The Real Tradeoffs Being a Startup Founder
On Lifestyle, Relationships and Mental Health
Personal Update: As I write this week’s post, I’ve also been very focused on growing a profitable startup, launching a new one, developing the next one and running side hustles all at the same time. This post is for all those who are building amazing things and are busy hustling trying to survive. I wish you the best as you go through your rite of passage.
The title of this post is not meant to be provocative. It’s more a question that has been on my mind for a while, and I think it deserves some serious consideration.
As a founder, you have to make many decisions that are very difficult. For example, how much money should you raise? How do you decide what to build? How do you decide what kind of company to build? What should your product look like? What kind of culture should your company have? How do you decide what kind of employees to hire?
Some of these decisions are easy. For example, you can easily tell yourself that your company should be profitable and grow over time. But other decisions are more difficult, and some are more personal that concerns your personal life and the people around you, how you spend your time, how you work, and what kind of person you are.
When I was working on my startup, I made many decisions that were hard. For example, when we started the company, we knew that we wanted to build a product that would be useful for students and tutors. But we didn’t know what the product would look like, how it would work, or what kind of business model we should use.
But those were only the though decisions about the startup. It was also hard to decide what kind of lifestyle I wanted to have. When I started the company, I was working from home and spending a lot of time on myself through self-development and spending every second educating myself. But as the company grew, I found myself becoming more knowledgable and confident, but less focused on myself.
As a founder, you need to make many difficult decisions about the company, and these decisions will often affect your personal life. But it’s not just about the startup that you are working on, but also about your own personal life.
This is a problem that is especially important for startups, because startups are all about growth. You have to decide what kind of product you want to build, how much money you need to raise, and how big your company should be. But in order to make these decisions, you will often need to sacrifice some things in your personal life.
So it’s not surprising that many founders are worried about their personal lives. Many startups have founders who spend all their time working on the startup and rarely have time for themselves. And many founders are stressed out because they feel like they are missing out on the personal life that they wanted to have, but couldn’t because of their startup.
But I think there is a better way to approach this problem. Instead of trying to figure out how to balance your personal life and your startup, you should focus on building a company that you want to work for.
If you build a company that you enjoy working for, there are many positive things that will happen. For example, your personal life will be more balanced, and you will feel happier and more fulfilled. You will also have a higher chance of building a company that is successful.
As an entrepreneur, it’s easy to get caught up in the business of building a startup. It’s easy to forget about the personal side of things, and focus on how you can make your startup as successful as possible. But when you build a company that you want to work for, you will find that your personal life will be much more enjoyable.
You can do this by building a company that you want to work for.
When it comes to the sacrifices that you have to make as a startup founder, it’s important to think about what you want to do in your personal life. This is something that will make a big difference in how happy and fulfilled you are.
1. Your Lifestyle
When you start a startup, you are often working from home. You are your own boss, and you can choose how to spend your time. But as the company grows, you will find that you need to spend more time working on the business and less time on yourself.
Many founders struggle with this problem because they want to work from home, but also want to spend some of their time on themselves. When you work from home, it’s easier to build a company that is focused on your personal life given the closer proximity to your family and friends.
But as the company grows, you will need to spend more time working on the business. And it’s not just about your business, but also about making sure that the company is successful. You can do this by focusing on building a company that you want to work for, sure, there will be tradeoffs, but you probably would subconciously set a company culture around working closer to home.
2. Your Relationships
Another important thing to think about is how you spend your time with your friends and family. When you are building a startup, you often need to put your personal life on hold because you are focused on the business. But when you work for a company that you want to work for, there will be more time for yourself and your personal life.
When I was working on my startup, I had less time for the people around me. I was focused on building the company, and it’s not surprising that I had less time for friends and family.
3. Your Mental Health
As an entrepreneur, it’s easy to get caught up in the business of building a startup, and get caught up in the grind of working every day. This is especially true when you are building a startup that you want to work for.
Most entrepreneurs grind so hard and over-extend themselves mentally and physically that they lose their ability to have a balanced personal life. They often work so hard that they lose the ability to relax and take care of themselves.
Just remember that the consequences of not taking a mental break outweighs the extra hours of work.
Conclusion:
Although I don’t have all the answers to the problem of balancing your personal life and your startup, I think it’s important to start thinking about how you want to spend your time. Being self-aware of your personal life and your startup will help you make better decisions.
All entrepreneurs will need to go through the rite of passage, but the most important thing is perspective and to be aware about your inner self and being prepared for what is coming while you are in the grind.
About the Author
I am the Founder of Cudy Technologies (www.cudy.co), a full-stack EdTech startup helping teachers and students learn better. I am also a mentor and angel investor in other Startups of my other interests (Proptech, Fintech, HRtech, Ride-hailing, C2C marketplaces, and SaaS). You can also find me on Cudy for early-stage Startup Founder mentorship and advice.
You can connect with me on Linkedin (https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexanderlhk) and let me know that you are a reader of my Medium posts in your invitation message.
