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> You will be forced to choose between work and family - and > there’s only one right answer. This guy rocks for having the courage to say this in light of

> You will be forced to choose between work and family - and > there’s only one right answer. This guy rocks for having the courage to say this in light of all the advice out there that says you may have to put your family/personal life on hold to start a business.

antirez 17y ago
Indeed, and sometimes even if you know you have to take the time to do things the right way and to have time for your life and not only for your work, other guys will try to prevent you from doing the Right Thing: co-founders, VCs, bosses, ..., make sure to be very clear about this points with this people as you have only 1 life and to work is worth it only if you can enjoy your work. To get stressed by an asshole should not be the way to do great things. Also in general I tend to see that the clueless people are, the fastest they want to go. I think this is because people without knowledge can only stress other points like time to market, how big my deal is, and so forth.
tomjen2 17y ago
I am not so sure - you can always find a wife once you have made your millions. But I guess if you are really happy with the one you found that might change.
tptacek 17y ago
It's such a false economy, anyways. If you have a family, and you aren't planning on trading them for your company, then you're never going to be sufficiently productive when they feel neglected.
antonovka 17y ago
As someone with a mildly neglected (but understanding) wife and and an on-hold personal life, I couldn't disagree with your comment more -- but it's also not what the article said. The article said: [Your] business is rarely so fragile that it can not suffer some minor neglect _now and again_. Emphasis on now and again. You will have to put your personal and family life on hold, but you'll also need to figure out how to maintain your relationships while you do it. Starting a company requires a tremendous amount of work, and I've regularly had to choose between what I want (a relaxing dinner out with my wife) and what I need to get done to maximize our chances of scaling to the next stable plateau (a contract, the next product feature, etc). If you're not ready to put everything on hold and work your ass off, then starting a company is probably not the right choice for you.

antirez 17y ago

Indeed, and sometimes even if you know you have to take the time to do things the right way and to have time for your life and not only for your work, other guys will try to prevent you from doing the Right Thing: co-founders, VCs, bosses, ..., make sure to be very clear about this points with this people as you have only 1 life and to work is worth it only if you can enjoy your work. To get stressed by an asshole should not be the way to do great things. Also in general I tend to see that the clueless people are, the fastest they want to go. I think this is because people without knowledge can only stress other points like time to market, how big my deal is, and so forth.

tomjen2 17y ago

I am not so sure - you can always find a wife once you have made your millions. But I guess if you are really happy with the one you found that might change.

tptacek 17y ago

It's such a false economy, anyways. If you have a family, and you aren't planning on trading them for your company, then you're never going to be sufficiently productive when they feel neglected.

antonovka 17y ago

As someone with a mildly neglected (but understanding) wife and and an on-hold personal life, I couldn't disagree with your comment more -- but it's also not what the article said. The article said: [Your] business is rarely so fragile that it can not suffer some minor neglect _now and again_. Emphasis on now and again. You will have to put your personal and family life on hold, but you'll also need to figure out how to maintain your relationships while you do it. Starting a company requires a tremendous amount of work, and I've regularly had to choose between what I want (a relaxing dinner out with my wife) and what I need to get done to maximize our chances of scaling to the next stable plateau (a contract, the next product feature, etc). If you're not ready to put everything on hold and work your ass off, then starting a company is probably not the right choice for you.