[ivalm]

> All of this after 7 to 10 years of working 80+ hours week, no social life, loosing family, sacrificing health, taking less than $100k/year salary

If you are taking less than $100k/year salary for 7 to 10 years while also absolutely no-lifing then that’s on you.

It’s true that early on you prob take ramen salary, but that’s for one or two years. You can prob scale to 200k by year 3 if your thing is viable. No-lifing when your startup is in year 5 is just a personal choice. If by year 5 you aren’t on a path of unicorn then prob it’s time to evaluate if it’s worth so much sacrifice or if you should run it as a lifestyle business (or just go do something else).

[ZhadruOmjar]

If the product isn't making enough money to pay people by year 5 you're not a startup founder you're just unemployed with a side project.