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The long hours mostly has to do with the startup community. They get funding and VC wants to make a profit within a year and get out, at the expense of any lon
by paulhauggis 14y ago
The long hours mostly has to do with the startup community. They get funding and VC wants to make a profit within a year and get out, at the expense of any long-term goals of the company.
The result is 70 or 80 hour work weeks and burnout. The VC don't care because they will be done in the short-term anyway.
It's the reason why I refuse to work for startups.
- sabat 14y agoThis company is not a startup; it's merely a successful small business. the startup community ... get funding and VC wants to make a profit within a year and get out, at the expense of any long-term goals This is not unheard of, but certainly not the norm. Successful VC firms invest of big growth, but over a longer term. Look at the huge VC-backed successes in SV (obvious examples like Google, LinkedIn) and you'll see anything but a build-it-and-flip-it mentality.
- timjahn 14y ago"merely a successful small business." Really? That small business is financially more successful than most crazy ass VC backed startups with the latest photo sharing solution will ever be. </rant>
- ceejayoz 14y agoIn fairness, that still doesn't make it a startup.
- slantyyz 14y agoI think after being in business for over a decade, 37signals is way past being called a startup.
- timjahn 14y agoNo, it doesn't. But who the hell cares?
- nanijoe 14y agoPray tell, what would make it a startup?
- Avshalom 14y agolosing money
- ceejayoz 14y agoThey were a startup early on. I think it's safe to say they've transitioned out of that at this point, just as Google, Amazon, etc. have.
- petercooper 14y agoI know this'll be a controversial stance but IMHO.. needing to work 5 or 6 days a week to prove the business case, make the business stick, and to scale the business to a point where you have multiple employees and processes that allow you to only work 4 day weeks if you want. Of course, some businesses can run on fewer hours from the start, but many require a lot of sweat and long hours to get the engine running.
- sabat 14y agoThat small business is financially more successful Sure. But they're not trying to build the same thing. I think it's mainly a midwestern attitude vs. Californian. Fried just wanted to build a business. Startup founders want to build companies.
- jeremyjh 14y agoStartup founders want to sell companies.
- campnic 14y agoWow, could we put the mythical "startup" on any more of a pedestal? '... merely a successful small business' as a diminutive to 37Signals? We've really jumped the shark here, haven't we?
- saraid216 14y ago> This company is not a startup; it's merely a successful small business. Startup, n.: A small business that is not successful yet.
- MattRogish 14y agoStartups don't have to be VC backed and don't have to work long hours. We aren't and we don't.
- joshu 14y ago> VC wants to make a profit within a year Typical returns take 5-7 years for a VC. < 1 year returns tend to be low. You are presenting things you believe as facts. Please don't do that.
- physcab 14y agoThis isn't exclusive or indicative to startups. I have friends who work at large companies (Apple in particular) who work 90 hour work weeks and are completely miserable.
- harryh 14y agoYour understanding of VC timetables is wrong. It's almost unheard of for a VC to book a profit within a year.