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But I just don't believe that you can't be a successful founder and still have a life/family/healthy lifestyle. You can be successful in any number of odd scen

by zaidf 13y ago

But I just don't believe that you can't be a successful founder and still have a life/family/healthy lifestyle. You can be successful in any number of odd scenarios but that is not the norm. It is not hard to prove: if you talked to any founder that led the creation of a billion dollar enterprise from nothing, you will find an endless stream of stories such as Adora's. One of the things people fail to understand is that when you are embarking on an ambitious venture, the goal post keeps moving all the time. When you start out, you think that at a million dollar revenue, you'll be golden. Then you hit the million and now the goal post has moved to ten million dollars. And then something happens that completely threatens your whole business. Now you find yourself not just trying to grow revenue but save the entire business. In this situation, how much time you find for life/family/health will vary from founder to founder but as a rule, it is good to go in assuming the answer is "not much".

7Figures2Commas 13y ago
> You can be successful in any number of odd scenarios but that is not the norm. It is not hard to prove: if you talked to any founder that led the creation of a billion dollar enterprise from nothing, you will find an endless stream of stories such as Adora's. Starting with the exceptions, and not the rule, can lead to distorted perceptions. Building a billion dollar enterprise is not the normal outcome for most founders. It is the "odd" scenario. There's nothing wrong with modeling your entrepreneurial journey after those of billion-dollar founders, but the "go big or go home" path is not the only option for entrepreneurs starting a business. It is entirely possible to start a multi-million dollar business and still have a life, and I'd encourage more entrepreneurs to talk to self-employed millionaires (there are a lot of them) than read Forbes articles about tech's most visible billionaires.
- zaidf 13y ago
  It is entirely possible to start a multi-million dollar business and still have a life Yes, but anyone that knows the author and his business should also know that his post isn't addressed to those looking to make nice profitable businesses. The author has a very specific audience of people seeking funding and wanting to build large companies. His post appropriately addresses them; it isn't written that much for people whose ultimate motivation is to build a self-sufficient profitable million dollar business. Building a billion dollar enterprise is not the normal outcome for most founders. It is the "odd" scenario. Being successful at building the billion dollar business is the odd scenario in this case; attempting to build it is the norm. That most fail is just proof of how hard it is.
  - 7Figures2Commas 13y ago
    > The writer has a very specific audience of people seeking funding and wanting to build large companies. First, every "large" company was once a "small" company. You don't get to $100 million in revenue without first getting to $1 million in revenue. Focusing on the former milestone before the latter is silly. Second, while I respect your point, it's important to look at actions, not words. Early-stage investors in Silicon Valley talk a lot about the type of businesses they want to fund, but spend half an hour browsing Crunchbase, AngelList, etc. A ton of the companies with seed funding (perhaps the majority) have very little chance of growing into the types of businesses their investors say they're looking to be involved with. Finally, in response to your edit that attempting to build billion-dollar businesses is the norm: you can only come to such a belief if you have firmly ensconced yourself in the Silicon Valley startup scene. Countless new businesses are formed around the country each year and the people who create them, most of whom don't have billion-dollar delusions, are just as much "founders" as the broke 20-something making the rounds on Sand Hill Road.
    - zaidf 13y ago
      Focusing on the former milestone before the latter is silly. Just because a company has billion dollar ambitions does not mean it isn't focused on the first million dollars. What remains true is that the first million can be just as hard(if not harder) as the other big jumps. It is easy to play armchair VC and think we know what will and won't turn into a billion dollar business. If you have seen the Bessemer anti-portfolio, even Apple, Google and Intel were far from no-brainer investments(http://www.bvp.com/portfolio/antiportfolio http://www.bvp.com/portfolio/antiportfolio). So what matters is not so much that AngelList is full of companies that will never be billion dollar businesses. What matters is that among those companies are billion dollar companies and every investment represents a bet by a group of folks.
      - 7Figures2Commas 13y ago
        Unfortunately you're focused too much on the investor, and not on the entrepreneur. Investors have the luxury of spraying and praying because they primarily invest capital; founders, whose investment consists of time and opportunity cost, don't have this luxury. In simple terms, your investors have n lottery tickets, and you have one. Statistically, as a founder, you are not likely to build a billion dollar business. That is worth repeating, often. Pretending that your odds are better than they really are and working yourself into the ground because Silicon Valley culture has convinced you that it's the only way is foolish. Which leads to my final point: if you're an entrepreneur, it's worth thinking long and hard about the path you take. If you're convinced that your ambitions should be measured in 9 and 10 figures and you are enticed by the funding game, you're often not just unnecessarily sacrificing your quality of life, you may be sacrificing the potential to build a successful 7 or 8 figure business.

