I think the last point is also the most important: working longer hours does not make you more productive on an absolute scale! It's not that you accomplish les

I think the last point is also the most important: working longer hours does not make you more productive on an absolute scale! It's not that you accomplish less per hour, it's that you accomplish less full stop. Now, working an 80-hour week once in a rare while? That actually works. If you have a really important deadline or really need to get something done, sure. But doing it regularly is completely irrational. Take a look at "Why Crunch Mode Doesn't Work"[1]. [1]: http://devopsangle.com/2012/04/18/what-research-says-about-working-long-hours/ http://devopsangle.com/2012/04/18/what-research-says-about-w... It's also very important not to fall into a trap that demands extreme hours often. It's too easy to think it'll be "just this once". And if it really is just once--for some very good reason--then fine. But if you catch yourself doing it repeatedly, watch out. If you want to accomplish anything, you should of course be willing to work hard. But, more importantly, you have to work efficiently. Constantly working long hours might be hard, but it's not efficient. Especially for a startup, how hard or long you worked simply does not matter--what's important is what you accomplished.