It's possible to balance personal life and startup life. It takes focus, but it's definitely feasible. It sounds like you're very excited by the prospect of jo

It's possible to balance personal life and startup life. It takes focus, but it's definitely feasible. It sounds like you're very excited by the prospect of joining the startup. Do it. Make it clear to the founders that you won't miss your kids' bedtime day after day just to meet deadlines- good engineers are fulfilled and well rested engineers, and good founders will understand that. In the startup I work at, we actually tell each other to go home and get some rest/downtime if we notice others staying late too many days in a row. Sure, some nights you might have to stay a bit late because you just launched a product and have urgent bugs to fix- this is startup life after all (but you can always do that remotely when the kids are in bed). But conversely, it should give you the flexibility to leave early to spend extra time with your family when times are a bit less hectic. Make sure you're clear on the terms with the founders, and you should be fine :)