when are you going to have kids like me?" are just going to downvote. Yes, I rather see an end to humankind because that ends suffering. Less suffering in a uni…

What impact do you foresee any economic gains from childlessness having in 100 years, if your advice is followed universally? Who will inherit those gains?

Re: Female Founder Secrets: Fertility

#47

Post by bengale »

dehrmann wrote: post #19
rantwasp wrote: post #3

I empathize with how hard it is for a female founder in particular and for a woman in general when it comes to mixing children with a career. That said the advice to freeze your eggs (ie work now, live later) rubs me the wrong way. I wish we could live in a society where people would not have to work themselves to death and were able to... you know... enjoy life

> wish we could live in a society where people would not have to work themselves to death and were able to... you know... enjoy life While I do agree, this is where I draw a distinction between "job" and "career." A job is something you do to make money. A career is an end in itself. Balancing a career and parenthood is incredibly hard because they're both large time commitments. Despite what the 90's told women (tho…

It's true. Telling people they can have everything does them such a disservice, because it strips them of the knowledge that these decisions exist. We all have to pick and choose where we apply our energies based on what we value most, pretending that isn't the case just means those decisions are made for them.

Re: Female Founder Secrets: Fertility

#48

Post by austincheney »

Miner49er wrote: post #15
austincheney wrote: post #7

The only logical answer here is youth. The younger you are the more fertile you are. This is true for both men and women, but more true for women. If you want children at some point in life then prioritize children first and early. I know, this puts your ambitious career on hold for a while and start ups require huge ambition. Still, start up opportunities will not be hyper critically different in the future than the…

This advice is likely economically bad though. Capital now is better than capital later. I would think money made early and saved by not having children and invested will end up being much more then what will be spent on a fertility clinic later.

Unfortunately, that is the other side of the coin. Most people who have children at young ages tend to be less well off financially for the rest of their lives than people who wait until late to have children. That is simply because time and principle are the only factors that really matter in building wealth.

This difference can also be taken to absurd extremes though. I honestly wonder why single people without children in my line of work aren't millionaires just based upon the compensation of their day jobs. After having 5 military deployments I can live in a cardboard box and would require only the cheapest of cars to commute to work. I don't spend money very often.

Re: Female Founder Secrets: Fertility

#49

Post by kgybcehbx »

rantwasp wrote: post #3

I empathize with how hard it is for a female founder in particular and for a woman in general when it comes to mixing children with a career. That said the advice to freeze your eggs (ie work now, live later) rubs me the wrong way. I wish we could live in a society where people would not have to work themselves to death and were able to... you know... enjoy life

Well we used to have a society with a division of labor and stable institution of marriage so that women didn't have to work themselves to death through the child rearing years but we decided as a society that in order for women to be truly free, they need to be trapped in the same work to death life that men have been in since prehistoric times, to the detriment of their lives and the lives of our children. But it'll be OK because the village can raise the children; just send them off to the tax subsidized day care to be raised in a 1:20 adult: child ratio (they'll be fiiiiiine) and then you can have your career and your "motherhood" (no matter that the child trusts the nanny more than you because you were always at work) too

Re: Female Founder Secrets: Fertility

#50

Post by IfOnlyYouKnew »

I wonder if there are better models that might work with a bit of help from everyone involved, that don't amount to taking medical risks and delaying children more than any man ever would?

Such as: being a founder comes with a lot of work, but also some power. To the degree that bringing children to work is mostly a problem of co-workers rolling their eyes, could a confident founder make them stop doing that?

Since that would probably still be somewhat stressful, could a pair of founder-parents pull it off? And/or could on-site childcare make it work? For a VC-backed startup, the costs wouldn't seem to be prohibitive?

(I maybe naive here, considering some of the tales I've heard of how women are still seen/treated in the industry)

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