| Please take with a huge amount of salt as it a only describes my personal experience and is more of an anecdote than an advice :) Last year I was a cofounder of an AI/software company and after a year I was starting to be burned out. I didn’t liked the people I was working with, I was believing less and less in the idea, we where running out of cash and some investors where starting to exert pressure into making the company something I didn’t really liked. Anyway, I decided to do the math, which went something like this… in 5 years this business could “succeed” as in having x amount of users with a yearly revenue of y which could then be sold for z and with me having x percent of equity would mean that I’d make $$$. And all of that is with 12 hour days, constant pressure from customers/investors/marketing… On the other hand, I could get a good boring job that allows me to work about 2-3 hours a day, make $, which in 5 years is similar to $$$, but I have time to live… Well, I got the boring job (which is actually not boring! But I still work around 2-3 hours a day) and I couldn’t be happier! I’m still working on some side projects that might have some financial potential, but those are fun again, more of an adventure than a dread. Being in the startup game for a while made me realize that often it’s mentally is very similar to the whole idea of retirement. Work your head off, forget about happiness and fulfillment in life, break relationships, outsource kids to grandparents… and when you reach 59.5 years old and have no energy to enjoy life, maybe you’ll have money to enjoy life. Well, screw that!! I’m living today! |
Startups can be wonderful, but only if you (I) learn to enjoy the process. I'm glad you were able to find a way to enjoy your day to day and not continually defer enjoyment to the future!