Julian Weber, who was the model for YC in the sense that he was our seed investor, had a bad case of Crohn's disease. Among other things he had been the first

Julian Weber, who was the model for YC in the sense that he was our seed investor, had a bad case of Crohn's disease. Among other things he had been the first president of the National Lampoon, which must have been a lot of work, though perhaps not as much as a startup. He was a successful lawyer in New York so I believe medical expenses were not as much of a consideration for him as for the average person. How he managed to get so much done despite the disease, I'm not sure. He was very tough. I suspect he also arranged his life to allow for times when he felt too bad to work. I do know for sure that, except for feeling like crap a lot of the time, which he always concealed, Crohn's didn't prevent Julian from living well. He made money, had a happy family, and had an interesting life. http://www.paulgraham.com/julian.html http://www.paulgraham.com/julian.html