New ask Hacker News story: Ask HN: Advice on balancing family life at a startup
Ask HN: Advice on balancing family life at a startup
58 by foothompson | 24 comments on Hacker News.
I am a technical cofounder at a startup. We are a small company (team of ~5) around a year old, with 1-2 years of funding left before we will need to raise again at our current spend levels. I think we have a good chance of getting to a successful place with our company and doing that round successfully, which could be life-changing financially for me and my family (I come from a middle class background). The technology is also exciting to work on. Recently, my young daughter started going through a few health difficulties. Our startup works a little harder than an average engineering job (maybe typical for a seed stage silicon valley startup). Unfortunately I am not really able to balance my family life commitments (the number of appointments that I need to attend, along with the extra support my wife needs), with the demands of the startup. I feel like I am doing a bad job at both. I have been think returning to a regular software engineering job at a big tech company, perhaps the same one I worked at before this startup. I should be able to balance much better (more cash, more time, and less psychological involvement with the job). However, I feel guilty leaving the company and the team, and worried it could really set the company back at this crucial stage. It also feels like the current situation of me trying to balance both isn't sustainable either. Sorry for the ramble. Anyone have any advice here on how to think about such a decision?
58 by foothompson | 24 comments on Hacker News.
I am a technical cofounder at a startup. We are a small company (team of ~5) around a year old, with 1-2 years of funding left before we will need to raise again at our current spend levels. I think we have a good chance of getting to a successful place with our company and doing that round successfully, which could be life-changing financially for me and my family (I come from a middle class background). The technology is also exciting to work on. Recently, my young daughter started going through a few health difficulties. Our startup works a little harder than an average engineering job (maybe typical for a seed stage silicon valley startup). Unfortunately I am not really able to balance my family life commitments (the number of appointments that I need to attend, along with the extra support my wife needs), with the demands of the startup. I feel like I am doing a bad job at both. I have been think returning to a regular software engineering job at a big tech company, perhaps the same one I worked at before this startup. I should be able to balance much better (more cash, more time, and less psychological involvement with the job). However, I feel guilty leaving the company and the team, and worried it could really set the company back at this crucial stage. It also feels like the current situation of me trying to balance both isn't sustainable either. Sorry for the ramble. Anyone have any advice here on how to think about such a decision?
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