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Ask HN: I don't want to be a founder anymore

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Re: Ask HN: I don't want to be a founder anymore

#71

Post by LeifCarrotson »

chatmasta wrote: post #16

Take a vacation, preferably to a beach. Use it to learn what processes at your company are dependent on you. Then when you get back, start documenting and delegating every process until you are no longer a critical dependency. Then take another, longer vacation. Sounds like you need one.

Beaches aren't for everyone. In burnout situations, I find going backpacking (mountains/hiking, canoeing in the Canadian wilderness) to be even more relaxing than a beach. None of these annoying humans that seem to be always present on beaches and at workplaces. And also none of the attention-sucking internet access.

Re: Ask HN: I don't want to be a founder anymore

#72

Post by creepydata »

1) Seek professional help

2) take a vacation/staycation

3) Learn to delegate. Hire people if you need to.

4) Set boundaries between work and life, keep them.

5) Practice some sort of meditation. Meditation is a broad category.

6) Build and/or rebuild your interpersonal relationships outside of work.

Re: Ask HN: I don't want to be a founder anymore

#74

Post by rubicon33 »

I'm really quite curious - At such a pivotal stage in the entrepreneurship life, one where you're having more success than most, you're still unhappy?

If I were in your situation, feeling the way you feel at this moment, it would be an indicator that something is VERY wrong with my life. But if that were the case, it would have been wrong for a long time, and I would have just been ignoring it.

I can't help but wonder if that's what's going on here with you. At the Nth hour, on the precipice of outstanding success, you're peaking in unhappiness. The correlation is likely not a coincidence. It's an unhappiness in you that has been there for a long time, and the more you continue to ignore it, the more it will rob you of your life.

Find peace, my friend. It may mean enormous life changes.

Re: Ask HN: I don't want to be a founder anymore

#75

Post by rubicon33 »

I'm really quite curious - At such a pivotal stage in the entrepreneurship life, one where you're having more success than most, you're still unhappy?

If I were in your situation, feeling the way you feel at this moment, it would be an indicator that something is VERY wrong with my life. But if that were the case, it would have been wrong for a long time, and I would have just been ignoring it.

I can't help but wonder if that's what's going on here with you. At the Nth hour, on the precipice of outstanding success, you're peaking in unhappiness. The correlation is likely not a coincidence. It's an unhappiness in you that has been there for a long time, and the more you continue to ignore it, the more it will rob you of your life.

Find peace, my friend. It may mean enormous life changes.

Re: Ask HN: I don't want to be a founder anymore

#76

Post by aklsjdalksdjk »

LeifCarrotson wrote: post #71
chatmasta wrote: post #16

Take a vacation, preferably to a beach. Use it to learn what processes at your company are dependent on you. Then when you get back, start documenting and delegating every process until you are no longer a critical dependency. Then take another, longer vacation. Sounds like you need one.

Beaches aren't for everyone. In burnout situations, I find going backpacking (mountains/hiking, canoeing in the Canadian wilderness) to be even more relaxing than a beach. None of these annoying humans that seem to be always present on beaches and at workplaces. And also none of the attention-sucking internet access.

> None of these annoying humans that seem to be always present on beaches

find better beach :D

Re: Ask HN: I don't want to be a founder anymore

#77

Post by linkregister »

theparanoid wrote: post #47
coreyp_1 wrote: post #12

You're right: 1 person can't replace you. Can 3? Can 5? You must reorganize, if merely to save your sanity. Hire 1 person and start training them, then hire the next. For 1 week, write down everything that you do for your company, and then group the like tasks in order to figure out how many/what type of person(people) to hire/train. Start looking for that person, while writing down everything that you do the 2nd wee…

They already said "it's been hard to retain developers." One retention method is paying a fuckload of money.

Another method is to provide a path for career progression. It sounds like the solution for "I'm overloaded" is "give more responsibility to bored employees."

Re: Ask HN: I don't want to be a founder anymore

#78

Post by LeifCarrotson »

coreyp_1 wrote: post #12

You're right: 1 person can't replace you. Can 3? Can 5? You must reorganize, if merely to save your sanity. Hire 1 person and start training them, then hire the next. For 1 week, write down everything that you do for your company, and then group the like tasks in order to figure out how many/what type of person(people) to hire/train. Start looking for that person, while writing down everything that you do the 2nd wee…

Another note is that if you're irreplaceable and your (potential) customers or your investors know this, your company is less valuable. If they don't know about the problem, it's still less valuable but you may be able to pretend it's more stable than it is.

Having a non-unity bus factor is not only good for your sanity (you can take breaks, or quit) but also good financially. And even if you continue working, increased documentation and sharing domain knowledge can only make the day-to-day go more smoothly.

Re: Ask HN: I don't want to be a founder anymore

#79

Post by wolco »

newera2016 wrote: post #65

I am in a similar situation other than the fact that I don't have acquisition offer and startup is not making much money even not able to pay my own expense. I have lots of customers though and working on it for more than 3 years. Feeling depressed every day and try to ask the question "what to do?". However, I have people who are managing that well.

Raise prices immediately x3 if possible. You will lose some customers but make more with less work.

Re: Ask HN: I don't want to be a founder anymore

#80

Post by vacri »

creepydata wrote: post #62
bsvalley wrote: post #7

There is a huge misunderstanding from people in tech regarding blue collar jobs. You guys are way too naive about what it entails to work at a grocery store or on a construction site. I've done it a few times during summer while studying CS to pay for my bills. They do shifts from 4am-12pm, or 12pm-8pm, or even night shift... They treat you like a bad kid, you get humiliated 24h/7 by who ever is higher in the "hierar…

You're describing a poor work environment which can occur in tech, especially in startup. There's also thousands upon thousands of blue collar work that don't have a poor work environment. I felt much better after a day of unloading trucks in a wearhouse than I do now coming home from a day of sitting in an office chair programming. Sitting all day is terrible for your body and it's exausting to boot. One of the bigg…

And yet you still choose to be a programmer rather than a cargo handler? It's not just the physical toll as to why unskilled labour jobs suck.
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