3 ms·
I'll provide a brief story from somebody I once knew (we didn't keep in touch). Person founded a startup during the .com bubble. He took on a lot of personal
by apohn 9y ago
I'll provide a brief story from somebody I once knew (we didn't keep in touch).
Person founded a startup during the .com bubble. He took on a lot of personal debt to fund it. In his words, "Went from driving a Ferrari to losing everything and having $600K+ of debt."
He had a spouse and kids and was a business person, not a tech person. For whatever reason he decided not to declare bankruptcy and spent the next 10 years digging himself out of that debt. Since he was a business person, he ended up much lower down the ladder in a sales role and climbed the ladder again. There was nothing romantic about his climb - he had to live in some really cold and often disparaged parts of US and worked for companies that are derided on HN. Basically going wherever he could get a job.
The last time I had talked to him we was doing very well financially, had paid off the debt, had just purchased a home, and was living in the part of the country that was a good fit for him and his family. You could still see the scars of those years in his health and his relationships with his spouse and kids.
Note that when some people say they "lose it all" they also lose their spouse/relationships and end up homeless. I guess it could have been much worse, but his situation was still awful.
- AznHisoka 9y ago"You could still see the scars of those years in his health and his relationships with his spouse and kids." How so?
- apohn 9y agoI'm not sure how to answer without stating the obvious (e.g. poor health reports) so I'll just state some of the causes. 1). Years of stress due to debt and having to work extremely long hours to make up for the debt. This includes less than ideal work environments. 2). Spouse being forced to take up all other responsibilities because their partner is working so much. Even though the partner is working so much, there is limited money for extra help. Plus, the constant stress of a bad financial situation. 3). Having to move every few years. Kids changing schools every few years. 4). They were a minority (not white), and were lived in places that had very few people from the same ethnic group. That's not easy, especially in schools. Ever been bullied because your lunch is different from what everybody else is eating? Prolonged stress takes a toll. This includes families who were happy with each other and lived "normal" lives until that stress began. Long term stress on a family will take a long time to resolve after things become good again.