Should I become a workaholic when building a start-up?🧟‍♀️

absolutely not. i believe your best work, on the whole, comes from a well-rested and cared-for mind, body, and spirit.

i say “on the whole” because it’s not possible to avoid difficult times (or even a pandemic!) so you’ll find yourself in periods where the business simply needs more of your time.

just don’t make it permanent.

i set a cultural goal of 40-hours per week for my venture backed startup and i share some more thoughts on our handbook on github.

there’s no way that this happens perfectly each week and i’m not counting as that’s not the point. but, it puts a bug in everyone’s ear that this is what we’re aiming for, even if we aren’t perfect always in our execution,

If there's $$$ on the line then sure, work away. But I just had my first kid this year and its made me hyper aware of were my time is spent. Its almost like I was living in a fog before this. Working but not always on the right things.

Be conscious of your time. More time sitting down and working does not mean you're productive.

Hi Karolina!

Sometimes I get caught up thinking its simply about the number of hours that I dedicate to my project while in reality its more about the number of ~meaningful~ hours I dedicate. I find that if I'm always head down, I miss the thoughtful moments that lead to more efficient work and better work/product outcomes. Take some time, rest, think about how you can do 2x, 4x, 10x work so you don't have to be a workaholic.

Taking that approach will help you find balance and more often than not keep your product on the right path!

Of course only my opinion... I'll be following your progress! Keep us updated with what works and what doesn't!

In short: no. Startups are a marathon, not a sprint.

The burnout is all to real and you risk going from loving to hating your project if you do this.

Set clear barriers between where work life begins and ends. I try to never work on weekends - I dedicate that time to my family and to myself - to do something other than just thinking and worrying about my startup.

I then start on Monday re-energized and eager to work. Stepping away also helps my brain to work on some ideas or problems "in the background" and I can come up with creative solutions that I never would if I just work 24/7.

So set your limit and stick to it. Working 100 hours/week of which 40 hrs you're a tired mess won't help your product.

work too much doesn't lead to success, but burn out. the trick here is working the right process. you want to be on the right path, which means u need to understand the process.

A lot of entrepreneurs didn't understand this, they hit a lot of preventable mistakes. Which is really sad. (been there done that a hundred times)

Understand the process is the key. what are you specificly building right now?

Probably. The idea doesn't matter, execution does. Your ability to quickly try things and execute is going to be one of the central factors as to whether you succeed. Also if you get traction you will get competitors, and you will need to do a superior job to them.