[NickC25]

> My friends run startups (a couple of billion-dollar valued ones) and to be honest, those with wives and families seem to find it easier to do.

Don't you think this is somewhat of an outlier?

I mean, most startups will fail. 99.9% will never be valued at a billion or more. If you're running a company you founded and it's worth over a billion, yeah, I'm sure the wife or family is just fine. Those (or that) friend(s) probably have enough equity to make it worth their while, and a wife sticking around because hubby is going to exit in a year or two with a few hundred million in liquid cash is a safe bet. It's a lot harder if your partner is running a startup that probably won't make it.

[renewiltord]

I am not. But almost every startup runs the precipice before it makes it. Very few are up and to the right. So there are always tough moments. And among those who are having the tough moments now that I know, a supportive partner is a huge benefit in that moment.

[slap_shot]

Using founders of $1B+ companies is absolutely using outliers and is evaluating survivorship bias.

As it relates to this article, a $1B+ company generally has product market fit and the founder has taken $10M+ off the table, which is more than they would have made in a regular job over a ~10 year period. The authors concerns don't apply in that situation.

[renewiltord]

I'm not using "founders of $1B+ companies" as my set. I'm using "founders who are my friends" as the set and it happens to include a couple of $1b+ companies but the majority are not (yet!).