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I moved in with a co-founder shortly before we started a boot-strapped company (not a start-up). We had a hard few years with a huge amount of conflict and str
by dnh44 7y ago
I moved in with a co-founder shortly before we started a boot-strapped company (not a start-up).
We had a hard few years with a huge amount of conflict and stress. We nearly went bust on a regular basis. It was hard and went on for a long time.
Looking back I think that living together was a key factor of surviving that. No matter what the conflict was we always managed to move forward over a pizza and an hour of whatever co-op video game we happened to be playing at the time to wind down for the night. We almost never talked about work while at home though. And we had a cleaner come in once a week. We ended up living together for 4 years.
- ryanlol 7y ago> And we had a cleaner come in once a week. This is crucial.
- m-p-3 7y ago> We almost never talked about work while at home though. This is also important, you need a place and time to disconnect once in a while.
- pixiemaster 7y agodid you found a company once yourself? i have never felt the ability to disconnect since then.
- dnh44 7y agoAfter two or three years of 80 - 100 hour weeks I couldn’t do it anymore. I either had to change something or burn out and quit. What I did was to visualise the business failing. Every which way I could possibly imagine in detail all while telling myself “I don’t care I’ll find a way to be okay.” Now when I’m at work I’m totally focused on that and when I’m not I’m totally focused on whatever else I may be doing. I don’t feel stress anymore now either.
- m-p-3 7y agoI do own my business, it's fairly low volume but it's sustainable.