by zaidf 13y ago

7Figures2Commas 13y ago

> You can be successful in any number of odd scenarios but that is not the norm. It is not hard to prove: if you talked to any founder that led the creation of a billion dollar enterprise from nothing, you will find an endless stream of stories such as Adora's. Starting with the exceptions, and not the rule, can lead to distorted perceptions. Building a billion dollar enterprise is not the normal outcome for most founders. It is the "odd" scenario. There's nothing wrong with modeling your entrepreneurial journey after those of billion-dollar founders, but the "go big or go home" path is not the only option for entrepreneurs starting a business. It is entirely possible to start a multi-million dollar business and still have a life, and I'd encourage more entrepreneurs to talk to self-employed millionaires (there are a lot of them) than read Forbes articles about tech's most visible billionaires.

zaidf 13y ago
It is entirely possible to start a multi-million dollar business and still have a life Yes, but anyone that knows the author and his business should also know that his post isn't addressed to those looking to make nice profitable businesses. The author has a very specific audience of people seeking funding and wanting to build large companies. His post appropriately addresses them; it isn't written that much for people whose ultimate motivation is to build a self-sufficient profitable million dollar business. Building a billion dollar enterprise is not the normal outcome for most founders. It is the "odd" scenario. Being successful at building the billion dollar business is the odd scenario in this case; attempting to build it is the norm. That most fail is just proof of how hard it is.
- 7Figures2Commas 13y ago
  > The writer has a very specific audience of people seeking funding and wanting to build large companies. First, every "large" company was once a "small" company. You don't get to $100 million in revenue without first getting to $1 million in revenue. Focusing on the former milestone before the latter is silly. Second, while I respect your point, it's important to look at actions, not words. Early-stage investors in Silicon Valley talk a lot about the type of businesses they want to fund, but spend half an hour browsing Crunchbase, AngelList, etc. A ton of the companies with seed funding (perhaps the majority) have very little chance of growing into the types of businesses their investors say they're looking to be involved with. Finally, in response to your edit that attempting to build billion-dollar businesses is the norm: you can only come to such a belief if you have firmly ensconced yourself in the Silicon Valley startup scene. Countless new businesses are formed around the country each year and the people who create them, most of whom don't have billion-dollar delusions, are just as much "founders" as the broke 20-something making the rounds on Sand Hill Road.
  - zaidf 13y ago
    Focusing on the former milestone before the latter is silly. Just because a company has billion dollar ambitions does not mean it isn't focused on the first million dollars. What remains true is that the first million can be just as hard(if not harder) as the other big jumps. It is easy to play armchair VC and think we know what will and won't turn into a billion dollar business. If you have seen the Bessemer anti-portfolio, even Apple, Google and Intel were far from no-brainer investments(http://www.bvp.com/portfolio/antiportfolio http://www.bvp.com/portfolio/antiportfolio). So what matters is not so much that AngelList is full of companies that will never be billion dollar businesses. What matters is that among those companies are billion dollar companies and every investment represents a bet by a group of folks.
    - 7Figures2Commas 13y ago
      Unfortunately you're focused too much on the investor, and not on the entrepreneur. Investors have the luxury of spraying and praying because they primarily invest capital; founders, whose investment consists of time and opportunity cost, don't have this luxury. In simple terms, your investors have n lottery tickets, and you have one. Statistically, as a founder, you are not likely to build a billion dollar business. That is worth repeating, often. Pretending that your odds are better than they really are and working yourself into the ground because Silicon Valley culture has convinced you that it's the only way is foolish. Which leads to my final point: if you're an entrepreneur, it's worth thinking long and hard about the path you take. If you're convinced that your ambitions should be measured in 9 and 10 figures and you are enticed by the funding game, you're often not just unnecessarily sacrificing your quality of life, you may be sacrificing the potential to build a successful 7 or 8 figure business.