[mysteriousllama]

Working at non-vaporware startups is hard. Very hard. Bootstrapping one is even harder.

Long hours, little time for family. After a big push I'll be entirely strung out and exhausted, staring at a wall mumbling random thoughts like someone who suffers from dementia. It's miserable.

And rewarding in so many ways. My personal favorite is that at the end of the day I get to say 'Look at what I built! Millions of people are using it!'.. Nothing beats that feeling.

I'm not young anymore. I've done more startups than most. I'll eventually be taken as a joke no matter how up to date my skill-set is. But for now.. This is what I love. Some people are just built for it.

[gphat]

That's a good perspective. It's not for everyone. I didn't touch on that in my post, but it's important. I maintain a pretty rigid schedule and it's not been a problem at this job.

A reason I'm well suited is perhaps many years of ops and on-call work. I am not necessarily at my desk banging out code all day and night but weekend and middle-of-the-night emergencies are nothing new.

I also have a spouse who very much believes in me being happy. She's been really great in this process too.

Thanks for your comments!